(PA) Saturday 26 May 2012
Second-half goals from Adrian Lopez and Santi Cazorla were enough to hand a makeshift Spain side a 2-0 victory over Serbia in Saint Gallen.
Xabi Alonso
had come closest to breaking the deadlock in a poor first-half with an
audacious effort from well inside his own half that drifted just over
the bar.
However, the introduction of
Adrian on his international debut after the break provided the spark
that the world champions needed as he first headed home Jesus Navas'
teasing cross. Then, he was brought down by Branislav Ivanovic to allow
Cazorla to seal the victory from the penalty spot with 15 minutes
remaining.
Vicente del Bosque surprised
many with his selection from the start as he went for uncharacteristic
4-4-2 system with Alvaro Negredo and Roberto Soldado
in attack. Juanfran also made his debut at right-back, while the other
four uncapped players in the squad remained on the bench.
And
it was Negredo who made a much more positive impact of the front two in
the first 45 minutes as he forced Dahir Kahriman into his only serious
stop of the first period with a fierce shot form 20 yards after just two
minutes. The Sevilla striker came close again 12 minutes later as his
header from Alonso's fine cross went over the bar, but the assistant
referee's flag had already been raised in any case.
Alonso
himself then saw a spectacular effort dip just too late as from midway
inside his own half he spotted Kahriman well off his line and came
within inches of scoring an unbelievable goal. That was about as
exciting as the first half got as Negredo saw another effort trickle
wide, while Serbia's only attack saw Dejan Lekic put the ball in the net, but he had already been flagged for offside.
Negredo, Soldado,
Alonso and Sergio Ramos were all replaced at the break as Del Bosque
handed first caps to Alvaro Dominguez and Benat and also introduced
Adrian and David Silva. The latter two combined to present Adrian with a
great chance just after the hour mark as Silva perfectly picked out the
Atletico Madrid striker's run, but he blasted over with just Kahriman
to beat.
Spain go ahead
Two minutes later, though, Adrian had made amends as Benat's fantastic pass over the top freed Navas down the right and his cross was perfectly measured for the former Deportivo La Coruna man to easily head in.
Two minutes later, though, Adrian had made amends as Benat's fantastic pass over the top freed Navas down the right and his cross was perfectly measured for the former Deportivo La Coruna man to easily head in.
Javi Garcia then replaced Bruno
to take the number of Spanish debutants to five and a satisfactory
evening for Del Bosque was assured when Ivanovic was penalised for
clipping Adrian's heels inside the area. Cazorla fired the penalty
straight down the middle to register his fifth international goal.
Del
Bosque will name his final 23-man squad tomorrow ahead of two more
friendlies this week against Korea Republic and China before the Spanish
begin the defence of their European crown against Italy on 10 June.
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