The FIFA World Cup is just into its second week and it has already witnessed some major upsets. The biggest of them all was the defeat of defending champion Spain to Chile with a scoreline of 0-2. With this defeat, the 2010 champions are eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup itself and have become only the fourth defending champion to get knocked out in the group stage.
Earlier they were thrashed by the Dutch with a 5-1 loss in their opening game, after that result many expected a lot of changes to the side for the next game against Chile as many Spanish players including their captain goalkeeper Iker Casillas made some silly schoolboy errors. However, coach Vicente Del Bosque stuck to almost the same playing 11.
End of the tiki-taka era of football for Spain
This Spanish side dominated the football world for almost 6 years as they won almost all the tournaments they participated in for the last few years starting from the Euro 2008 then the World Cup 2010 and the Euro 2012. The team now, consists of mainly the same set of players, majority of whom play for Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.
Half of the players in the starting eleven for Spain in both games consisted of Barcelona players who have dominated European football for the last few years. They are known for their tiki-taka play which is nothing but tiring the opponents by passing and keeping possession of the ball. Both Spain and Barcelona’s mid-field revolves around their two influential players Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez and they were neutralized by both the Dutch and the Chileans which has led to the experts saying that it is the end of their tiki-taka style of play.
Young Englishmen lose to Uruguay
Among the latest results, the promising young English players went down 2-1 against Uruguay and have lost all hopes of qualifying to the next round. The England team looked a promising lot this time with manager Roy Hodgson selecting a rather young set of players with little international experience. Earlier they lost to the Azzurris 2-1 in their opening game, but their performance was praised by the English media. Many expected them to win against Uruguay after the latter’s poor performance against Costa Rica, but Luis Suarez who was playing against many of his Liverpool team-mates scored twice to break the hearts of the numerous English supporters all over the world.