Diego Costa scored his first international goal as Spain bounce back to beat Luxembourg 4-0

Spain bounce back with Luxembourg success

Spain bounced back from the disappointment of losing their first qualifying game in eight years with a convincing win away at Luxembourg in Group C.

Vicente del Bosque made four changes following Spain's defeat by Slovakia and goals from David Silva, Paco Alcácer, Diego Costa and Juan Bernat were enough for the youthful-looking European champions, who were captained for the first time by midfielder Andrés Iniesta.

The opening minutes set the tone for the rest of the match, with Spain dominating possession and Luxembourg intent on soaking up pressure. Goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert twice denied Costa early on as the visitors looked for the breakthrough, which eventually came through Silva, who fired an unstoppable drive into the top corner after 27 minutes from just outside the box.

The goal brought a sense of relief for Spain, who then stepped up a gear and played with more freedom. Costa was again involved shortly after, latching onto a long ball before miscuing his shot when one-on-one with Joubert. Strike partner Alcácer endured no such problems, though, firing in Silva's cutback five minutes from half-time to double the lead and give the forward three goals in three competitive games for La Roja.

The second half followed a similar pattern to that of the first, with Spain on the front foot, and 20 minutes from time Costa was eventually able to score his first international goal after a scramble in the box following a Koke free-kick. Juan Bernat, making his debut after coming on as a second-half substitute, rounded off the scoring on the counterattack with three minutes to go.

Slovakia stops Spain 2-1

Slovakia's Stoch strikes late to end Spain run

A late goal from Slovakia substitute Miroslav Stoch ended Spain's eight-year, 36-match unbeaten run in qualifying and secured a famous Group C win.

Not since a 2-0 reverse in Sweden in October 2006 had Spain lost a qualifying fixture in either the UEFA European Championship or the FIFA World Cup, and it looked like that fate had been avoided when substitute Paco Alcácer cancelled out Juraj Kucka's first-half effort with eight minutes left. Five minutes later, however, Slovakia's own replacement Stoch converted a Michal Ďuriš cross to clinch a memorable Slovak victory.

The first half was the epitome of UEFA European Championship qualifying. Slovakia weathered shrewd Spanish play, aiming to first avoid conceding before taking the battle to the European champions. Iker Casillas's early save, remarkable for his instant reaction from Róbert Mak's point-blank volley, made it seem it might be his night – an impression shattered pretty promptly.

Although Diego Costa's header shaved the post and Andrés Iniesta shot narrowly past the other side of Matúš Kozáčik's goal, Slovakia suddenly led. After a Sergio Busquets foul, Vladimír Weiss tapped the free-kick to Juraj Kucka whose strike swerved beyond Casillas with the keeper moving right and the ball going left. 

Spain moved up a gear but Slovakia's hard work gave them the edge, although before the interval they needed two fine Kozáčik stops, first from Costa's header then from Busquets's volley, to stay in front.

After half-time the home custodian did equally brilliantly to divert good shots from Costa and Cesc Fàbregas before repelling Costa again after the striker had broken through. Kozáčik was finally beaten eight minutes from time, Jordi Alba's cross to Alcácer proving deadly, and it appeared Spain would escape with a point.

Slovakia, and Stoch, thought differently. Substitute Ďuriš played a lovely one-two with Marek Hamšík on the right before curling an ideal ball to the back post where Stoch nodded in to crown a remarkable evening in Zilina.

Spain salvage some pride in Brazil beats also run Australia 3-0

Jordi Alba hugs Fernando Torres as Spanish players console each other with a win

The Guardian

Spain attended their own funeral dressed in black. They came not to mourn their passing but to commemorate their life but there will be no evading the melancholy, nor the recriminations, and this was no celebration. It felt like it would be a game to endure not to enjoy. Spain departed Brazil to whistles and boos from Brazilian supporters who have been against them throughout this tournament and there were tears too, but they departed with a win.

Goals from David Villa, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata defeated Australia, prevented Spain from finishing bottom of Group B, and momentarily recalled a time when they were world champions, not the first team out. But there is no going back.

Torres scored the goal that began Spain’s era when he scored the winner against Germany in the final of the 2008 European Championship, and now he scored the goal that closed the era too. There may have been professional satisfaction but there was no smile, no raised arm and few came to shake his hand. There was nothing to cheer. There had not been much more of a reaction when David Villa opened the scoring in the first half.

The Australians will be seeing more of Villa: he will play there next season, as he awaits a definitive move to New York and a team who do not even exist yet. Spain will not see him again. This was his last game and when he was withdrawn early in the second half, he did so slowly and sadly, eyes down. As he sat on the bench, he put his head in his hands and cried. Neither he nor his team-mates ever wanted or ever expected it to end like this.

At least Villa could depart in a way that more or less befitted his career: with a goal. There was no place for the captain Iker Casillas nor for Xavi, this generation’s ideologue. His international career ended on the bench. A footballing “romantic”, as he himself has put it, he departed the World Cup without having played at Maracanã. At the end here, he headed straight down the tunnel. He did not even approach the pitch for one last, lingering look.

Deep down, Villa and Torres both know that they partly played because there was nothing to play for. Vicente del Bosque had said that he wanted to ensure that every player in the squad would get the chance to take part in the World Cup. Of those who had not played a minute at the tournament, only Juan Mata was left out of the starting XI. So there they were, up front together, just like old times. Villa, the miner’s son from Asturias, was especially active. He was also curiously addicted to flicks and back heels. And that was how the goal came too.

Andrés Iniesta’s wonderful pass released Juanfran on the right and he pulled the ball across the area where Villa applied the finish for the last time. Top scorer at Euro 2008 and at the World Cup four years ago, he became his team’s joint top scorer at this World Cup too, on one. With nine World Cup goals and sixty in total, achieved without the fanfare and political pressure afforded to other players, he became the country’s best ever striker.

Midway through the second half, Torres scored the 38th goal of his international career and probably the saddest too, slotting in neatly after another wonderful pass from Iniesta. It will be Iniesta who leads a new Spanish generation and another pass from him found Cesc Fábregas to cross for Juan Mata, who controlled and tucked the ball away neatly between the legs of Mathew Ryan. At least there was a smile this time; Mata came on as a substitute for his first minutes of this competition but he will surely have more in the future.

For now, though, it is the end. Spain had scored three times and largely controlled this game, even if this lacked the intensity, edge and importance of previous occasions. How could it not? Remember me like this, they appeared to be saying. Better still, remember me like that.

When the final whistle went, so did they. A bus took them straight to the airport where a plane waited to take them home.

Chile eliminated Spain 2-0

FOX NEWS 

RIO DE JANEIRO –  Defending champion Spain, the dominant global football power for the past six years, was eliminated from World Cup contention Wednesday with a 2-0 loss to Chile.

Spain's famed passing game failed against a high-tempo, tenacious Chile team, its era ending in the storied Maracana Stadium filled mostly with Chilean supporters.

Eduardo Vargas tricked goalkeeper Iker Casillas into diving the wrong way, then shot into an unguarded goal in the 20th minute. Charles Aranguiz scored in the 43rd when the ball landed at his feet after Casillas punched out a free kick.

Spain's second loss, after a 5-1 rout by the Netherlands, ended any hope of advancing. Chile and the Netherlands will both advance, regardless of who wins the game between them.

Spain won the European Championship in 2008 and 2012, in addition to the 2010 World Cup.

Spain came to Brazil with a very similar -- but older -- team than the one that won those titles. They added Brazilian-born striker Diego Costa, but he failed to score a goal.

Their "tiki-taka" style of play -- keeping the ball for long stretches with short passes, and only shooting when you had a clear opening -- had not been working as well in recent years. Brazil defeated Spain 3-0 in last summer's Confederations Cup, a warm-up for the World Cup.

Spain became the third straight European defending World Cup champion to flop in the group stage. France in 2002 and Italy four years ago also failed to advance, or even win a match.

Badly needing a win, del Bosque stayed loyal to captain Casillas despite the veteran goalkeeper's errors against the Dutch.

Two pillars of Spain's title runs, Barcelona pair Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique with a combined 194 appearances, were left out.

Xabi Alonso probably should have joined them. His agonizing first half typified Spain's problems and his errors led to both goals.

And Alonso's selection left a younger version of his former self, Atletico Madrid's Koke, on the bench until the logical change was made at half time.

Alonso gave away the ball to Alexis Sanchez to start a move down Chile's right wing by Arturo Vidal and Aranguiz, leading to Vargas' score. Alonso trailed behind the play and put his hands to his head.

Alonso was booked in the 40th before conceding another foul, on Sanchez, three minutes later 22 yards (meters) out.

When Casillas punched away Sanchez's curling free-kick, Aranguiz trapped the ball then flicked a rising shot spinning away from the goalkeeper's reach.

Alonso had Spain's best early chance, a 15th-minute shot smothered by Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

Often wayward in its passing, Spain missed two clear chances early in the second half.

Costa was slow on Andres Iniesta's threaded pass in the 49th, and Sergio Busquets was guilty of a glaring miss, volleying wide from five meters in the 53rd.

After Bravo pushed away shots by substitute Santi Cazorla and Iniesta, Chile's win was sealed.

A loss that is hard to explain

Fernando Torres and Andres Iniesta dejected how the game turned

SB Nation

Unexpected thrashings don't make much sense at the time, which is great, because everybody is far too busy laughing or crying or gasping or vomiting or doing the conga. And that's as it should be. But unexpected thrashings don't make much sense afterwards either, which is a problem when it comes to writing entertaining-yet-informative features for a discerning international audience. Tempting as it is to just write 'LOL OMG WUT' over and over, it's not really what you've come here to read.

If it had been just a normal victory — If Netherlands had won 2-1, say — then things would be straightforward and sensible. Louis van Gaal's decision to embrace wing-backs would have been laudable, David Silva's miss at 1-0 would have be regrettable, Iker Casillas and his defenders would have been mildly castigatable, and the world would have carried on as normal. The heat-mappers would have heat-mapped, the punners would have punned. Ah, folks would be saying, but they lost the first game in South Africa too.

Instead, all of the above is true, but it's true to a remarkable and slightly disquieting extent. This was a Spinal Tap loss: everything dialled right up to 11. It could have been six, seven, eight, said Robin van Persie after the game, and he was absolutely right. Ten wouldn't have been a surprise. Yes, Spain lost the first game in South Africa too. But not like this.

Take van Gaal's wingbacks. For a Dutchman, playing anything that doesn't look like a 4-3-3 is an act of sedition akin to finding tulips a little tedious. But even van Gaal, having made his peace with his treason, cannot possibly have imagined that Daley Blind would take possession of the left flank to such a ludicrous extent. That van Persie and Arjen Robben would take it in turns to find so much space between Spain's centre-halves. That Spain's only goal -- and these, it's worth remembering, are the world champions -- would come from a generously awarded penalty. That Xavi would lose the midfield battle against Nigel de Jong, and it wouldn't even involve that much applied violence.

Nor could he have conceived that the reigning world champions, who haven't so much as conceded a goal in ten major tournament knock-out games, would defend like strangers. Like drunk strangers. Like drunk strangers who, upon meeting one another for the first time, had taken an instant and belligerent dislike to one another. On the BBC, one pundit suggested that both Ramos and Pique had simply forgotten how to play against two strikers; certainly, as van Persie and Robben took it in turns to saunter into the acres of grass between them, it seemed that this was something bigger than a simple bad performance. They've played badly before, but they've rarely (if ever) looked sillier.

Netherlands exact sweet revenge, hammers Spain 5-1

Iker Casillas dejected as Netherlands player and fans celebrate

SB Nation 

It was supposed to be one of the best matches of the 2014 World Cup group stage, but the Netherlands had other ideas as they picked apart Spain's defense and hammered the defending champions, 5-1. Robin van Persie scored twice, and Arjen Robben added two goals of his own as the Oranje absolutely crushed Spain.

The game's first great chance happened in the eighth minute and belonged to the Dutch, when Wesley Sneijder broke free behind Spain's back line. Robben's pass set up the break, but despite racing into the box ahead of the defense, Sneijder's effort wasn't great, and Iker Casillas made a good save to deny him.

Diego Costa, who was showered with boos from Brazilian fans in the crowd every time he touched the ball, nearly created a chance in the 13th minute after a turnover by Jonathan de Guzmán in the Dutch defensive third. Ron Vlaar made an excellent recovery, though, preventing Costa from getting a shot off, and saving de Guzmán's figurative bacon.

Costa was back in the 26th minute. This time, Stefan de Vrij was unable to stop the striker, and Spain was awarded a penalty. After breaking in behind de Vrij, Costa made a hard cut back inside, and was tripped up by the defender who's trailing foot on the tackle attempt took out Costa's foot. Xabi Alonso stepped and put his shot past Jasper Cillessen, giving Spain a 1-0 lead.

David Silva had a wonderful chance to double Spain's lead in the 43rd minute, but his chip attempt was touched away by Cillessen. Andrés Iniesta gets the credit for the pinpoint pass that allowed Silva to break free into the Dutch box, but the keeper was able to get his fingers on the shot and deflect it wide.

Two minutes later, the Dutch struck when Robin van Persie executed a sensational volley header that left Casillas frozen as the ball sailed over his head and into the goal. As good as RVP's run and finish was -- and it was really good -- the long curling pass fromDaley Blind was perfect, as well, giving van Persie the time he needed to get behind Spain's back line and make a play on the ball.

Early in the second half, Robben put the Dutch ahead 2-1 thanks to some wonderful footwork in the Spanish box. He showed a tremendous touch, bringing down the looping cross from Blind, and managing to immediately control the ball and cut back as Gerard Piqué's momentum carried him past. Robben fired his shot to the right of the sliding Casillas, and the Netherlands were ahead.

Instead of a response, Spain continued to struggle, and in the 64th minute, the Dutch expanded their lead.

Spain is King of the World!

Iniesta goal in extra time gave Spain its First World Cup.

No goals in regulation and it seems no one is giving in in the extra time. The game is heading on to a nerve wracking penalty shootout.

Then at the 117th minute, Fernando Torres feed a waiting Andres Iniesta on a deflection by the Dutch defense. Iniesta squared off just on the legal side and fired it to the Dutch goal. The defender touch the ball barely but it was all he can do as the ball swished through the net, setting a frenzy of Spanish fans in Soccer City, South Africa, in Madrid, Spain and to the whole world.

Spain won the Cup for the First time. It also achieved the feat for a team to have won both the Euro league and the World Cup at the same time.

The Spanish win is a win deserved for a team that is oozing with talent.

Finally, their time has come.

Puyol goal gave Spain a historic win

Spain's redemption came from the man least expected to do it. Defender Carles Puyol scored a header in the 74th minute. off a Xavi Alonso corner that the German goalkeeper failed to stop.

Before the Puyol goal, the game looks to end in a penalty shootout as both teams never gave each other opportunities to score. It was a tight game but it was evident that Spain took the initiative as it repeatedly pounded the German defense with its relentless attack.

Spain had two other opportunities to score. There was Iniesta's feed to David Villa which the latter failed to finish. Then, Spain could have sealed the win, when Pedro went all the way instead of passing it to a waiting Fernando Torres.



In the German side, Kross almost equalize the game in the dying minutes but that was all Germany could muster after 90 minutes savage action.

Spain will now face Netherlands in the finals on July 11 with Germany squaring off with Uruguay for third place on July 10.