It
looked set to be a frustrating start to La Roja's bid to make it to the finals
in Brazil, as a wall of Georgian defenders repelled wave after wave of attack
and the hosts even initially overcame the loss of goalkeeper Giorgi Loria to
injury in the second half.
But then
the visitors played a corner short to substitute Cesc Fabregas, whose low
centre was swept home by Soldado.
It was
the perfect riposte from the Valencia striker, who was not included in Vicente
del Bosque's squad for the Euro 2012 campaign, to the surprise of many at the
time.
The win
maintains Spain's unbeaten run in competitive matches stretching back to their
1-0 loss to Switzerland in their opening game at the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa.
"I
would like to congratulate Georgia for their extraordinary performance,"
said Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque. "They played with great enthusiasm
and made it very difficult for us."
Del
Bosque added that the second-half introductions of Cesc, Pedro Rodriguez and
Santi Cazorla proved crucial in helping Spain break down their opponents.
"We
had various options to try and break through, and it's true that Cesc and Pedro
moved well between the lines, with intelligence, and it was from that the gap
eventually appeared."
Georgia
coach Temuri Ketsbaia had seen his side beat Belarus 1-0 here in their opening
qualifier at the weekend, but he made it clear that Spain arrived at the Boris
Paichadze stadium as "the best team of all time."
And yet
this was so very nearly a huge anti-climax for a Spain side that had cruised to
the finals of the European Championship by winning every qualifier.
The
pattern of the game was like so many involving Spain in recent times, with
Georgia sometimes having all 11 players back behind the ball as the visitors
camped in the final third.
They had
chances, with David Silva crashing a left-foot shot off the woodwork following
Xavi Hernandez's lay-off just before the half-hour mark.
Soon
after, a Xavi effort from 25 yards was tipped over the bar by Loria, before the
Barcelona playmaker found Soldado, who was denied by the Dinamo Tbilisi
'keeper.
With the
scores still goalless, there was always a threat that Georgia could steal the
lead with a moment of magic, and they nearly did just that early in the second
half when defender Aleksandr Amisulashvili curled a shot off Iker Casillas'
right-hand post.
But that
was a rare moment of respite, and Georgia looked in trouble when, after a
stoppage of several minutes for treatment, Loria had to be replaced.
His
place was taken by Roin Kvaskhvadze, who was winning his first cap.
It
proved to be quite a baptism of fire for the 23-year-old, who held on for 13
minutes until Soldado finally struck to silence the home fans in a 56,000
sell-out crowd.
Source: MSN.Com
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