By Brendon Hanley Jun 28, 2009, 17:20 GMT
Rustenburg, South Africa - European champions Spain clinched third place at the Confederations Cup with a 3-2 extra-time victory over hosts South Africa in Rustenberg on Sunday.
Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso struck a 107th-minute winner for Spain after the match had ended 2-2 in a dramatic end to regular time at the Royal Bafokeng stadium.
Alonso's curling free-kick evaded everyone and sailed past a surprised keeper Itumeleng Khune to give Spain the consolation prize.
'I struck it well,' he said about the winner. 'But in the end, it was just important for us to win.'
South Africa took the lead through substitute Katlego Mphela and were heading for victory until Spain's own super sub Daniel Guiza struck twice in the last three minutes.
But the drama wasn't over, and with many of the home crowd leaving Mphela struck a direct free-kick into the top of the net in the third minute of stoppage time to take the match into extra time.
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque praised a 'magnificent effort' after his side recovered from the late equalizer from the hosts.
Despite the defeat South Africa's Brazilian coach Joel Santana was pleased with his side's display. 'We played very well,' he said. 'It was a very good performance in a fantastic match. It showed that we were every bit the equals in this tournament against the European Champions.
'We had a good campaign and a good game. It was a positive experience and we'll try to be even better prepared for the World Cup next year,' he said.
South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena said: 'We are really devastated. We made it difficult for them. We deserve credit, we gave it all.'
Spain dominated the early exchanges and could have gone ahead after just five minutes when David Villa cut in from the left before unleashing a powerful shot that Khune did well to tip the ball around a post.
However, South Africa slowly began to find their feet and Bafana's first opportunity of note went to Matthew Booth nine minutes later, but the giant defender saw his header sail wide of the far post.
Villa was denied again on 21 minutes by a last-ditch Tsepo Masilela tackle, while a minute later MacBeth Sibaya did well to cut out a Fernando Torres shot from eight metres.
In what was now an evenly-matched encounter, Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas was the next to be called into action on 32 minutes, when Siphiwe Tshabalala tried his luck with a shot from distance.
Casillas could only parry the well-struck effort into the path of Booth, who put his shot just wide from 8 metres.
Del Bosque replaced the tiring Torres and Villa with Guiza and David Silva shortly before the hour mark in an effort to give the European champions added impetus up front.
The move almost paid immediate dividends when Riera was released in the 62nd minute, but the Liverpool star failed to connect properly with his shot, allowing Khune to save well at his near post.
The goalkeeper was also in the right place two minutes later to block a shot from Santi Cazorla as South Africa weathered a bout of sustained Spanish pressure.
Santana made some changes of his own in an effort to break the deadlock, bringing on Mphela for Steven Pienaar and Elrio Van Heerden for Teko Modise.
The move certainly paid off as it was Van Heerden's ball that sprung Tshabalala on the left wing, who then found Mphela unmarked in the Spanish box. The speedy striker just managed to the ball with his knee before blasting it into the roof of the net in front of the stranded Casillas.
Just as it looked like the Bafana would hold out for the victory, Guiza struck with just two minutes of regulation time remaining, chesting down a Cazorla cross from the right before slotting it through three defenders and past Khune.
And Guiza looked to have won it a minute later when his speculative shot from the right left Khune stranded as it went in off the post to leave the home crowd stunned.
Incredibly, there was still enough time for South Africa to equalize and send the match into extra-time as Mphela made it 2-2 with an excellent free-kick from all of 35 metres deep into added time.
Casillas was the saviour for Spain in extra-time, saving with his leg from Mphela and then stretching to tip a drive from Bernard Parker round the post, until Xabi Alonso settled it for Spain.
After the match, Santana said his team had improved so much since losing to Spain 2-0 in Group A last Saturday.
'You can see that we are calmer, we have more confidence,' said the boss. 'We held right with a world class team, just as we did in the last match against Brazil.'
But Mokoena said there was still more to do after the defensive lapses. 'Playing against these kinds of teams, you get punished,' he said about Guiza's first, before adding: 'All three goals, we could have done better.
'We're quite confident now that we can go out there and match those big, big countries.'
For their part, the Spanish were happy with third place, even though they had been favourites to lift the trophy.
'We felt at ease in the Confederations Cup,' said Del Bosque. 'It was a positive experience for us, and it will be important for us looking forward to June 2010.'
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