The second day of the FIFA World Cup 2014 produced eleven
goals, a thrashing for the defending champions and more contentious
officiating.
The opening game of the day was a scrappy, dogged affair
between Mexico and Cameroon. Both sides are realistically playing for second
place in the group behind Brazil so a win here was imperative.
The Mexicans dominated the possession and chances for much
of the game and eventually prevailed 1 nil following a Oribe Peralta finish in
the 61st minute but they’d not of had to have waited that long if
the assistant referee from Columbia had had his prescription updated before the
match.
Twice Giovanni Dos Santos was denied goals by the offside
flag in the first half so it was fitting that he provide the assist following a
solid shot from the edge of the area that was parried by Itanjde into Peralta’s
path for his 11th goal in his last 12 competitive matches for El
Tri.
To the main course where the expected Spanish omelette
instead resembled scrambled eggs and Dutch delight was on the menu.
Going into the tournament Spain were a lot of experts picks
to retain their title, but when the 23 man squad was named Coach Vincente Del
Bosque had named just three strikers. They were Diego Costa who was/is
recovering from a hamstring injury, the misfiring Fernando Torres and David
Villa who has just signed on to the retirement scheme European footballers call
Major League Soccer. Given the Spaniards lack of goals (8 in 7 games) in the
previous World Cup this would surely have been a concern to their fans and
especially when Fernando Llorente of Italian champions Juventus and Alvaro
Negredo of English champions Manchester City were left to holiday on the beach.
The Dutch on the other hand seemed overtly aware of their
potential shortcomings, Coach Louis Van Gaal disposing of their traditional
4-3-3 formation in favour of a more defensive minded 5-3-2 that allowed them to
sit back and soak up pressure before winning possession and hitting quickly on
the break through Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie.
Van Gaal’s tactical acumen won out on the day with Spain
lording possession but ultimately not being able to do enough with it to make a
difference.
To be fair they took the lead through a Xabi Alonso penalty
following a trip on the roundly booed Diego Costa (Brazilian born but opting to
represent Spain) and it took a moment of salmon like genius from Van Persie,
leaping full stretch and get his head to Daley Blind’s superb lofted pass, to
bring the sides level before half time.
Whatever was in the halftime “oranjes” certainly worked for
the Dutch as they came out firing. The incisiveness of Wesley Sneijder’s
passing and the pace and firepower of Holland’s front two were too much for a
pedestrian Spanish back line. Eight minutes into the second stanza a Van Persie
chip found Robben and he out stripped the defenders before cutting in and
firing past the helpless Iker Casillas.
From there things only got worse for the Real Madrid
custodian, first he failed to hold onto a free kick that was lofted to his far
post and Stefan de Vrij bundled the ball home for his first international goal
and then a complete howler as he miscontrolled and back pass that let Van
Persie steal in and notch his second of the day.
In between those strikes La
Roja were lucky to not be playing with ten men following Costa’s head butt
on Martins Indi which caused a coming together and eventually for the big
Spaniard to be substituted for Torres. Then with ten minutes left Robben struck
the fifth and final nail in the coffin, speeding past Sergio Ramos onto
Sneijder’s through ball and beating the retreating Spanish defence and the
defeated Casillas once again.
The last match of the day pitted the dark horses of Chile
against the whipping boys of Australia but in true Aussie fashion the men in
gold battled hard and gave the Chileans a real fight.
Early on it all appeared to be going to script with the
Socceroo’s defence looking unsure and unco-ordinated. Chile’s star man Alexi
Sanchez and prodigal son Jorge Valdivia had their side 2 nil up inside 14
minutes courtesy of goalkeeper Matt Ryan’s walk about and a well-placed edge of
the area shot.
Australians though are like cockroaches, hard to kill off,
and through a combination of the South American’s taking the foot off of the
gas and a rocket from the side-line for the Socceroo’s they clawed their way
back into the game. Particularly impressive were the right sided pairing of
Ivan Franjic and Matthew Leckie and it was that combination that set up Tim
Cahill for the Australian repost, a typically athletic leap over his marker to
head past the keeper.
The second half would have given Australian coach Ange Postecoglou
encouragement as his side dominated their more fancied opposition but
ultimately they didn’t have the quality to finish the chances created and it
was the Chileans through substitute Jean Beausejour who added to the score line
in the dying minutes.
Mexico 1
Cameroon 0
Holland 5
Spain 1
Chile 3
Australia 1
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