Jordi Alba of Spain hits the ball in what proves to be the opening goal of the match as Spain take a 1-0 lead in the Confederations Cup group match against Nigeria at the Castelao Stadium in Fortaleza, Brazil, yesterday.
FORTALEZA, Brazil: World champions Spain survived a first-half pounding by Nigeria before securing their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup with a 3-0 win over the African champions who were eliminated from the tournament yesterday.
A superb individual goal from Jordi Alba, one of eight Barcelona players in the starting lineup, put Spain ahead after only three minutes before Fernando Torres took his tournament tally to five with a 62nd minute diving header, three minutes after replacing Roberto Soldado.
Spain were given a good examination by a hard-running Nigeria for most of the first half, but poor finishing cost the Super Eagles any chance of a victory. Alba rounded off Spain’s win with his second goal in the 88th minute.
Spain took almost total control after the restart and will face Italy, who they beat 4-0 in last year’s Euro 2012 final, in Thursday’s semi-final in Fortaleza.
Meanwhile, Uruguay secured their place in the Confederations Cup semi-finals with an 8-0 drubbing of Tahiti, featuring the fastest goal in the competition’s history.
The Confed Cup record-breaker at Recife’s Arena Pernambuco was Abel Hernandez, the Palermo striker heading in off Nicolas Lodeiro’s corner after just 79 seconds.
He went on to bag four, with Diego Perez, Lodeiro and Luis Suarez with a double, joining him on the scoresheet.
With this result following their record 10-0 loss to Spain and 6-1 defeat to Nigeria, Tahiti take their leave of the competition while Uruguay go on to face hosts Brazil in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday.
Star forwards Diego Forlan, Suarez and Edinson Cavani were all named on the bench, while Bologna midfielder Perez inherited the captain’s armband from suspended centre-back Diego Lugano.
Tahiti coach Eddy Etaeta made four alterations to the team thrashed 10-0 by Spain last Thursday, with goalkeeper Gilbert Meriel, Lorenzo Tehau, Vincent Simon and Samuel Hnanyine coming into the team.
AGENCIES
