June 18, 2014

Spain Eliminated from World Cup After Just 2 Games: Spain followed its 5-1 thrashing by The Netherlands with a 2-0 loss to Chile Wednesday, ending its defense of the World Cup crown it won in 2010 after just two games. Chile's Eduardo Vargas poked a close-range shot past Spain keeper Iker Casillas and Charles Aranguiz doubled the lead by hitting an ill-advised Casillas punch off a free kick into the net. Chile, which entered the tournament with the daunting task of being grouped with both World Cup finalists of four years ago, advances out of the group with The Netherlands.

posted by rcade to soccer at 09:31 PM - 1 comment

I liked Barney Ronay's piece, written before Spain's exit, but accurately describing the fortuitous way this World Cup displays tactics in transition:

The retreat of all-out possession play is intersecting profitably with the advance of the counterattacking style, a clash that has produced rough edges, sparks, weaknesses in one system that can be exploited by strengths in the other.
He talks about the role of wide, fast counterattacks, something I noticed from the Croatian goal against Brazil onwards, and I think he's right that by Euro 2014, the rough edges will have gone. We're being spoiled here.

posted by etagloh at 11:32 PM on June 18, 2014

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