London Olympics 2012

Spain's football team crashes out of Olympics

Associated Press | Updated Jul 30, 2012 at 10:16am IST

London: Spain were eliminated from the men's Olympic soccer tournament Sunday after another 1-0 loss.

Honduras forward Jerry Bengtson scored the lone goal in the seventh minute, knocking a header past Spain goalkeeper David de Gea.

It was an intense match packed with heated aggression. Spain players picked up seven yellow cards and Honduras six.

Spain\'s football team crashes out of Olympics

Juan Mata despairs following Spain's shock exit from the tournament.

"The team was tense from the beginning because they knew that they had to score to qualify for the next round," Spain's coach Luis Milla said. "And the early goal made it harder."

Spain's under-23 team has been under enormous pressure to follow in the footsteps of the senior side, which has won the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship.

When asked if he thought the pressure affected the team, Milla said, "Yes, it's possible that the pressure was there, but they are players who play at the highest level.

"The coaching staff has to analyze what led to the elimination. We have to find out what happened."

Besides returning home without a medal, Spain could find themselves in the awkward position of coming back from a major tournament without a goal if they don't score in the last match against Morocco on Wednesday in Manchester. Spain also lost 1-0 to Japan on Thursday.

Honduras are now second in Group D with four points, two behind leader Japan.

Honduras coach Luis Fernando Suarez admitted his team was lucky to come out of the match with all three points.

"Things went our way tonight, because Spain could have come back to tie or win the game," Suarez said. "We have to remain calm as we look to qualify, because the next match will be very hard."

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Olympics

London Olympics 2012

Posted on Jun 17, 2013 at 06:23PM IST
The 2012 Summer Olympics are planned to take place between 27 July 2012 and 12 August 2012 in London. The London 2012 Olympic bid was announced as the winner of the bidding process on 6 July 2005, following unsuccessful bid attempts for previo ...

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