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This Tuesday (18.06), current World Cup holders Spain took to the pitch at the stage of the 2014 World Cup final, the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. However, it was only to bid farewell to the tournament in a melancholic manner. After being thumped 5-1 by the Netherlands in their first match in Salvador, Vicente del Bosque’s team was beaten once again, this time 2-0 by Chile. The match attracted 74,101 fans to the stadium.
The two defeats mean that Spain has no chance of making it to the tournament’s knockout stage. In the last group game, Spain and Australia will play each other at the Baixada Arena in Curitiba, but neither of them will qualify for the next round. This is the third time in recent history that the current holders underperform and crash out in the group stage. France won the World Cup in 1998 and fell at the group stage in 2002. Italy won in 2006 and did not get through the group stage in 2010.
On the other hand, Chile and the Netherlands won their two first fixtures and in the last group stage game will decide amongst themselves who tops the group. Group B winners and runners-up play a team from Group A, made up of Brazil, Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon.
Chile’s goals were scored in the first half. In the 19th minute, in a good move by the Chilean attack, Aránguiz was at the end of a pass fed through by Sánchez on the right, and passed the ball to the middle of the box. Vargas controlled it, took it away from Casillas and opened the score. The second goal came in the 43rd minute. Casillas parried a Sánchez free-kick into the middle of the box. Aránguiz got on the end of it and increased Chile’s lead.
“I’m very happy for the effort put in by the whole team. The idea was to hold Spain back and everyone performed at the level that we wanted them to. The idea now is to continue our run against the Netherlands and try to win group, and then take one step at a time”, stated Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli.
“It’s difficult to explain what happened. We’d like to say sorry to everyone who expected so much from us. We did everything we could. It hurts and we’re the ones responsible for it. There’s no other alternative other than to look into the future. The Netherlands and Chile were better”, stated keeper Casillas, who lifted the trophy in 2010.
Agencies/Canadajournal
