Right now Spain plays France against France (in Donetsk).
Spain took the lead in the 19th minute and never let go.
France has tried very hard to score and get back in the game but Spain purely crowded them out. They do not allow empty spaces to be filled in by the opposing team's players.
Spanish players storm into any empty zones and the game goes side to side and it gets almost impossible to move the ball up the field.
Then the Spanish counterattack and hold the ball in a very frustrating and not very pleasing way. The game sort of lingers in the midfield and it loses all its 'sparks and shine'. The Spaniards win by frustration forfeit (as it were), as the opposing team gets the ball very sporadically and if they do and do not make the best out of every opportunity then they are going to lose. It is as simple as that.
There is little doubt that Spain has managed to shake the tactical foundations of the game of soccer and I have yet to see a team able to counteract the 'tiki-taka' Spain has pioneered, although it would seem to me that a valid answer to 'tiki-taka' would be overwhelming speed in order to stop the Spaniards from triangulation all over the field.
Spain scored again in the last minute of the game -from the penalty spot- and the game ended 2-0.
Spain will play Portugal for the first semifinal of the championships to be played next Wed in Donetsk.
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