Mighty Spain win only 1-0 against China

Spain finished their preparation for the European football Championships with a narrow 1-0 win at home over a hard-working Chinese national side. The Chinese, coached by former Spain boss Jose Antonio Camacho, played well in the first half and created chances against Spain, before defending stoutly until David Silva scored the only goal of the game Sunday with just over five minutes remaining in the game. [caption id=“attachment_332033” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Silva finally opened the scoring with five minutes remaining. Reuters”]  [/caption] Vicente Del Bosque preferred Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo in his starting 11 ahead of Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente, reported Xinhua. Despite Spain’s dominance, Hao Junmin tested Iker Casillas in goal with another shot half way through the half and it needed a magnificent save from the Spain keeper to deny Zheng Zhi after 29 minutes. Del Bosque made several changes at halftime bringing on winger Jesus Navas and striker Fernando Torres along with Andres Iniesta and his Barcelona companion Victor Valdes, who replaced Casillas in goal. Navas’ entry gave more pace to Spain and China keeper Zeng Chen did well to tip over from Iniesta seven minutes into the second half. The keeper then did well to clear from Torres after Spain looked to catch out an advanced China back line. Just after the hour Spain hit the woodwork twice in the space of a minute – first through Raul Albiol, who headed a corner against the crossbar following a flick from Torres, before Iniesta was unlucky to see an individual move end with another shot against the bar. In the second half, China were finding it much harder to trouble the Spanish penalty area as the home side looked to open the scoring. Spain looked to be on the point of scoring several times before Sun Xiang hit a low left-foot free kick which Valdes gathered cleanly with just over 10 minutes remaining, while at the other end David Silva headed over the bar when he should have scored Silva finally opened the scoring with five minutes remaining after a darting run from Iniesta, which opened up the Chinese defence to leave him with a simple tap-in.