Spain beats Chile 3-2 in friendly

Spain beats Chile 3-2 in friendly

Published Sep. 2, 2011 11:20 p.m. ET

Cesc Fabregas scored a penalty at the second attempt in injury time to give Spain a 3-2 win over Chile in a friendly on Friday.

Midfielder Isla Mauricio and forward Eduardo Vargas put Chile ahead, but Andres Iniesta came off the bench in the second half to score with a long strike before setting up Fabregas for the equalizer.

Chile looked set to salvage a draw until Fernando Meneses fouled Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa in the area.

Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo blocked Fabregas' spot kick, but the new Barcelona midfielder tapped in the rebound for the victory.

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Fabregas gave all the credit to Iniesta.

''I wasn't the game changer, it was Andres who turned the game around,'' Fabregas said. ''He was incredible. He scored the goal that gave us hope and made the pass to me for the second that I only had to touch to put in.''

Spain continues its defense of its European title on Tuesday when it hosts Liechtenstein in a Euro 2012 qualifier. The world champions are in first place in Group I, six points ahead of second-place Czech Republic.

Chile will also visit Spain to play Mexico in a friendly in Barcelona on Sunday.

After a lackluster first half, Spain looked ready to flop yet again in friendlies against quality opponents. But Spain coach Vicente del Bosque made wholesale changes that completely changed the game.

Midfielder Xavi Hernandez made his 102nd appearance for La Roja at AFG Arena, equaling Raul Gonzalez as Spain's most capped outfield player.

Chile took the initiative from the start, pressing up the pitch with a defensive line of three and Barcelona's new signing Alexis Sanchez spearing the attack.

The payoff came in the 10th when Isla latched on to West Bromwich Albion defender Gonzalo Jara's long pass and blasted it past Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas into the top left corner of the net.

Just when Spain's passing game was showing signs of coming to life, Vargas combined with Sanchez to break Spain's defensive line before rounding Casillas and rolling in Chile's second in the 20th.

Iniesta came on for Xabi Alonso at the beginning of the second half and took 10 minutes to halve Spain's deficit with a bouncing strike from outside the area.

Del Bosque sent on more reinforcements and Spain's fresh legs cut off Chile's flow in attack.

Spain drew level in the 71st when Iniesta played Fabregas through the center of the defense for his new teammate to slot under Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

Chile was left with 10 men from the 83rd after Pablo Contreras was shown a red card for a hard tackle on Santi Cazorla.

Spain's strong second-half performance should help calm worries that the growing friction between Barcelona and Real Madrid has spread to the Spanish national team.

World champion Spain has never lost to Chile in nine meetings.

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Lineups:

Spain: Iker Casillas (Pep Reina, 46); Sergio Ramos, Javi Martinez, Raul Albiol, Alvaro Arbelao; Xavi Hernandez (Cesc Fabgregas, 64), Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso (Andres Iniesta, 46); David Silva (Santi Cazorla, 80), Alvaro Negredo (Fernando Torres, 64), David Villa (Pedro Rodriguez, 46).

Chile: Claudio Bravo; Gonzalo Jara, Arturo Vidal, Pablo Contreras; Jean Beausejour, Carlos Carmona, Mauricio Isla (Fernando Meneses, 84), Gary Medel; Fabian Orellana, Alexis Sanchez, Eduardo Vargas (Felipe Seymour, 58).

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