Spain strolled to a 2-1 victory over Uruguay in the opening game in Group B of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Both Spain goals came in a first half dominated by the FIFA World Cup™ holders. Pedro opened the scoring in Recife with a deflected effort his eleventh Spain goal this season- before Roberto Soldado grabbed the second. Luis Suarez struck a superb late free-kick with what was only Uruguay’s second shot on target.

The tone was set in the opening stages, as Spain enjoyed a remarkable 92 per cent of the ball in the first five minutes. That was an omen of things to come.

La Furia Roja took the lead when a Xavi corner was partially cleared by the Uruguay defence. The ball found its way to Pedro whose strike from the edge of the box took a huge deflection off Uruguay captain Diego Lugano and flew past Fernando Muslera.

Things did not get any better for La Celeste’s goalkeeper, who continued an unhappy 27th birthday by conceding again after the half-hour mark.

Iniesta sent Pedro wide on the right who in turn found Fabregas in the centre of the pitch. The Barcelona maestro pulled off a quite brilliant reverse pass to find Soldado on the edge of the box. Spain’s No14 made no mistake and calmly found the net.

The second half represented something of a procession for Vicente Del Bosque's men. Roberto Soldado went closest to adding another Spanish goal but he was inches away from a dangerous Pedro cross.

Luis Suarez struck late on, but it was not enough for the South American champions, as Spain survived a tetchy final few moments to collect all three points.

A lot of the pre-match talk was about Iker Casillas’ inclusion in the starting XI, but the Real Madrid man was hardly troubled. It is likely Spain’s No1 will have an even quieter evening when the FIFA World Cup holders face Tahiti at the Maracana on Thursday.


- Match stats:

Spain: Casillas; Arbeloa, Piqué, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Xavi (Javi Martínez 76’), Iniesta; Pedro (Mata 80’), Cesc (Cazorla 64’) y Soldado.

Uruguay: Muslera; Maxi Pereira, Lugano, Godín, Martín Cáceres; Gargano (Lodeiro 62’), Pérez (Forlán 69’), Cebolla Rodríguez; Gastón Ramírez (Álvaro González 46’); Luis Suárez y Cavani.

Bookings: Cavani 26’, Piqué 35’, Lugano 40’, Arbeloa 70’

Goals:

1-0 (21’) Pedro.
2-0 (32’) Soldado.
3-0 (87’) Luis Suárez.

- Match report by fifa.com