Draw in the last Group Match

Switzerland crashed out of the World Cup after a desperately disappointing display against Honduras.

Needing a two-goal win to guarantee a place in the last 16, the Swiss lacked a cutting edge and were unable to break down the stubborn central Americans, who wasted several chances to sneak a victory on the break in a hectic finale.
For Ottmar Hitzfeld's Swiss, the euphoria of their opening victory over pre-tournament favourites Spain seemed a distant memory as wave after wave of attacks fizzled out or ended with a wayward shot.

As it was, Spain's victory over Chile pushed the Swiss into third place in Group H, while Honduras joined Algeria in exiting the 2010 World Cup without scoring a goal.
Honduras were bright and energetic from the kick-off in Bloemfontein but, after taking time to settle, the Swiss emerged as the more likely side to break the deadlock.
Playmaker Tranquillo Barnetta was at the heart of everything that was good about Switzerland, teeing up Gokhan Inler for a shot that drifted wide and testing Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares with a long-ranger.
Despite their need for goals, the Swiss seemed reluctant to commit bodies forward and their attacks often broke down around the box.
Just before half-time, Eren Derdiyok delivered a superb cross to the far post but striker Blaise Nkufo could not adjust his body shape in order to fashion a finish.
The Swiss brought on Hakan Yakin at half-time but his first contribution was a long-range shot which almost hit the corner flag.
Switzerland's increasing need to attack began to leave spaces at the back and Honduras almost took full advantage.
Edgar Alvarez hooked over a cross for David Suazo, who could only plant his header wide, and then Alvarez himself drew a superb one-handed save from Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
At the other end, Valladares was also earning his corn, although his saves to deny Barnetta, Derdiyok and Yakin were more routine than spectacular.
Hitzfeld made his final throw of the dice with the introduction of record goalscorer Alexander Frei, but for all their huff and puff, the breakthrough never came.
And Swiss fans were left to reflect on a campaign which had promised so much, but ended up delivering very little.

Switzerland	0-0	Honduras	FT
	(HT 0-0)
Team
Switzerland 01 Benaglio 02 Lichtsteiner 05 Von Bergen 13 Grichting 17 Ziegler 06 Huggel (23 Shaqiri, 78) 07 Barnetta 08 Inler 16 Fernandes (15 Yakin, 46) 10 Nkufo (09 Frei, 69) 19 Derdiyok		Honduras 18 Valladares 02 Chavez 03 Figueroa 05 Bernardez 16 Mauricio Sabillon 06 Thomas 07 Nunez (15 Martinez, 67) 08 Wilson Palacios 17 Alvarez 10 Jerry Palacios (12 Georgie Welcome, 79) 11 Suazo (19 Turcios, 87)
12 Wolfli, 21 Leoni, 03 Magnin, 22 Eggiman, 14 Padalino, 15 Yakin, 20 Schwegler, 23 Shaqiri, 09 Frei, 18 Bunjaku		Substitutes: 01 Ricardo Canales, 22 Donis Escober, 04 Johnny Palacios, 14 Garcia, 21 Izaguirre, 23 Mendoza, 13 Espinoza, 19 Turcios, 20 Guevara, 09 Pavon, 12 Georgie Welcome, 15 Martinez
Venue: Free State Stadium Referee: H Baldassi Attendance: 28,042

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Spain meet Portugal in first Knock-out round

Spain's unquestionable class was just enough to edge them past a talented but ill-disciplined Chile team who deservedly joined the European champions in qualifying for the World Cup's knockout stages.

Vicente del Bosque's side have still not clicked in South Africa - and the South Americans put them under real pressure before being controversially reduced to 10 men just before half-time in Pretoria.
But flashes of individual brilliance from striker David Villa and fit-again midfielder Andres Iniesta sealed a last-16 clash against Portugal on Tuesday as they ran out Group H winners despite a shock defeat to Switzerland in their opening match.

Chile, who picked up seven red cards in qualifying, must face five-time winners Brazil on Monday without their strongest team after three key players were lost to suspension in a first half they threatened to take charge of with admirable invention before losing their heads.
After dominating possession but failing to score in that surprise 1-0 loss to the Swiss, Spain vowed they would not sacrifice their rich attacking instincts for a win-at-all costs philosophy.
Needing three points to guarantee progression, they started this match on the front foot - but Fernando Torres spurned two half-chances and the Liverpool striker clearly looks like a man still feeling his way back after injury.
Yet the European champions were soon being cut open as Chile, whom some observers consider to be a South American version of Spain, attacked them with short incisive passes and constant movement off the ball in support of their team-mates.
Coached by Argentine Marcelo Bielsa, they could have taken a 10th-minute lead after a brilliant move saw Jean Beausejour - a winger who plays for Club America in the Mexico - execute a clever one-two with Jorge Valdivia, but Mark Gonzalez failed to connect properly with his low cross.
In a rare struggle to monopolise the ball, Spain looked riled - but while Chile worked overtime to establish the upper hand they lost their discipline - both Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce were rightly booked for nasty tackles and will miss the match against Brazil.
Firmly against the run of play, Spain's first goal came fortuitously.
Gerard Pique over-hit a long pass out of defence - which the out-of-sorts Torres was never likely to reach - but Chile goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo foolishly raced out of his penalty area to clear unsuccessfully into the path of Villa.
Lurking near the left touchline as the ball squirmed towards him, Barcelona's new £35m signing Villa instantly guided it over Bravo into the net - with his weaker left foot - from all of 40 yards.
Undaunted, the ever-threatening Beausejour raced away from Spain's back-line as he nearly created a dangerous one-on-one with keeper Iker Casillas - but Pique sped back to make a crucial block.
Clever Iniesta, who has struggled for fitness in the past three months, then gave Spain what looked like some breathing space with a typically classy second goal, executing snappy give-and-go exchanges with first Torres and then Villa before coolly guiding the ball into Bravo's far corner with breathtaking simplicity.
The biggest flashpoint moment of the match occurred in the build-up to that goal, as Torres went down following his pass after what looked like an accidental trip from behind by Marco Estrada.
Referee Marco Rodriguez obviously saw the incident differently as he gave Estrada a second yellow card.
Only when Chile were down to 10 men did Iniesta and Xavi start dictating the flow of the match with the cute passing triangles they execute for Barcelona week-in week-out.
Recognising this, Bielsa made two changes at half-time - and three minutes after the interval substitute Rodrigo Millar, who had replaced Gonzalez, put the South Americans firmly back in to the match.
Finding space for himself among a posse of defenders outside the box, his snapshot took a wicked deflection off Pique to loop high past a flailing Casillas.
Chile now needed just one more goal to put themselves back in the frame to finish top, but Spain had just enough about them to take advantage of the extra man.
With Torres clearly struggling, on came Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas in his place as Del Bosque tweaked his side's formation to leave Villa - who now has three goals from this tournament - at the spearhead of their attack.
Although he thrived off the responsibility and set about terrorising the manful Chile defence with real adventure and wit, clear chances were at a premium as the match became more squeezed with both teams eyeing greater challenges ahead; namely a place in the quarter-finals.

Chile	1-2	Spain	FT
Rodrigo Millar, 47	(HT 0-2)	Villa, 24 Iniesta, 37
Team
Chile 01 Bravo 03 Carrizo 04 Isla 17 Medel 18 Jara 08 Vidal 10 Valdivia (20 Rodrigo Millar, 46) 11 Gonzalez (22 Paredes, 46) 13 Estrada 07 Sanchez (16 Orellana, 65) 15 Beausejour		Spain 01 Casillas 03 Pique 05 Puyol 11 Capdevila 15 Sergio Ramos 06 Iniesta 08 Xavi 14 Alonso (20 Javi Martinez, 73) 16 Busquets 07 Villa 09 Torres (10 Fabregas, 55)
12 Pinto, 23 Marin, 02 Fuentes, 05 Contreras, 19 Fierro, 20 Rodrigo Millar, 21 Tello, 09 Suazo, 16 Orellana, 22 Paredes		Substitutes: 12 Valdes, 23 Reina, 02 Albiol, 04 Marchena, 17 Arbeloa, 10 Fabregas, 20 Javi Martinez, 21 Silva, 22 G Jesus Navas, 13 Mata, 18 Pedrito, 19 Llorente
Venue: Loftus Versfeld Stadium Referee: M Rodriguez Attendance: 41,958

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Spain's Juan Mata debut with a beautiful ending

Spain star Juan Mata has expressed his delight at making his World Cup debut in the 2-0 Group H victory over Honduras.

The Valencia forward was introduced midway through the second half as Spain cruised to a comfortable win and afterwards declared that the European champions will get better as the tournament progresses.

"It's a dream to be here, I made my World Cup debut with a win and now we must think of Chile and try to qualify. The only negative was we were unable to score more goals, but the important thing was to win and we did," he told Super Deporte.

"As the competition progresses the team will get better. Today we are pleased with the three points, which are very important and now we have to think about the next opponent."

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David Villa scored twice and should have completed his hat-trick but Spain earn vital three points

David Villa struck twice as Spain got their World Cup campaign back on track with a comfortable victory over Honduras, but with more clinical finishing the Euro 2008 champions could have scored a hatful.

Villa opened the scoring in the first half with a stunning finish into the top corner and doubled the lead with a deflected drive from distance, before he missed a chance to complete his hat-trick by firing a penalty wide.

After the much-fancied Spanish had slipped to a shock defeat in their opening game against Switzerland on Wednesday, they needed to produce a performance in front of a large contingent of their expectant fans at Ellis Park.

After Chile's 1-0 win over the Swiss earlier in the day they knew defeat would end their interest in the tournament, but that was never a realistic proposition as they dominated proceedings from the outset.

Playing with an intensity that was badly lacking against Switzerland they swarmed all over Honduras and could have been 3-0 up by the time Villa eventually scored, as Fernando Torres mis-kicked, Sergio Ramos headed over from point-blank range and Villa's 25-yard screamer cannoned off the crossbar.

When Villa did break the deadlock in the 25th minute, he showed why Barcelona have just spent £35m to acquire his services.

Trapped against the left touchline he showed a devastating turn of pace to speed in-between two defenders and slam a shot into the top corner from inside the box.

The Hondurans simply were not good enough to quell the onslaught and Spain flooded forward at will as Xavi missed Jesus Navas's cross by inches and then Torres headed a golden chance into the ground before the Liverpool star ballooned another chance haplessly over from inside the box.

Villa was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after he aimed a slap in the direction of Emilipo Izaguirre, but soon after the break he wrapped it up when Xavi fed him just outside the Honduras area and his right-foot shot flew in via the outstretched leg of defender Osman Chavez.

After Ramos fired inches wide from the edge of the box Villa was presented with a glorious opportunity to score a World Cup hat-trick when Izaguirre brought Navas down in the area, only for the striker to step up and slot his spot-kick past the post.

Honduras could barely get into Spain's half let alone create a chance of their own, though on one occasion David Suazo did send a left-foot shot wide from outside the box - but that was as close as Iker Casillas came to being put under pressure on a comfortable night for the Spanish goalkeeper.

With the game won Vicente del Bosque made changes and the introduction of Cesc Fabregas almost lifted the roof off Ellis Park when, 16 seconds after being introduced, he beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper only to see his shot hacked off the line by Chavez.

Villa saw another hat-trick opportunity go begging when Sergio Mendoza's brilliant last-ditch block prevented him from tapping in, but Spain probably already had one eye on Friday's crunch tie against Chile in Pretoria.

If Switzerland beat Honduras in their final game, it is a match Del Bosque's team probably have to win against the Group H leaders if Spain are to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Spain	2-0	Honduras	FT
Villa, 17, 51	(HT 1-0)
Team
Spain 01 Casillas Captain 03 Pique 05 Puyol 11 Capdevila 15 Sergio Ramos (17 Arbeloa, 76) 08 Xavi (10 Fabregas, 65) 14 Alonso 16 Busquets 22 G Jesus Navas 07 Villa 09 Torres (13 Mata, 70)		Honduras 18 Valladares 02 Chavez 03 Figueroa 21 Izaguirre Yellow card 23 Mendoza 08 Wilson Palacios 13 Espinoza (12 Georgie Welcome, 45) 19 Turcios Yellow card (07 Nunez, 63) 20 Guevara Captain 11 Suazo (10 Jerry Palacios, 84) 15 Martinez
12 Valdes, 23 Reina, 02 Albiol, 04 Marchena, 17 Arbeloa, 06 Iniesta, 10 Fabregas, 20 Javi Martinez, 21 Silva, 13 Mata, 18 Pedrito, 19 Llorente		Substitutes: 01 Ricardo Canales, 22 Donis Escober, 04 Johnny Palacios, 05 Bernardez, 14 Garcia, 16 Mauricio Sabillon, 06 Thomas, 07 Nunez, 17 Alvarez, 09 Pavon, 10 Jerry Palacios, 12 Georgie Welcome
Venue: Ellis Park Referee: Y Nishimura Attendance: 54,386

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