also thought the midfield was shocking last night.

We saw none of the pressing we are usually accustomed to seeing from spain, and the game seriously went into hollands hands when alonso went off. As you say, he wasnt anything special, but he kept the ball well enough.

If spain are to persist with this non-pressing style they need far more pace down the wings.

Shouldn't forget that they lost the First game 4 years ago as well.
Okay, that wasn't a hammering, but last night would have been a massive wake up call and once they find their rhythm they will return to being very dangerous.

Although anything but a win v Chile and it will all be too late.

They really should have won that game against the swiss though dj, they had plenty of chances. Last night was just carnage

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 3 minutes ago
Shouldn't forget that they lost the First game 4 years ago as well.
Okay, that wasn't a hammering, but last night would have been a massive wake up call and once they find their rhythm they will return to being very dangerous.

Although anything but a win v Chile and it will all be too late.
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It was completely different last night. I've seen Barça and Spain struggle at times recently but I've not seen Spain destroyed like that. Holland should have got to double figures.

Silva should definitely be dropped. I can't understand how Casillas starts either. I've had the insane opinion for the last 3 or 4 years that he really isn't nearly as good as his idolized status suggests. Alonso is functional and doesn't do enough both offensively and defensively. Xavi shouldn't be guaranteed a start.

What's the point bringing through all these players like Thiago, Isco, Koke, Martinez etc if you would insist on the old boys network. Some of the older players like Pedro and Fabregas should earn more time as well.

But that defence need to give themselves a long hard look as well. Just scandalous.

Awful performance.
No heart shown at all

I have suspicions Spain would do a France in this tournament. Chile is certainly a MUST WIN for them. And probably by a couple of goals considering their goal difference. Even a win would see them under massive threat of elimination considering the Netherlands would likely play a weakened team in that final game with Chile and Chile are more than capable of beating them.

Write off Spain at your peril !

That wasn't a loss.
That was a beating.
No comebacks from that

For everyone talking about how Spain lost their 1st game 4 years ago, there are some big differences.

Firstly the nature of the defeat last time was completely different, a flukey 1-0 loss in a game they dominated. Psychologically, it'll be harder to recover from a 5-1 thrashing. Secondly, last time they were able to get back on track with a gimme 3-pointer vs Honduras & get some confidence back before facing bigger tests. This time they're straight back into the fire in a must-win vs Chile.

The biggest difference is that in 2010 there was no other standout team in their group, so they were able to top the group with just 6 points and avoid, coincidentally, Brazil in the R16. This time, if they do qualify, they'll almost certainly do so in 2nd & have to play Brazil.

Yep. No movement. No speed in passing made it very easy work for the Dutch to counter. Struggling to think of what Spain actually did with the ball when they had it. Dutch were ruthless in their counter attacking. Brilliant stuff

comment by Mr Chelsea ✪ (U3579)
posted 18 minutes ago
...Struggling to think of what Spain actually did with the ball when they had it...
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Gave it to Torres, so he could fluff his lines? In fairness, I think the came had long gone for Spain by that point.

Spain should have been a couple up at halftime

after they conceded they just gave up

comment by The Kaiser's Trainers (U5676)
posted 13 minutes ago
Spain should have been a couple up at halftime

after they conceded they just gave up
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Should and could are different. Costa SHOULDN'T have won a penalty. Scheider SHOULD have scored. Silva too. It could easily have been 3-1 to Holland too.

Spain clearly out of their element in south america. Hopefully they will NOT find any form

xiu do you support spain in major tourneys ?

comment by pekster11 (U6618)
posted 4 minutes ago
xiu do you support spain in major tourneys ?
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NO!!! I am quite happy these days!!! Sad that England lost though!

wow you dont support spain even though so many barca/catalan players have made them successful in recent times

I have absolutely no affinity to Spain. For me, it is a foreign nation, an invader. It's like Scotland and England.

In fact, I will go a step further, my youngest daughter still can't speak Spanish. I intend her to have English as her second language.

well cataluna was there at the inception of spain..

it was a county of the kingdom of aragon, when ferdinand married isabella of castille and founded the spanish state

its just as much part of spain as castilla

a shame so many catalans have been brainwashed by a class of nationalist politicians who have their own agenda (ie power for themselves) into believing because they have their own regional language they are therefore a "nation"

french catalans who until the 19C also generally spoke catalan have no such nationalist ambitions...mainly because they lost their language to french

never underestimate the power of language to make ppl feel culturally and ultimately nationalistically different

teaching catalan as a first language in schools in cataluna has ultimately created a generation of catalans who dont feel spanish (because it is nolonger their mother tongue)

to keep spain as one state....monolingualism had to prevail (as in france)

franco was ultimately right in that respect, to ban the use of languages other than castillian

pekster, you don't live here so I really don't give a shít about your opinion. In fact, I don't speak Spanish at all well either and in my town, just outside Barcelona, nobody really speaks Spanish, just with tourists.

Spanish has never been the mother tongue ion Catalunya - even when Catalan was outlawed, we spoke Catalan. We had to live through a lot of things that you will never understand or believe and I will not even try to explain.

I have a few Spanish friends who come from Jaen in the south. We met in England when I was working and we got into these conversations based on myth that you are spouting. So I invited them here to see the truth and they were shocked to see that it is actually Madrid that spouts shít about us, not the other way around.

Franco was a dictator like Hitler and Mussolini so he was right about nothing. Supressing people's freedom is never right. You cannot make people be something they do not want to be.

well you give your opinion..and i respect that


and then i'll give my superior one

COME ON CHILE!!!

yessssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!