Day 3

Spain Questions

Will Spain be able to win this way?  I know Spanish football is a privilege to watch, with constant possession and incomparable creativity.  However, they did not look at their best in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Italy.  Vincent Del Bosque sent out a starting lineup that was essentially a 4-6-0 formation.  No Torres, no Negredo, no Llorente, and no Pedro meant the Spanish started a team with six midfielders.  Cesc Fabregas was the "on paper" center forward, and he did get the leveler in the 64th minute after a sleek pass from David Silva.  

But how far can this team go without playing a true striker, or target man up front?  Personally, I believe that  Spain will have enough quality to make it out of the group, but the knockout stages will prove to be a difficult task with no focal point in the attack.  It's hard to find a more crucial loss in the tournament than Spain missing out on David Villa's play up front for the defending champions.  Fernando Torres is not the same player he was in his Liverpool days, and Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Negredo are unproven strikers that Del Bosque can't trust at this moment.

This is not to take away from Italy.  The Italians defended admirably in a new 3-5-2 formation.  Daniele De Rossi manned the central defense role in a a three man Italian back line.  Italy were able to shut down the interchanging Spanish attack for much of the match, and Antonio Di Natale grabbed the 1-0 advantage after a great through ball from Andrea Pirlo.  However,  Cesc Fabregas grabbed the equalizer three minutes later in this battle between major champions.

No Luck for the Irish

The Irish sat back and played the way most expected them to, but luck was nowhere to be seen today.  The Croatians were by far the more comfortable team, and they deserved the win. Everyone knows it was going to take a lot of luck for the Irish to get out of this group, but unfortunately they received none of that today.  

The Croatians capitalized on two fortunate chances in the first half.  The first occurred in just the third minute when Mario Mandzukic rose from the ground to head a deflected cross past Shay Given.  Given was already moving to his right, and was unable to get back to the left to deny Mandzukic's slow moving header to the corner.

  

After Sean St. Ledger's equalizer, the Croatians took a 2-1 lead when Stephen Ward's errant clearance found the path of Nikica Jelavic, who was able to flick the ball past Shay Given.

The Croatians would get a third through a powerful header to the corner from Mario Mandzukic.  

Euro 2012 does not get any easier for Ireland.  The Green Army will face defending champions Spain on Thursday in what surely is a must win, although an improbable  "must win".  The Irish will then complete the group stages against a determined Italy side that will be very difficult to break down.  If the Irish brought any luck to this tournament, we better see it soon.