A fleet and opportunistic Spain exploited the less-than-jewel movements of Switzerland’s back defense Saturday and made the World Cup quarterfinals with a somewhat deceptive 3-0 victory.
Having arrived with a legacy of being talented underachievers, Spain put on its best effort so far, earning a spot next against Italy or Nigeria, and running its lifetime record against the Swiss to a humbling 18 straight games without a loss.
The Swiss, known for political neutrality, had only themselves to blame for an at-times passive defense, though they deserved better and were hurt by the last-minute scratch of midfielder Alain Sutter, who broke a toe last week.
Still, the Swiss played strongly, relying on star forwards Stephane Chapuisat and Adrian Knup. They each had good chances throughout, and one brilliant Chapuisat move early, around a defender and down the left flank, came acropper only because Sutter’s substitute chipped a room-service pass way over the crossbar from nine yards out.
Three minutes later, one distinctly northern European component of the Swiss proved its downfall. That was its use of four defenders, or fullbacks, moving up and down in a line together and frequently seeking to catch opponents offside by quickly pulling up ahead of them.
After Chapuisat made a nice foray, only to lose the ball, Spain counterattacked via thin but tough midfielder Fernando Hierro.
Hierro was fed the ball on his side of the midfield and soon saw the four Swiss defenders moving up, seemingly to trap a Spanish forward on a wing offside.
Hierro got past one, then the second and, in what had the net effect of a brilliant pass to himself, kicked the ball forward and skipped over the final two, clumsily crisscrossing Swiss defenders.
A pass directed to his teammate would have brought an offside call. But Hierro was thinking only of himself and found only the ball 35 yards from the goal and Swiss goalie Marco Pascolo, instantly the lonliest fellow among the 53,121 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.
Hierro took five five loping strides to be within 18 yards and, bam, beat Pascolo low and to his left.
