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Spain warm up for Serbia with 2-1 win over Canada [Mon Sep 5th, 2005]
Santander (Reuters) - Neatly taken strikes from Raul Tamudo and Fernando Morientes earned unimpressive Spain a 2-1 win at home to Canada in a friendly international.
Espanyol centre-forward Tamudo put Spain ahead with a fine header early on in the first half and Liverpool striker Morientes scored his 25th goal for the national side with an opportunist effort 20 minutes from time.
Canada replied with the best goal of the night when substitute Sandro Grande netted with a stunning 20-metre first-time shot three minutes later.
"We didn't give a good image of ourselves and played pretty poorly. It showed we were at the start of the season," said Spain coach Luis Aragones.
With one eye on next week's World Cup qualifier against Group Seven leaders Serbia & Montenegro, Aragones fielded his second-string line-up to start the game.
The home side still made a promising start when Albert Luque created Spain's opener in the seventh minute.
The Newcastle United forward picked out the unmarked Tamudo with a ballooning cross from the left and the little striker finished off by sending a perfectly placed header back across the goal and inside the near post.
Canada, who are already out of running for World Cup qualification, were slow to warm to the task, but pressed hard towards the end of the first half and put together some neat passing play in midfield.
Dwayne de Rosario tested keeper Pepe Reina with a snap shot in the 36th minute, and the Liverpool player made an excellent reflex save to beat away a fierce drive from fellow striker Tomasz Radzinski after slack marking by the Spanish defence.
Tamudo almost got a second for Spain at the start of the second half when he cut into the area from the left, but keeper Kenny Stamatopoluos reacted quickly to block his drilled shot.
Aragones then decided to send on his first-choice strike partnership of Raul and Morientes as well as winger Joaquin earlier in the second half.
It was Morientes who extended the Spanish lead 20 minutes from time when he steered in from a tight angle after Stamatopoulos spilled a back heel from Raul following a neat through ball from De la Pena.
Canada replied almost immediately when midfielder Grande scored with a stunning 20-metre curler a minute after stepping on to the pitch.
Raul could have added a third for Spain in the dying minutes, but the Real Madrid striker was denied first by Stamatopoulos and a minute later by the woodwork.
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