© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday, in addition to the Kuwait and Lithuania matches, there were four more friendly matches where Spain celebrated victories and Austria emerged victorious in a future European Championship participant duel.
An intriguing match took place in Spain, in the city of Murcia, where Spain faced Argentina. After two unexpected defeats to Northern Ireland and Sweden in the European Championship qualifiers, Spain managed to silence the skeptics.
The hosts started the match very actively and already in the first quarter of the match, Miguel Angulo, Fernando Torres, and Xavi were able to make an impact. However, it was Xavi who smiled later. In the 33rd minute, receiving a free-kick inside the penalty area, the Barcelona defender struck accurately – 1-0. The Spaniards celebrated a goal just a minute later. Soon after, with an accurate penalty kick from the left side, Pepe Reina was beaten and Daniel Bilos equalized the score.
The hosts started the second half very actively and quickly turned the score around. In the 63rd minute, Andres Iniesta was brought down in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala, who was playing his 106th game for the Argentine national team. The penalty was converted by Valencia star David Villa. Until the end of the match, the hosts could have increased their lead.
After the victory, Spain's national team coach Luis Aragones, who has recently been heavily criticized by the press and fans for the poor performance of the team, breathed easier: "I am particularly pleased with my players, because in Sweden they simply didn't know what to do to even the score. Tonight they created many opportunities to score."
In Innsbruck, in a duel between the two future hosts of the European Championship, Austria defeated Switzerland and ended the latter's impressive streak of not conceding a goal in 8 consecutive matches.
In the 24th minute, Swiss defender Ludovic Magnin brought down his opponent Roland Linz inside the penalty area. The Boavista forward converted the penalty kick himself. After 12 minutes, Austrian forward Sanel Kuljic defeated Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and increased Austria's lead to 2-0.
In the second half, Jakob Kuhn's pupils intensified their attack, but could only soften the score – Marco Streller scored after a pass from Tranquillo Barnetta. In the other matches, Honduras defeated Guatemala, while Chile won against Peru as visitors.
Statistics:
Spain 2 - 1 Argentina 33‘ [1 – 0] Xavi 34‘ [1 – 1] Daniel Bilos 63‘ [2 – 1] David Villa (pen.)
Austria 2 – 1 Switzerland 24‘ [1 – 0] Roland Linz 36‘ [2 – 0] Sanel Kuljic 70‘ [2 -1] Marco Streller
Honduras 2 – 1 Guatemala 4‘ [1 – 0] Figueroa 50‘ [2 – 0] Palacios 69‘ [2 – 1] Ruiz (pen.)
56th minute: Puerto (Honduras) sent off the field.
Peru 0 – 1 Chile 24‘ [0 – 1] R. Navia
