SPAIN v TUNISIA MATCH REPORT
Report by Pez

Spain qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup after coming from behind to beat a battling Tunisia, who played much of this game looking like a different team to the one who had played so poorly against Saudi Arabia.

David Villa crashed an effort in to the side netting from a Luis Garcia knockdown in the opening couple of minutes as the duo looked to try and set the tone for the Spanish. Tunisia however were not overawed by Spain's bright start, and in clinical fashion took the lead. Their first meaningful venture forward saw Ziad Jaziri get the better of a static Carles Puyol, and though it then seemed Jaziri would be crowded out in the area, he escaped the attentions of three Spanish defenders and pulled the ball back where they arriving Jawhar Mnari struck the ball against Iker Casillas legs, and then tucked the rebound home.

Spain began to pick up the pace, Torres beat three men but his final ball poor, while Sergio Ramos and Luis Garcia each put two headers wide of the mark. Tunisia earned themselves a free kick right on the edge of the area, but it was fired straight at Casillas with Puyol looking shaky at the back. Xabi Alonso then went close twice, first with a long range drive, and then a corner picked him out un-marked, and his header was cleared off the line. Fernando Torres came as close as anyone before him when he curled an effort just wide of the top right hand corner, but Spain went in at the break behind.

At half time Spain introduced their talisman, Raul, and youngest ever Spanish World Cup player Cesc Fabregas to try and turn things around. It was the latter who made an impact early on, as he shot at goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel, but from then on Spain's play was limited. Although seeing lots of the ball, they failed to do much with it, Raul wasn't involved and Spain's play was often too narrow, and too simple.

The introduction of Joaquin seemed to give the Spaniards an extra spark. It was his wing play that dazzled Tunisia's left back, and after cutting back inside, his pass across the area was dummied, Fabregas shot, and Raul instinctively got to the rebound first to place it beyond Boumnijel. With Tunisia stuck in the mould of defending, Fabregas shot again at Boumnijel who saved with his feet, but it was he who could take some of the blame for Spain's second.

Torres made a fantastic run in between two defenders, and Fabregas' throughball was perfectly weighted for the Atletico Madrid striker to run on to. Boumnijel however made it far too easy for Torres as he raced out of his box in to no mans land, where Torres coolly rounded him and scored in to an empty net.

Boumnijel showed how he should have dealt with Torres earlier, as with the same striker racing clear, he stayed on his line before diving at the feet of Torres to force a corner. Had Torres put that away, he could have had himself a hat-trick. With 90 minutes gone, Torres earned himself a penalty after a defender hauled him down when rising for a header. His penalty was poor, but crept under Boumnijel who in all honesty, should have saved it. Spain played out the remaining minutes, and Tunisia now face a crunch game against the Ukraine to determine who will qualify.

Man Of The Match: Fernando Torres - Scored two to make himself the tournaments top scorer so far, and had at least three other chances to add to his tally. Even when Spain were under performing in the first half, his class showed through as he made chances for himself. With Fabregas, Joaquin and Raul on the pitch, he began to get the service his endeavours deserved.

ENGLAND v SWEDEN MATCH PROGRAMME

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