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Spain looking strong for Euros
Posted Sunday, May 27, 2012 by SNTV


Intro:

A much-changed Spain cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Serbia in a friendly international played in St, Gallen, Switzerland on Saturday.

Second half goals from Adrian Lopez and Santi Cazorla, the latter a penalty, gave the World and European champions - missing the likes of Andres Iniesta, Fernando Llorente and Sergio Busquets - the perfect start to their final preparations ahead of Euro 2012, which starts in two week's time.

Script:

World and European champions Spain stepped out on Saturday for the first of three pre-Euro 2012 friendlies against Serbia.

Playing in Switzerland, Spain were missing many of their first choice players.

The Copa del Rey final took place the day before so the likes of Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao's players were unable to make it over.

But Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo had a good chance in the second minute.

However, there weren't many others in the first half.

Xabi Alonso was forced to try a speculative effort from deep in his own half 27 minutes in - it came close, but the ball beat the crossbar.

In the end it was Serbia who got the ball in the net first, but Dejan Lekic's effort eight minutes before the break was rightly ruled offside.

Del Bosque rang the changes in the second half, bringing on Atletico Madrid pair Adrian and Alvaro Dominguez and Manchester City's David Silva.

Debutant Adrian changed the game for Spain, heading in the opener on 64 minutes.

He was then fouled by Chelsea's Serbia captain Branislav Ivanovic, drawing a penalty which Malaga's Santi Cazorla converted with ease.

2-0 the final score.

Standings
    Rank Team W/D/L Pts

    Cities & Stadiums

    The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments

    Year Winners Runner-up Third place
    2008SpainGermanyRussia / Turkey
    2004GreecePortugalNetherlands / Czech Republic
    2000FranceItalyNetherlands / Portugal
    1996GermanyCzech RepublicFrance / England
    1992DenmarkGermanyNetherlands / Sweden
    1988NetherlandsSoviet UnionItaly / West Germany
    1984FranceSpainDenmark / Portugal
    1980West GermanyBelgiumCzechoslovakia
    1976CzechoslovakiaWest GermanyNetherlands
    1972West GermanySoviet UnionBelgium
    1968ItalyYugoslaviaEngland
    1964SpainSoviet UnionHungary
    1960Soviet UnionYugoslaviaCzechoslovakia