Pointers of the World Cup matches
Spain vs Netherlands
· Half time scoreline – Spain 1 – 1 Netherlands
· Scorers: Alonso (27’ pen.) and Robin van Persie. (44’)
· Although the first clear-cut chance fell to Netherlands, when Robben played a lovely through ball to Sneijder who was clear on goal but Casillas saved.
· Spain started dominating possession again and Xavi played a nice through ball to Costa who checked inside and drew a foul from the defender. Penalty!
· Replays showed it was not a penalty as Costa actually put his foot on the defender rather than the opposite. Another decision gone wrong at the World Cup.
· Xabi Alonso slotted home the pen in spite of keeper guessing the right way.
· Then came a super goal from RvP. An absolutely beautiful ball from Blind made sure RvP got behind the defenders but there was still a lot to do and Persie came in flying to lob his header over Casillas. Wonderful goal!
· Half Time.
· Spain again started brightly with huge chunks of possession in the first five minutes.
· First chance of the second half fell to David Silva who recieved a defense splitting pass form Iniesta but tried to lob the keeper and missed. Good save.
· Spain were again outdone by similar cross from Blind. This time Robben took control of the ball dribbled past pique and shot. The shot took a slight deflection from Ramos who came rushing in and beat Casillas. Goal! NED 2-1 up.
· All Netherlands from here on as they changed their style a bit. Instead of the long balls, they kept it on the ground and virtually just ran past Spain. Persie hits the post from a counter. Spain’s defense is at sixes and sevens at the back.
· Netherlands get a free-kick near the goal line. Sneijder plays a good ball inside the ‘D’ and Casillas is indecisive and misses the ball completely. De Vrij headed the ball on to his foot and then rolled it in at the far post. Some goal that! :P
· Casilllas horror show continued as Persie snatched the ball off him while he tried to control and put in the empty net. Spain now looked shocked and out of the game. NED 4-1 up.
· Still Netherlands continue to attack and de Jong played a nice ball to Robben from his own half. Robben then raced past Ramos dribbled and put the ball in the corner of the net. Casillas was in no man’s land once again as he divided at the wrong time and positioning was just horrible.
· Spain are now completely deflated. Surely they just want to get out now. And they could have conceded a few more as Robben and co countered with pace.
· Torres never ceases to amaze as he misses an open goal only because he wanted to hit it with his right foot... wait I’ve no explanations! Insignificant as far as the result is considered but deadly for his confidence as he was surprising included in the squad ahead of Negredo.
· Full Time. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Spain 1–5 Netherlands.
What Twitter had to say?
Read here about the recap of the match between Brazil and Croatia. Some tasty tweets there.