Spain vs. Honduras, 0-1

[flywoman]

Spain has been mathematically eliminated from the tournament after their second soccer match of the Olympic games, having lost to Japan earlier in the week and yesterday again to Honduras. The injured midfield magician Thiago Alcantara was unable to compete this summer, and it was clear that the team manager had not found a suitable replacement. It was a heartbreaking game to watch as Juan Mata kept taking his chances from behind and shooting wide, multiple shots hit the crossbar or were saved by the Honduras keeper, and the referee failed to call an obvious penalty.

It was also the most aggressive match I've seen outside of the infamous Barcelona-Real Madrid clasicos, with yellow cards galore and multiple incidents of players picking fights with the ref and with each other. In fact, what saddens me more than the results of the match is what poor sports Spain looked, with Iker Muniain and Juan Mata, two of the most experienced players, reacting the least professionally. I know that they must have been terribly frustrated after going into the games among the favorites and then being defeated by two relatively low-profile teams in succession, but that's no excuse :P.

Comments

[moose-mcmoose.livejournal.com]

A few of my friends were at the game (Spain have been playing their matches in my home city's ground) and they said they were a little off. Their previous defeat to Japan wasn't too much of a surprise - Japan are a dangerous team and have some good players, and are always capable of causing an upset - but I though Spain would have been a shoe-in to win against Honduras.

It's a shame, as they did deserve a penalty and the game was VERy bad tempered indeed.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I agree, I'm certainly not surprised to see Japan make it out of the group stage. But I think it would be very unexpected if they were to win the gold medal.

Luck can be such a big factor in football since it's such a low-scoring game. In this case, Honduras deserved their goal for sure, while Spain came close to scoring many times, but there was never the same kind of inevitability.

Oh well. As a Barcelona fan, I'm a little relieved that they will be coming home earlier than expected. We just bought Jordi Alba, and we need him in one piece and not completely exhausted.

[jezziejay.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the match, but pretty stunned to hear that the world and European champs went down to Japan and Honduras. Hope you're not too disappoined! They weren't fielding their first team, were they?

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

No - the "first team" competed in the Euros, and most of the starting players for that tournament had already returned to their respective clubs for preseason. I think that gives the Asian and South American teams an advantage, tbh.

And in a way I'm glad they're getting sent home early because now Barcelona will get their junior players back, hopefully recovered in time for the big games against Real Madrid at the end of August...