Friday, May 18th, 2012
Spain U-17’s achieved another hugely impressive victory in the Elite Round of qualifying for the U-17 European Championships, as they trounced Northern Ireland 5-1 with another special display from Gerard Deulofeu.
Spain were forcefully dominant for the whole game, and displayed their attacking intentions from the off as Coach Ginés Meléndez had clearly told his young charges to do their goal difference plenty of good.
It was there for no surprised at all they took the lead, though the goal that did break the deadlock on 19 minutes stunned those inside the stadium. After picking up the ball inside his own half Deulofeu ran with pace down the centre of the pitch, evading two players before getting into the box and gliding past another before slotting into the bottom corner.
After that there was no looking back, as Deulofeu once again was involved when he assisted Denis Suárez to make it 2-0 with half an hour played. With five minutes to go before half-time they put the game beyond doubt, when a long ball forward from Goalkeeper Herrero found Iker Hernández who ran onto the pass and slotted home.
At half-time Meléndez made a change by taking off Deulofeu, though the Spanish fans would’ve been disappointed not to get to see more the substitution was clearly made with one eye on the next game.
With such a distance between the two teams, Spain decided to relax and looked too comfortable – this allowing Northern Ireland in to pull one back. It was to be merely consolation though, as Iker Hernández and Pol Calvet added two more before the final whistle to improve the goal difference in the group.
Spain next plays on Thursday, against England in a game which will decide who goes through to the final round.
FT: Spain 5 – Northern Ireland 1
Spain: Herrero (David Gómez, 79); Menéndez, Garrido, Sáez, Luque; Deulofeu (Moisés, 50), Calvet, Iñiguez, Vico; Denis Suárez (Raúl de Tomás, 74), Iker Hernandez.
Tags: Gerard Deulofeu, Northern Ireland, Spain, U-17, Under 17
