Spain 1-5 Holland: Netherlands Destroy Spain

Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben
score twice as Dutch stun world
champions in Salvador

Three games in to this World Cup
and already the champions have a
weaker grip on their trophy. Spain
lost the first game four years ago,
too, but defeat by Switzerland back
then cannot compare
psychologically to the stunning
events of Friday night.

Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque
will ask himself quite how his team
lost from a winning position. A goal
up on the cusp of half-time, Spain
were cruising.

What will have kept him awake,
though, is the manner in which his
team lose all semblance of
discipline, confidence and
organisation once they went behind.

For the final half an hour the world
champions were an absolute
shambles as Holland went on to
exploit some surprising leaden-
footedness in the Spain defence to
score the goals that have threatened
to turn this tournament on its head
before it’s even properly got going.