Spain's World Cup dream comes to an end
The king is dead. The World Cup will have a new champion.- Spain's attacks against Chile were sluggish and predictable. The team will now face Australia, the World Cup's lowestranked team, that proved a far tougher opponent for the Netherlands than the Spanish were last week.
- Together, Alonso and Xavi benched and unused Wednesday after an ineffectual game against the Netherlands as well as Casillas and defender Sergio Ramos have played a total of more than 500 games for Spain. But Spain simply looked jaded in Brazil.
- Spain looked unbalanced in Brazil. Their only goal against the Netherlands was a penalty that Xabi Alonso put away.
- Del Bosque came to Brazil with a goalkeeper, Casillas, who is no longer undisputed No. 1 at his club, Real Madrid, with a midfield playmaker, Xavi Hernandez, who at 34 is passed his peak, and with a new striker, Diego Costa, who has been a major
- But Spain's demise was also a reminder of how fiendishly difficult it is to retain the World Cup and for coaches to keep teams fresh and motivated in the four-year gap between tournaments.Only Italy - winners in 1934 and 1938 - and Brazil -champions
- In Brazil, the advancing age of key players, grievous mistakes from captain Iker Casillas and others, and coach Vicente del Bosque's failure to read the writing on the wall fatally threw the Spanish machine out of gear.
- Then it will be "adios" and a return home to the inevitable post-mortem of how a team that played like clockwork in defending its European title two years ago could fall so far, so quickly.
- With no points from its first two games, Spain will play for pride when it meets Australia - also winless in its first two games - in their last match Group B match on Monday
- A native ball game being played between Parampuzha team and Puthupally team at Manarcaud LP school ground on Sunday. (Photo: DC)
- Fevered Chilean supporters rocked the Maracana Stadium with chants of "Chile, we love you!" They will be able to recount how they saw their team put two goals without reply past one of the greatest teams global football has ever seen.
- They were made to look vulnerable last week in losing 5-1 to the Netherlands and then simply plain ordinary by a physical and quick Chilean side.
- Chile delivered the mortal blow to an uninterrupted 6 year era of dominance for Spain, the European and world champions whose dazzling footballers ran out of puff in Brazil.
- But the Netherlands, the other winner on Wednesday, defeating Australia 3-2, look like an increasingly good prospect to take the throne Spain vacated.Croatia and Cameroon played in the late game Wednesday.
- Just like France in 2002 and Italy in 2010, defending champion Spain is going home tail between its legs after losing 2-0 to Chile on Wednesday.
The king is dead. The World Cup will have a new champion.
Spain's World Cup dream comes to an end
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