Spain won the past two European Championships but is trying to redeem itself from a disappointing early elimination at the World Cup in Brazil, when it arrived as the favorite but couldn’t make it out of the group stage.
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And Silva, who earned his 100th global cap in the game, was clearly pleased as he shared his delight at the result on Twitter.
– Rosicky played 88 minutes for Czech Republic against Spain, after managing just 19 minutes in all competitions for Arsenal in 2015/16.
Of all the selections available to the Republic of Ireland manager, including Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick and Wes Hoolahan was probably the most attack-minded feasible in an opening group game.
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. But they looked set to being denied victory by a combination of poor finishing and a brilliant performance from Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech.
The Czechs forced De Gea into action at the end of the first half, when Necid’s effort from the edge of the box after a neat break was saved.
It gave Spain a winning start to the tournament, but hardly gave del Bosque a sign that he’s close to solving his major problem.
And Fabregas, with de Gea stranded and Pavel Kaderabek waiting behind him to turn in Theodor Gebre Selassie’s far-post header, superbly hooked clear from underneath his own crossbar.
By the end, the champions had hit the target just five times in their 17 attempts, with Pique’s 87th-minute header from a superb Andres Iniesta cross eventually sparing their blushes.
After the game Pique revealed his relief.
“We created a lot of chances”, Del Bosque said. “It was very important to start with the three points”.
Pique scored four goals in his first 12 Spain outings but his late header was his first goal for his country in 66 matches.
We had the game completely under control and that’s the most important thing.
“It’s our way. We have achieved many successes, it’s our idea”. It is our way.
It was a testament to his team’s character that they continued to push for the victor and succeeding in breaking their opponents’ impressive resistance. “It’s true that we dominate but we still struggle in front of goal”, he sighed afterwards.
“We took the initiative, but we weren’t successful until the final moments”, Del Bosque told reporters.
Austria coach Marcel Koller is determined to make sure his team do not get swept away by a tide of national euphoria ahead of their opening game against Hungary. We are still in charge of our own destiny. “It’s fantastic that we have great midfielders and the forwards have to be able to move and interpret what their teammates are doing”. Everyone wants to score more goals but our style hasn’t been too bad in recent years.
The Czech Republic could still have snatched a point in injury time but Vladimir Darida’s volley flew straight at David De Gea.
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“But the quality of Spain is at another level to us”.
