The bigger you are, the harder you fall, and the Spanish reign of football, an empire built on Tiki-Taka football came crashing to the ground after a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands.
Despite Xabi Alonso giving the holding champions a 1-0 lead in the first half, courtesy of a penalty won by Diego Costa, Holland made sure to level the match before half time with what will surely be one of the goals of the tournament. Robin van Persie picked off a perfectly weighted cross and dove in for a header right over Iker Casillas, who was off his line.
Tied 1-1 at half time, the Dutch kicked off the second half in style, Arjen Robben dancing through Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique and slipping the ball past Casillas to give Holland a 2-1 lead. Fernando Torres came into the game to try to salvage something for Spain but the Dutch capitalized on a corner kick, Stefan de Vrij getting on the end of an in-swinging corner and scoring his first international goal.
Down two goals with plenty of time left in the match, Holland made sure to keep the pressure up in an effort to humiliate their opponents from the 2010 World Cup final, and Van Persie did just that when he slotted home his second of the night, giving the Netherlands a 4-1 lead. This goal came after Casillas took a heavy touch and Van Persie closed him down, before scoring off the Spanish keeper’s blunder.
Not to be outdone by his Dutch teammate, Robben added a second goal of his own, making the score 5-1 and leaving Casillas utterly devastated in the back line. He rounded Casillas, who scrambled to try to recover, and then took aim at two defenders, but shot the ball right past them.
Four minutes of added time couldn’t tick by fast enough for Spain, who came close to slightly closing the gap when Torres beat the Dutch defense but was stripped of the ball in front of an open net.
It was a humiliating defeat by the Spanish who will look to rebound with a game against Chile but the Netherlands will be in full party mode after a historic 5-1 win. The massacre suffered by the hands of Spain will surely bring up many questions about squad selection and style of play, but for once, Spain have been well and truly defeated – how many times can we say that has been said that in the last six years?
Revenge was colored orange on the night; the final score – Holland 5-1 Spain.
