St. Gallen, Switzerland: Adrian Lopez scored and set up a goal on his debut as Spain beat Serbia 2-0 to get their European Championship preparations off to a winning start on Saturday.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, without his Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao regulars and with Chelsea pair Fernando Torres and Juan Mata watching from the stands, gave five players their first caps for the European and world champions at AFG Arena.
Adrian capped a quick counter in the 64th minute by heading home Jesus Navas' cross after the speedy winger was released from a long ball by Benat Etxebarria — one of six changes after the break that helped Spain turn their dominant possession into goals.
Branislav Ivanovic tripped Adrian after fellow substitute David Silva sent him clear into the area, and Santi Cazorla stepped up to score the 74th-minute penalty.
Spain will play South Korea on Wednesday before returning home to play China on June 3. Spain begins the defence of their European title on June 10 against Italy before also playing Ireland and Croatia.
The Spanish federation's decision to play the Copa del Rey final on Friday left warm-up plans disjointed, with the bulk of Del Bosque's regular players missing. Del Bosque will announce his 23-man Euro 2012 squad on Sunday.
"We've got the team decided on, more or less," Del Bosque said.
Juanfran Torres appeared to be one of the debutants who could make the final list as the Atletico Madrid fullback played a full 90 minutes in which Spain held possession two-thirds of the time.
Alvaro Negredo was Spain's most active player in the first period, with the Sevilla striker forcing goalkeeper Damir Kahriman into an early save, but Spain's midfield failed to connect with their strikers, as Roberto Soldado provided little danger.
"Having two strikers is not so unusual, we're looking for alternatives to play up front," Del Bosque said.
Adrian, who was leading scorer as Spain won the Under-21 European Championship last year, impressed as he comfortably slid into Spain's combination play as the team looks to fill the void left by David Villa's absence due to injury.
Serbia had few opportunities with Dejan Lekic's 37th-minute goal called back offside, while Iker Casillas saved Aleksandar Kolarov's late free kick in Serbia coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's debut.
Comments
0 comment