Adiós Spana

Photo: Sergio Ramos holds his head after Spain suffers 2-0 loss to Chile in the second game in the World Cup and are effectively eliminated from the competition.

Well the first sign of who will become champions of the World is getting a little bit clearer as the defending champions Spain was booted out on Wensday after suffering a second straight defeat. The Spainish seemed to have never really recovered from their 5-1 thumping from the Netherland’s and entered the game against Chilie with pretty much the same body language. The defending champions knew that only one result could still give them a chance at defending their title and that was a win. However, little did they knew that Chile was just as hungry for a win and determined to make it out of the group stages. 

Many will sit and try to analyze what went wrong and blame Iker Casillas for giving up some soft goals and also blame Vicente DelBosque for not selecting the correct team and forcing to play with a designated striker. The truth is shown in the statistical data –  the Spanish has not changed their style of play and brought in new additions.

The data shows that the Netherlands qualifed for the World Cup with 9 wins and a draw and scoring some 34 goals while concedding only 5. It also shows that in Chile’s last six games they had 5 wins and a draw. The Spanish results were just not as good however, against some lesser teams which they only managed to score 14 goals over 8 games, that’s an average of  1.75 goal per game. So goal scoring was always a problem for the Spanish and it showed, as they looked like an athlete who was at his/her prime got injuired and just learning the game all over. 

Its not that the selection, formation,tatics or anything eles was wrong, it was that Spain are the defending champions and everyone wants to beat the champion and the Spanish was just simply not up to par with other teams in the group. The Spanish have more than enough quality to bounce back. To do that however, major changes would have to come starting with senor Del Bosque who must give way for new blood to take over and try and emulate what he and his boys have done.

The Spanish fans will no doubt be gutted but shouldn’t jump to blame anyone as this team was on the brink of greatness wining Euro in 2008 and defended it in 2012 and winning their first ever World Cup in 2010. Defending it was just not to be and hats must go off to them and its just goes to show why this is the World’s Cup.

So it will be a dog fight come next Monday between Chile and the Netherlands because it dosent matter how good these teams are it is almost a surity that neither team will want to face Brazil in the first knock-out round with home support so large.