The fall of an empire? Holland was just on fire everyone played amazingly. The goal of the match obviously goes to RVP with that beauty of a header but Robben's second goal is a contender as well. I feel spoiled to see such a good game so early in the tournament!
RvP, the flying Dutchman, class first goal! That's what I love about him, does nothing the whole game but give him a sniff and he will bury it any way he can. Nice to see the Dutch settle down and play football, unlike the last time these two met. I hope their front three can stay fit because they are all class, experienced players. Looks like Spain have club hangover. Robben made fun of them all second half.
I don't agree, I think Spain were just utter crap in that second half. They were doing well in the first; if Silvas chip had of gone in I think they would have won it. Games swing on them small moments.
The Dutch played well, but Spain completely capitulated in the second half and I am not sure why, hard to explain. I think any smaller team, even Australia, will have more heart and won't get trounced by that much. Just my two cents.
Everyone here knows I'm a massive Spanish football supporter but no major complaints here.
Spain's penalty was never a penalty. Costa should have been sent off. Pique nor Ramos was at the races. Casillas had probably his worst game ever. Not 1 Spanish player looked good on the ball. Saying that, The Netherlands were very dirty throughout the game and were lucky not to see red as Costa should.
Netherlands' 3rd goal should have not counted, Casillas was clearly fouled by Van Persie off the ball. Spain had a goal ruled offside, looked good to me but whatever. Not to mention Torres is useless.
4-2 would have been a more fair result.
"fall of an empire?" how many times have we heard this? Spain lost to USA in the Confed Cup in 2009, looked average in 2010, were poor until final in Euro 2012 and were super average yet made final in 2013 Confed Cup. Not to mention Spain lost their 1st game to Switzerland in South Africa.
Spain sucked, sure! But when haven't Spain sucked in an opening game or group stage in the last 3 major tournaments?
Spain won't win, nor The Netherlands. After yesterday, neither will Brazil. I'm betting Argentina have a superb World Cup and Messi shines for the 1st time for them.
I didn't have a problem with Spain losing. Spain didn't deserve the penalty and Costa should have been sent off. Looking back, Casillas was exposed by Pique / Ramos in all the goals besides his mistake which created Van Persie's 2nd goal. He made several top saves too, including Sneijder's chance + double save, 2nd being Robben's volley.
Again, Spain won't win it but neither will The Netherlands.
Love that immature nature of yours mind (or not), bitter about Spain winning everything for the last 6 years? Totally! ;)
The irony.. The way you act when some other clubs lose.. You are the most immature spanish fanboy i have ever seen in other articles, you got SPANKED! haha!
Trying to throw out numbers like you're rain man constantly. You're only as good as your last game.
Citations needed, show me where I've done that. If you can then fair enough.
My comments are my opinions regarding football and specific games. However, most of my comments are grounded with facts and depict the reality of the situation.
Again, citations needed!
FYI, rain man didn't pull numbers out his head. If you watched documentaries about the man, Kim Peek, he was extremely terrible at math and hated people asking numerical questions. :)
2 of many that i've glanced at, you are the most smug person on here.
You can talk all you want, but you got DESTROYED yesterday, hilarious, after all your gloating.
If i was referring to Kim Peek i would have referred to him, since i'm referring to the part fictional character in the film 'Rain Man', i will continue to refer to that person, thanks though. Regardless, even if Kim did hate being asked, where else would he have pulled the numbers that he was quoting about past dates etc. on the documentaries? His ankle?! Stupid comment.
Spain certainly 'bit the dust' (another of your quotes on a team) yesterday, in an outrageous fashion.
Sad Spanish fanboy with a strange vendetta against English football.
What's wrong with saying Barca were smashed?! Or Chelsea still being retards?! Both factual and depicting reality! :)
Chelsea sacked Roberto after he won the Champions League and Barca didn't get anything out of a 7-0 result.
That isn't immature, it is pointing out reality!
Citations needed still!
The film, 'Rain Man' is based on Kim Peek! Jeez! And again, he hated people asking him math questions because he wasn't good at math. Memory, remembering the stuff he read, not so much math questions. Watch BBC documentary.
I'm actually English, luckily pundits like Lawro and Keane have a similar opinion to mine. I'll take theirs over people like yourself! :)
Before I forget, real citations needed! Something immature that isn't factual or depicting the reality of said situations! ;)
If Spain's penalty didn't count and the 3rd goal of the Netherlands didn't count, and Torres' offside goal had not been offside, as you state, the result would've been 4-1, not 4-2 ;)
In regards to the offside goal, the replay they showed during the match showed it was quite clearly offside.
4-2, more fair? I think 5-1 is a completely fair outcome. Spain's first goal was unfair and wouldn't have counted in a 100% fair game. However, one of the two invalid goals they made, I would have counted valid. I can't see anything that was wrong with any of the goals the Netherlands made (I don't understand what could possibly be wrong with the 3rd goal). So 5-1 is completely fair.
You think the Netherlands played dirty? You freaking kidding me? Got any examples of that? The Netherlands was barely making any fouls. In fact, they only really deserved ONE of the many yellow cards they got. The other cards were the result of Spain pretending to be hurt by even the slightest physical contact (this is how they got their unfair penalty as well). Not to mention the headbutt...
but lets see if holland can keep this up for the rest of the tournament. the dutch always have a flying start and fade in the later stages.
as for spain, i wouldnt write them off just yet. they are the current world and european champions. looks like they just had an off day. none of the players played to the capacity we all know they are capable of.
I'm still trying to figure out why Torres is there. Llorente would have been such a better option imo. But yeah of course Spain is not out - they have a deep squad and I'm hoping VDB tinkers with it to get the result they need next game.
Spain got destroyed! They're going home HHAHAHA!!!! Early departure for what's currently the worst country in the World Cup lol! Go cry RGB! You're gonna need a lot of tissues after that humiliation! LOL!
Watched all three games so far (except the 4th one), Spain v Netherlands was the best so far. Fantastic performance from Netherlands. Van Persie and Robben's goals....wow.
Spain got to get their acts together and try to win the next two games...
Watched all four games and all four have been fabulous in my eyes, for one reason or another. Usually a World Cup tournament starts defensively but 10 Goals scored in Group B already in just two matches. Loving it :D That is why the World Cup is the greatest sporting spectacle in history!
I knew this would happen. This spanish team needed a transition since last years confederation cup final. Tiki-taka has been found out, there's no other way about it. Yes the spanish clubs dominated this season but Barca wasn't among them. So why stick to their style? Del Bosque has the best squad on the planet. Players like Negredo and Isco weren't deemed good enough to be in this squad. Vincente del Bosque should change his tactics to suit the likes of other talented players who actually made an impact this season like Koke, Godin etc. Iniesta should be the only Barca player to start for Spain from now on.
Laughed a lot in this game I won't lie. I want England to win (hey we can dream!) but if I had to choose a team that deserves to win more than any other it's the Netherlands, definitely been robbed more than most if not all. I hope they make emends this year.
That is to say they had more talented teams than the opposition but lack self belief/crack under pressure.
Germany play attractive football, similar to English honestly but with more belief, I hope the two teams meet this year, I think it would be an intense game, the goal line tech would make it fair this time too!
The fall of an empire? Holland was just on fire everyone played amazingly. The goal of the match obviously goes to RVP with that beauty of a header but Robben's second goal is a contender as well. I feel spoiled to see such a good game so early in the tournament!
RvP, the flying Dutchman, class first goal! That's what I love about him, does nothing the whole game but give him a sniff and he will bury it any way he can. Nice to see the Dutch settle down and play football, unlike the last time these two met. I hope their front three can stay fit because they are all class, experienced players. Looks like Spain have club hangover. Robben made fun of them all second half.
That was beautiful!
The Dutch have sent a message in this World Cup. Spain's defense was horrible. Such an amazing header by VP.
Everyone here knows I'm a massive Spanish football supporter but no major complaints here.
Spain's penalty was never a penalty. Costa should have been sent off. Pique nor Ramos was at the races. Casillas had probably his worst game ever. Not 1 Spanish player looked good on the ball. Saying that, The Netherlands were very dirty throughout the game and were lucky not to see red as Costa should.
Netherlands' 3rd goal should have not counted, Casillas was clearly fouled by Van Persie off the ball. Spain had a goal ruled offside, looked good to me but whatever. Not to mention Torres is useless.
4-2 would have been a more fair result.
"fall of an empire?" how many times have we heard this? Spain lost to USA in the Confed Cup in 2009, looked average in 2010, were poor until final in Euro 2012 and were super average yet made final in 2013 Confed Cup. Not to mention Spain lost their 1st game to Switzerland in South Africa.
Spain sucked, sure! But when haven't Spain sucked in an opening game or group stage in the last 3 major tournaments?
Spain won't win, nor The Netherlands. After yesterday, neither will Brazil. I'm betting Argentina have a superb World Cup and Messi shines for the 1st time for them.