Switzerland caused the first major upset of the 2010 World Cup tournament today when it beat Spain 1-0 in a very entertaining match.
The foreboding news for Spain is that no country has ever won the World Cup after losing their first game of the tournament. Also worryingly for Spain, Iniesta was substituted after picking up an injury, while Fernando Torres looked very rusty up front after coming on in the second half. The only bright spark for me was the introduction of Jesus Navas who created several opportunities and nearly scored on a couple of occasions.
Fair play to Switzerland. The team, managed by German Ottmar Hitzfeld, battled hard and took advantage of the chances they had in front of goal. When a goal finally came in this match, it was a scrappy one from Gelson Fernandes after the ball bobbled underneath Gerard Pique and into the path of Fernandes.
Spain will be shattered by this devastating loss in a match they were favored to win. Spain now has its work cut out for them with games against Honduras and Chile coming up.
Spain must win the next 2 games not just to secure qualification but to erase memories of this defeat. The players will be disappointed and considering the % of possession and the many shots taken by the Spaniards, they did deserve a point but proved to be inefficient.
I believe the gap keeps getting smaller between the good teams and the smaller sides. The latest votes show Spain as the number choice by the readers to win WC 2010 with some 500 votes ahead of Brazil (link here):
http://www.worldcupbuzz.com/which-team-will-win-the-2010-world-cup/