Spain players celebrate after Jesus Navas scores their side's winner, Spain v Croatia, Euro 2012, Gdansk, Poland
Spain head coach Vicente Del Bosque gave credit to opponents Croatia
after his side's 1-0 win, in which Spain struggled to break down their
industrious opposition.
Until Jesus Navas' late goal, Spain
struggled to create any openings, whilst at the other end the Croatians
had several good opportunities to open the scoring.
Del Bosque conceded his side were frustrated by the Croats, even though they presented a not unexpected challenge.
"It
was a tense game, very difficult," Del Bosque said. "We didn't have
much incision, they defended well and counter-attacked. It was as we
expected.
"We had expected that they would remove a striker and
strengthen the right side with Vida.
They did well and didn't leave any
space. The result showed our strength, but also confused us.
"We
needed not only the ball, but also to create openings. With Cesc and
Navas we achieved that. We are only thinking of progression. There is no
advantage in drawing France, England or Ukraine in the next round."
Goalscorer
Jesus Navas joined his manager in commending the Croatian performance,
but believes his side always had enough belief to claim the win.
"The
truth is that it was a complicated final game," Navas said. "They
played well, as we did. They were well organised, but we grew into the
game and got the goal.
"We are players that always give our all,
for the victory, because it is what we believe in. We earned the three
points and we are looking forward to what's to come."
Official man
of the match Andres Iniesta added: "It was a very difficult game, they
had chances. Well, it was a hard game to play because of the situation,
for the fact that we were nearly qualified, but well, we were there
until the end, and then we got the goal that calmed everything down."
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