GUADALAJARA, Mexico: Spain beat Uruguay 1-0 on Friday (Jun 26) to top Group H and reach the knockout stage of the World Cup, with Alex Baena’s first-half strike enough to settle a tense, physical contest and leave Marcelo Bielsa’s side out of the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain finished with seven points from two wins and a draw, while newcomers Cape Verde\u00a0claimed the second knockout berth\u00a0after three consecutive draws. Uruguay bowed out with two points, level with bottom-placed Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baena broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute when he found space near the edge of the area and drove in a powerful effort that veteran goalkeeper Fernando Muslera failed to hold, the ball slipping from his grasp and trickling into the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a costly mistake from Muslera, who was replaced at half-time. The goal came with both Manuel Ugarte and Lamine Yamal down injured as play continued, but Baena kept his focus and Spain took full advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It might be one of the goals that has made me happiest,” Baena told local TV. “We knew it was going to be a tough match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They were fighting for their lives, and we were fighting for the top spot. We didn’t show our best form, but we competed very well,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uruguay had begun aggressively, determined to deny Lamine space on the right, with Guillermo Varela and the rest of the defence keeping tight to the 18-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain mostly threatened from set pieces in the opening half. Pau Cubarsi headed wide from a Baena corner in the 16th minute and missed again from close range four minutes later following another Baena delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uruguay’s best first-half chance came after Federico Valverde pressed Rodri into an error in the 27th minute and then found Darwin Nunez inside the area, but the forward chose to attempt a backheel rather than shoot and the opportunity went begging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half followed a similar pattern, with Uruguay pushing but lacking precision in the final third. Federico Vinas replaced Valverde and almost made an impact, but his left-footed effort from a Maxi Araujo cross flew high and wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain introduced Dani Olmo, who missed a chance from the middle of the box after a cross from Lamine in the 63rd minute, but Luis de la Fuente’s side looked in control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uruguay pressed late, but Simon denied Mathias Olivera and then saved Nicolas de la Cruz’s right-footed shot from outside the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ferran Torres nearly doubled Spain’s lead when he hit the crossbar with a right-footed effort from just inside the area following a pass from Fabian Ruiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside the Guadalajara stadium, Mexican and Spanish fans sang “Cielito Lindo” with the chorus “sing and do not cry” as Uruguay’s frustration mounted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That frustration boiled over in stoppage time when Agustin Canobbio was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Cubarsi, capping a bitter end to Uruguay’s campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa controversially substituted Valverde on the hour mark and said the decision to replace Muslera at half-time had been taken by the player himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Journalists and fans of Uruguayan football legitimately want to pin the blame on me. I’m the person responsible and I have to accept it,” said Bielsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain, the reigning European champions, will face Austria or Algeria next in Los Angeles on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hyped as one of the pre-tournament favourites, Spain are now 34 competitive games unbeaten and are yet to concede a goal at the World Cup<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But another laboured attacking performance leaves Spain coach Luis de la Fuente with plenty to ponder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To add to La Roja’s concerns a shoulder injury suffered by Yeremy Pino may have ended his tournament, while Nico Williams also ended a bruising encounter with a muscle problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In football, you can’t always play with the brilliance you wish for, or that we are capable of showing at other times,” said De la Fuente.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We maintained an incredibly high level of concentration, responsibility, and composure, and we avoided rising to the many provocations that could have led to serious trouble.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico: Spain beat Uruguay 1-0 on Friday (Jun 26) to top Group H and reach the knockout stage of the World Cup, with Alex Baena’s first-half strike enough to settle a tense, physical contest and leave Marcelo Bielsa’s side out of the tournament. Spain finished with seven points from two wins and a draw, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418559,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418558\/revisions\/418559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}