Torres
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has conceded his side was poor and deserved to lose to South Africa on Tuesday.
The world and European champions suffered
a surprise 1-0 defeat at Soccer City in Johannesburg, the scene of
their 2010 World Cup final triumph over the Netherlands. The result
followed a narrow victory over Equatorial Guinea on Saturday, and Del
Bosque concedes la Roja have been well below average.
“It could be (our worst recent
performance),” Del Bosque told Spanish television station Cuatro. “I
think we can even say the defeat was well deserved. We started well but
little by little they started to open us up and we allowed them time to
counterattack.
“We came out with good intentions and
fought to the end to find an equalizer so I can’t complain about the
players’ attitude. (South Africa) got better as the game went on
though.”
Bernard Parker scored the only goal in
the 56th minute, dinking over Spain goalkeeper Victor Valdes, who was
forced off with a serious-looking knee injury later in the match.
Del Bosque’s men nearly mustered an
equaliser, with Raul Albiol only denied by an outstanding Itumeleng
Khune save late on, but South Africa held on for the win.
The loss was Spain’s first since the Confederations Cup final, in which it was defeated 3-0 by host Brazil.
No comments:
Post a Comment