La Roja: Spain in World Cup 2010 Part 1

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the nineteenth edition of the FIFA World Cup, and it is the first tournament to be held on the African continent, specifically in South Africa; The tournament was held from June 11 to July 11, 2010, after being chosen after a competition with Egypt and Morocco.

The draw placed Spain in Group H along with Switzerland, Chile, and Honduras.

Spain opened its group stage matches against Switzerland, on June 16, 2010, at Moses Mapeda Stadium in Durban, in front of more than 60,000 spectators who filled the stadium's stands.

At four o'clock South African time, the famous English international referee Howard Webb blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

Spain represented the following squad in that match:

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas

Defenders: Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Juan Capdevila

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, David Silva

Forward: David Villa.

Spain possessed the ball and dominated the match as usual, but it failed to score.

Suddenly, Switzerland's Gelson Fernandez scored the only goal of the match. Thus, Spain loses 1-0.

In the second match, Spain faced Honduras on June 21, 2010, at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg.

The Spaniards were obliged to win this match to make up for the loss in the first match against Switzerland.

And that's exactly what happened, as Spain won 2-0.

The goals were scored by striker David Villa (newly transferred to Barcelona at the time) at 17, 51 minutes.

Spain concluded its group stage match against Chile, on June 25, 2010, at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

At 8:30 South African time, Mexican international referee Marco Antonio Rodriguez blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

In the 24th minute, striker David Villa scored the goal for Spain, followed by Andreas Iniesta, nicknamed "The Painter", with the second goal in the 37th minute.

Rodrigo Mayar's goal for Chile in the 47th minute was not enough to avoid the loss.

Thus, Spain won 2-1 and qualified for the second round as the leader of the group.

In the second round, Spain faced Portugal, on June 29, 2010, at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa.

At 8:30 South African time, Argentine international referee Hector Baldassi blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

Spain represented the following squad in that match:

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas

Defenders: Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Juan Capdevila

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta, Sergio Busquets

Forwards: David Villa, Fernando Torres.

The Portuguese national team lineup was as follows:

Goalkeeper: Eduardo

Defenders: Bruno Alves, Ricardo Carvalho, Ricardo Costa, Fabio Coentrao

Midfielders: Pepe, Raul Meirelles, Thiago

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao Sabrosa, Hugo Almeida.

Spain managed to win the match with a score of 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored by striker David Villa in the 63rd minute. Cristiano Ronaldo's attempts to score an equalizer were futile.

Thus, Spain qualified for the quarterfinals.