The world champions are out. History. Kaput. Spain are gone. Tied first in departing this tournament, with Australia. Not in body, because there is still the matter of a meaningless final group game in Curitiba on Monday, but mathematically and in spirit.
They trooped off the pitch in the Maracana Stadium last night, heads bowed, all resistance spent. After two games they have no points and a goal difference that reads 1-7. This truly is a seismic development for football.
It is the worst defence of a World Cup title in history, poorer even than Italy in South Africa four years ago. They, too, exited at the group stage, but at least their final game was live. Spain now travel Brazil a redundant embarrassment. Nobody wants to be one of those teams, the dead rubberers, fulfilling a fixture list simply because they must.
- World champions dumped out after two shock defeats in Group B
- Lost 5-1 to Holland in first game, Casillas disappoints once again
- Vicente Del Bosque faces the sack after defeat
- Fifth holders to be knocked out of World Cup at group stage
- Vargas and Aranguiz score goals in first half
- Diego Costa touches the ball just 21 times
This will be the game that many say marks the end of the era of tiki-taka, too, but with that is raised a more existential question. Was there ever any such thing? Did tiki-taka create a great Spanish team, or was it merely itself the invention of 11 outstanding players.
And one in particular: Xavi Hernandez of Barcelona. We think systems make players, but perhaps it is the other way around. Holland have played great football since the era of Johann Cruyff, but has it ever again been total football?
And Spain will no doubt come again – but will it be with tiki-taka, or some new philosophy that simply suits their XI at the time. Diego Costa is most certainly not a disciple of tiki-taka. He is an old-fashioned target man, of the type that every English n club once had.
Xavi, meanwhile, was dropped for this game, having been partly responsible for the 5-1 defeat by Holland last week. In his absence, others tried to recreate Spain’s style, but without success. Xabi Alonso had a terrible time and was substituted after 45 minutes. They tried to tiki, they tried to taka, but without Xavi at his peak it just wasn’t the same.
Chile were, by contrast, magnificent. It would be wrong to say they played without a philosophy, because they were superbly organised, pressed high and upset Spain’s rhythm beautifully.
Yet there is no catchy name for what Chile do, no books that are written on its rise, no credit given for changing modern football as Spain have done with their three straight tournament wins
Jorge Sampaoli, an Argentinian, has simply got his team playing excellent, technical, hard-working football of the type that wins big matches, and maybe tournaments, too – unless the big guns of South America buck their ideas up here. Chile looked better than Argentina did at the Maracana on Sunday, and were an upgrade on either of Brazil’s two performances so far. They took their chances, defended manfully, ran to the point of exhaustion and showed great courage after half-time when Brazil threw the kitchen sink at them. It wasn’t always comfortable, but it certainly wasn’t fortunate. What happens now in the final game against Holland may depend on how keen either team is to avoid Brazil, who it is presumed will win Group A. If both teams go for the top spot in Group B on that presumption, it could be one of the matches of the tournament.
Fittingly, the Maracana is where this World Cup has found its truest, noisiest expression. Why Brazil have avoided coming here until the final, therefore, is a mystery. In their absence, the rest of the continent has taken residence – Chile raising the decibel level above even the crescendo of Argentina on Sunday. And that was before they took a two goal half-time lead against the world champions.
Spain had too much to lose, while Chile played like a team that could only be heroes. The exclusion of Xavi and defender Gerard Pique – but, fatefully, not goalkeeper Iker Casillas – spoke of the trauma suffered in the five goal defeat to Holland. Chile’s players, by contrast, spent the previous night socialising with friends and family at their beachfront hotel in Barra. It showed. In the second minute Gonzalo Jara headed an Alexis Sanchez corner just wide to roars of approval and the pattern was set. Chile were not in the least intimidated by this occasion. There were here to destroy some serious reputations.
Incredible, really, considering two of their starting line-up might have been looking out for next season’s Championship fixtures earlier in the day, to see who they would be playing on the first day of the new season. Jara of Nottingham Forest is at home to Blackpool, Gary Medel of Cardiff City away at Blackburn Rovers. No wonder they played like men possessed in the Maracana. What a moment, what an opportunity, what a possible escape if they can grab the world’s attention here. They certainly did that last night. Rugged, committed, but highly skilled in attack, Chile matched Spain’s possession statistics in some periods of the match and stretched a beleaguered back four to breaking point.
Del Bosque had brought in Javi Martinez, a holding midfield player by nature, to the heart of defence, but he was hardly convincing. Alonso, equally, was finding it hard to get to grips with Chile’s movement as a defensive screen. Upfront, Spain fluffed their lines – none more so than the apple of Jose Mourinho’s eye, Diego Costa.
He had a good chance in the 27th minute, put through by a headed flick from David Silva, but buried the ball into the pitch and the side-netting. Indeed, the only time Chile’s goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was needed in the first-half was in the 15th minute when Spanish aggression forced a goalmouth scramble and he fell on an Alonso shot from close range, much like Superman smothering a grenade.
It was soon after this incident that Chile took the lead, by no means against the run of play. Alonso lost the ball and a swift counter attacking move saw Charles Aranguiz play a lovely square pass into the path of Eduardo Vargas. He took a touch to control it and, at first, it appeared as if the delay was costly. In fact, he was merely moving the ball from his left to his right, and finished with a low shot that gave Casillas no chance.
In the 44th minute, Chile went two clear. Sanchez curled in a free-kick which Casillas should have taken, but chose to parry instead – the ball flying tamely out to Aranguiz who swung a right foot and sent it on a return path to goal.
The second-half followed a predictable pattern, Koke on for Alonso and Spain fighting for their lives. Even so, there was an excellent chance for Mauricio Isla in the 69th minute, when he almost got a foot on a crossfield shot by Eugenio Mena. For Spain, Costa missed another fine chance, and then set an equally good one up for Sergio Busquets, with an overhead kick, which was scuffed wide.
We all know what event the Maracana is waiting for but, until that day arrives on July 13, it is hard to believe there will be bedlam louder than the final whistle here. Chile had torn down the temple of tiki-taka; or maybe Xavi Hernandez had just turned 34; or maybe a bit of both.
Pre-match buffet: A sneak peak inside the Spanish dressing room before the game
