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| © AP |
Since winning the European championships in 2008, the only blemish on its record was a surprising 2-0 loss here to the United States in last year's Confederations Cup. But the even bigger surprise came Wednesday on a lovely late afternoon in Durban, where Spain was beaten, 1-0, by Switzerland in the World Cup opener for each team.
The defeat, the first shock of the tournament, was not quite as big an upset as Senegal's opening-day ambush of France in 2002: the French were defending champions. But this was still quite a jolt, considering that Spain and Brazil are widely considered the top two teams playing in South Africa.
To manage it, Switzerland had to repel assault after assault and accept the uncomfortable truth that the Spaniards would control the ball for most of the game with their passing and trapping prowess. The Swiss got top-notch games from their goalkeeper, Diego Benaglio, and from their defensive midfielders, Benjamin Huggel and Gökhan Inler, who implemented Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's game plan by funneling the Spanish attack largely to the wings, where their crosses, in light of Spain's lack of height up front, did less damage.
"We said we didn't want to lose too much energy fighting for the ball in their half," Hitzfeld said. "We said we want to focus on our defense and wait for counterattacks. If you want to play an attacking game against Spain, you will lose out massively because they will score one goal after the next."
The only goal Wednesday came not from one of Spain's justly celebrated midfielders but from the more obscure Swiss midfielder Gelson Fernandes.
Fernandes's moment came in the 52nd minute, after Spain opened the second half with a series of assaults on the Swiss goal. Switzerland's strike began in the Spanish half with Eren Derdiyok heading the ball to Blaise Nkufo and then getting a quick pass in return that left him running toward the Spanish goal through a gap in the defense. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas met him with a slide tackle about 15 yards out and sent Derdiyok flying. As Derdiyok twisted in the air, the ball rebounded off his leg. It bounced forward and defender Gerard Piqué landed on it with his chest.
It then rolled free directly in front of the goal. Fernandes dodged the fallen Piqué and just beat the diving Casillas to the ball, flicking it into the net with his right foot.
"I'm not used to scoring goals, so I'm a little bit surprised," Fernandes, 23, said. "When I saw Eren go to goal, I knew he was very powerful, and I just followed, and I just scored. It was a bit lucky."
Perhaps, but it looked considerably less lucky when Derdiyok came within inches of scoring another Swiss goal in the 75th minute, shaking free of Piqué and Carles Puyol and poking a clever shot that struck the right post.
"We are very happy we were able to take 3 unexpected points," Hitzfeld said of the victory.
The Spanish were supposed to dominate Group H but no longer control their fate. They could win the next two games, against Honduras and Chile, and still not be guaranteed to reach the second round if Chile and Switzerland also finish with 6 points. Wednesday's defeat raised the specter of another Spanish disappointment at the World Cup. They remain the most powerful soccer nation never to win, having not advanced past the quarterfinals since 1950.
"This is of course not a good sign, certainly not a good sign, that we start off this way," Spain's coach, Vicente del Bosque, said. "But I think it's our duty to cope with this and to approach the next two matches by trying to win."
Spain certainly had its chances, particularly in an intense second half, when it kept pushing forward and stringing together short passes and long crosses. Midfielder Xabi Alonso hit the crossbar, with Benaglio clearly beaten, in the 70th minute with a bolt of a right-footed shot from just outside the penalty area.
"Obviously if you are the favorite and are expected to dominate the underdog and everybody is just talking about how many goals you are going to score and suddenly you have the underdog leading, I'm sure even the best team in the world will get a little bit nervous," Hitzfeld said.
Hitzfeld is German but grew up near the Swiss border. In 2008, he took over the Swiss, a team he had long wanted to coach. He is one of Europe's most successful club coaches, winning Champions League titles with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
The Swiss set an unfortunate record in the last World Cup in Germany by becoming the only team ever to be eliminated without allowing a goal. It recorded three straight shutouts in group play and was then beaten on penalty kicks in the second round by Ukraine after both teams failed to score in regulation and overtime.
Now they have shut out the Spanish, too, and they did it despite losing central defender Philippe Senderos to a right ankle injury late in the first half. Del Bosque started the game with a single striker, David Villa, the Valencia star who will join Barcelona next season. Missing was Spain's other great striker, Fernando Torres, who raced the clock to get ready for South Africa after two knee operations this season.
Torres and wing Jesús Navas came on in the 61st and 62nd minutes, with Torres's arrival generating enough enthusiasm to allow one to hear the Spanish fans over the drone of the vuvuzelas. Still, as the game wore on, the Spaniards began to seem predictable, pushing the ball to Navas on the right flank and hoping for minor miracles.
Instead, they ended up repeatedly bringing their hands to their heads in disappointment as another shot sailed past the post or into Benaglio's sure hands.
CHILE 1, HONDURAS 0 Jean Beausejour scored the only goal and Chile beat Honduras in Nelspruit for its first World Cup victory in exactly 48 years. In a free-flowing match, the opener of Group H, Beausejour tapped in a cross from Mauricio Isla in the 34th minute.
Chile's attacking style was evident during the South American qualifiers, when it finished in second place behind Brazil. At times against Honduras, it looked as dangerous as the five-time champion Brazilians.
Chile came close to doubling its lead on several occasions. In the 62nd minute, Alexis Sánchez sent a clear-cut chance wide after he was put in free by the ever-dangerous playmaker Jorge Valdivia. In the 64th minute, defender Waldo Ponce saw his close-range header saved brilliantly by goalkeeper Noel Valladares.
Honduras seldom showed any spark against a well-organized Chile defense led by Gary Medel. Its best chance came from midfielder Ramón Núñez, whose free kick in first-half injury time was tipped over the net by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Chile's last Cup victory was on June 16, 1962, when it finished third as host of the World Cup by beating Yugoslavia. This is Chile's first World Cup since 1998. (AP)
