After a good few days of being dissected by media institutions all over the world, the reigning World and European Champions took to the pitch again tonight in a bid to silence the critics and show the world that La Roja were still very much in shape to retain their crown. Spain’s Tika Taka brilliance versus the combative, temperamental often brilliant Chile who have never beaten Spain in 10 previous encounters – read on to find out our thoughts on the game!
Vicente Del Bosque rung the changes before the game, bringing Javi Martinez and Pedro into the starting line-up with the hope that the fresh faces can bring back some of the control that had been missing in the first game against Holland. In the first ten minutes, it sort of worked. Chile started very quickly, almost scoring instantly after some good work by Vidal and Vargas in the box took a last-gasp Alonso tackle to take the ball out for a corner, although it nearly trickled in for the own goal. Jara went very close from the resulting corner further illustrating the very fast start by the South Americans. Spain took seven minutes to get any sort of passing rhythm going but once they did they looked good and had it not been for the final ball lacking on a couple of occasions then the Spaniards could have seriously tested Claudio Bravo between the Chilean sticks.
In a team so focussed on team ethics, it is hard to pick out one individual that was contributing to Spain’s good work early on but David Silva in particular was very lively and seemed to be involved in everything along with Iniesta. Diego Costa had the biggest chance for Spain in the opening fifteen minutes but took far too much time to take a swing at the ball and was forced wide before taking his shot; a goalmouth scramble ensued but nothing came of it – you sensed though that Spain might take the lead soon if they kept this up. Jorge Sampaoli seemed to think that too as he was barking orders louder than ever from the touchline at his players asking them to mark the Spaniards tighter and tighter.
Out of nowhere though, disaster for Spain as Chile had the lead. Intercepting an attempted pass by the out-of-sorts Xabi Alonso, Alexis Sanchez played a one-two down the right wing before charging towards the box, giving the ball to Aranguiz who played Eduardo Vargas in to calmly take it round an onrushing Casillas to put the World Champions behind for the second game running and staring elimination in the face.
Both sides exchanged possession for the remainder of the half but Chile had much more pave about them than the Spanish and it was really causing the World Champions some problems. Alonso in particular took his frustration out on the Chileans on more than one occasion, being booked once and then giving away another free-kick in a very dangerous position on the edge of his own box and Spain went further behind as a result. Casillas this time was at fault though as he punched away a very catchable effort from Alexis Sanchez right into the path of Aranguiz; the Spanish defenders reacted far too slowly as the midfielder had all the time in the world to slot the ball past the Real Madrid goalkeeper and Spain went into halftime 2-0 down.
Koke came on at the start of the second half for the Spanish in the place of the booked and lacklustre Xabi Alonso. Spain had a glorious chance immediately as probing play on the edge of the final third by the Spaniards led to Iniesta playing a perfect through ball in for Diego Costa who again took far too long to fire the trigger and really should have scored. Costa hasn’t looked 100% fit in the two games so far; whether that is the case or the system just doesn’t suit him or a combination of the two is another thing but one way or another he hasn’t looked like the same guy that scored 37 goals this season.
Spain then had another chance in similar circumstances to what led to Chile’s second goal. A free-kick was awarded on the edge of the box which Ramos took; the keeper punched out into a crowd of players and the ball fell to Sergio Busquets who was mere feet away from the goal and would have scored had he not tried to tap it into the net and messed up with such a terrible connection.
Spain though looked much more comfortable since Koke had come on but were being made to work hard to deal with the fast, powerful attacks that Chile were making whenever they won possession. With 25 minutes to go, you felt that Spain would have to score very soon to have any sort of chance of salvaging this match and their qualification hopes. Those hopes were almost killed off completely as Chile counterattacked very quickly through the excellent duo of Sanchez and Vargas. The latter played in Mena who dragged his shot across the box into the path of the onrushing Isla who had the angle to score but as he slid in, blasted his shot over.
The minutes ticked on and Spain continued to lack their usual verve and attacking penetration that were always going to be essential in this game to break Chile down to get a goal. They had chances every now and then but the final ball never dropped correctly for Spain; you just got the sense that this was just not going to be their night. Especially when you consider that if you gave Costa the chances he’d had in this game at any other time then he’d have buried them nine times out of ten.
Ifs and buts don’t win you World titles though and Spain know that; they just haven’t been good enough over the last two games and they’ve paid the price for that. The tournament will be poorer for it in the knockout rounds without them but with the Netherlands and Chile taking their places in the last 16, we’ll still be in for a great dose of football! The former beat them after a tactical master-class from Louis Van Gaal and some very special performances from Robben, Van Persie and Daley Blind whereas Chile have trumped them tonight after putting in a stunning group effort spearheaded by Sanchez, Vidal and Vargas. Stick with us at Fortitude to see how those teams do in the knockout rounds!