![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/howard.jpg?resize=280%2C300\" "\\"howard\\"")
<\/a>Tim Howard was given little help from his defense on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cSpain\u2019s a great team,\u201d said U.S. Head Coach Bob Bradley. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough test to play them anytime\u2026 But we\u2019ve chosen always to take these kind of challenges, play the best teams, because we feel along the way it\u2019s the best way for us to see what the game at the highest level is all about, best way for us to improve and hopefully there\u2019s things that we can take from this game that not only can help us in the next three weeks, but things that we can take from this game that help us as we keep trying to move forward again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States, without Captain Landon Donovan due to illness and leaving Clint Dempsey on the bench for the first half played a mixture of veterans and younger players that rarely looked on the same page. It took 40 minutes for the U.S. to generate any opportunities and Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina was never tested.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we I think we dominated well,\u201d said Spain Head Coach Vicente del Bosque through a translator. \u201cWe also are well aware that they had players who didn\u2019t play such as Donovan and Dempsey, important players.\u00a0 But we did a good job with our game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spain took the lead in the 28th<\/sup> minute through Santiago Cazorla. David Silva dribbled through the left side of the box and cut back to create space before sending a pass towards the penalty spot. Cazorla ran in on goal and blasted a shot past Tim Howard and into the upper corner to give Spain a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n Four minutes later Spain doubled the lead through Alvaro Negredo. A long pass from Xabi Alonso found a wide open Negredo in a gap in the defense. Negredo dribbled in on goal and slotted it past Howard and inside the post to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n Spain made it 3-0 in the 42nd<\/sup> minute when Silva again set up Cazorla with a pass from the left side of the box. Cazorla beat his mark and blasted it past Howard for his second goal of the night.<\/p>\n Halftime substitute Fernando Torres made it 4-0 in the 74th minute, getting the ball from Borja Valero and dribbling towards goal. Torres slid a shot past Howard under pressure that hit the far post and bounced back off the near post before entering the net.<\/p>\n Spain had the better of the early pressure and after seeing a few shots blocked, finally threatened the net in the 7th<\/sup> minute, when Cazorla unleashed a low shot from just outside the box. Cazorla\u2019s effort was out of Howard\u2019s reach, but landed just wide of the post.<\/p>\n Spain found the back of the net in the 9th<\/sup> when Villa was played behind the defense and found Silva with a square pass in front of goal. All alone, Silva easily redirected the ball into the net, but the Villa was ruled offside, despite replays showing the striker in an onside position.<\/p>\n The U.S. dodged another bullet in the 13th<\/sup> minute when Negredo managed to hold off Tim Ream and ran in on goal. Negredo caught \u00a0Howard off his line and attempted to chip a shot towards the far post, but saw his effort denied by the crossbar. Eric Lichaj just managed to hit the ball away before an onrushing Spanish forward could tap it into the net.<\/p>\n After going down 2-0, Howard prevented the U.S. from falling in a further hole in the 38th<\/sup> minute after a nice passing sequence gave Silva some space to shoot in the box. Silva powered a shot on frame, but Howard dove to make a nice save.<\/p>\n The U.S. had their first opportunity of the match in the 40th<\/sup> minute when Sacha Kljestan flicked a ball over the defense that somehow fell perfectly for Robbie Rogers. Rogers, in space, was quick to shoot and sent his shot wide of the far post.<\/p>\n The U.S. came out a bit more positive in the second half and a nice combination between halftime substitute Clint Dempsey and Sacha Kljestan set up Dempsey with an opportunity at the top of the box. The former New England Revolution midfielder created just enough space for himself to take a shot, but sent his effort wide of the net.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there were a few times in the second half where through a little bit of movement and a little bit of mobility and a little bit of confidence [we were able to] put them on their heels a little bit,\u201d said halftime substitute Michael Bradley. \u201cBut it still didn\u2019t amount to enough and we weren\u2019t able to sustain it long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Spain could\u2019ve added to their lead in the 64th<\/sup> minute, when Fernando Torres was played behind the defense, but he hesitated to shoot, cutting down his own angle before sending a shot into the side netting.<\/p>\n Spain seemingly took their foot off the gas late in the second half, but still found one more goal through Torres in the 74th<\/sup> minute to come away with a 4-0 victory.<\/p>\n The match was the U.S.\u2019 lone preparation for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, which kicks off next week. The U.S. opens group play on Tuesday in Detroit against Canada at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a tough tournament, but we want to do well in it,\u201d said Dempsey. \u201cWe want to win, that\u2019s the objective. First game is against Canada and that\u2019s what we\u2019re concentrating on right now. We need to start the Gold Cup off on a good note.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spain asked questions of the U.S. and their backline all night in a dominating 4-0 victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/howardfeature.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4845"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4862,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions\/4862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}