Despite missing several regular starters and facing a Finland side that held them to a draw in their first meeting, Spain had no trouble getting some revenge as they downed the Huuhkajat 2-0 on Friday evening. Jordi Alba and Álvaro Negredo did the damage for La Roja.
Finland vs. Spain: Final score 0-2, La Roja stroll to an easy victory over the Huuhkajat
Spain weren’t amazing against Finland, but they didn’t need to be as they rolled to a painless victory and opened up a three-point advantage over France in Group I.
Finland's plan to sit extremely deep and try to steal a goal on the counter attack worked well at first considering Spain had plenty of the ball, but failed to do much with it. Finland even came close, nearly getting an own-goal after a mishit ball nearly got past Iker Casillas.
Unfortunately for Finland though, their defense couldn't hold up to the relentless attack. They broke down in the 18th minute when Jordi Alba slipped in a gap on the left side and brought down a floating pass from Cesc Fábregas. The fullback fought off a desperate challenge from Joona Toivio and waited until goalkeeper Nikki Maenpaa committed to dropping to the ground before rolling the ball into the empty net.
Despite the fact that the game remained 1-0 for most of the second half, La Roja was never really in danger of letting Finland back in the match. Spain finally put the match to bed in the 85th minute when Jesus Navas laid off a ball into the centre of the Finland box where it was chipped past Maenpaa by Álvaro Negredo to make it 2-0.
With France's scoreless draw against Georgia, Spain have opened up a three point lead at the top of the group with only two matches left to play for each team.
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