Spain ride their luck in Riga

Spain's recovery in UEFA EURO 2008™ Group F continued with a 2-0 win in Latvia on Saturday although coach Luis Aragonés admitted his side were "lucky with the two goals".

Deflected strikes
Having lost successive away qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Sweden in the autumn Spain appeared to be in crisis, but Saturday's victory took their winning competitive streak to three games. That run has breathed new life into their qualification hopes, even though the two goals in Riga were hardly classics. Defender Arturs Zakreševskis played a significant part in David Villa's opener while Xavi Hernández's second took a decisive deflection off Andrés Iniesta.

Lucky breaks
"It was tough for us to score in the first half because they closed ranks at the back but our second goal put an end to a match that we controlled from start to finish," said Aragonés, whose side will move up into one of the two qualifying places in the section if they beat Liechtenstein on Wednesday. "We were lucky with the two goals, that's a clear fact, as it is that Spain were superior to Latvia."

Xavi suspended
Xavi will not travel to Liechtenstein, having been booked late in the game in Riga to earn a one-match suspension. He will be back on contention for the game against Iceland on 8 September. Villa, meanwhile, knows that Spain will reach next summer's tournament in Austria and Switzerlands if they continue to take their chances, saying: "We said that if we wanted to be in the finals we couldn't fail anymore."

Back to normal
Valencia CF forward Villa, who played up front alongside two debutants during the game - RCD Espanyol's Luis García in the first half and CA Osasuna's Roberto Soldado after the break - added: "The most important thing was the win. That first goal calmed things down for us. With these three points plus hopefully another three in Liechtenstein, Spain will be back to where we should be."