Day seven of the World Cup and we saw the tournament’s first casualties. After their humiliating 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands in their first group game Spain needed a win against tournament dark horses Chile to stand any chance of progressing.
The South Americans started brightly and went ahead after 19 minutes. Xabi Alonso sloppily misplaced a pass and Chile made him pay with Aranguiz setting up Vargas who finished well to put Chile ahead.
It wasn’t long until Chile found themselves two up, Alonso conceded a free kick in a dangerous area and Chile capitalised. Sanchez’s initial shot was poorly dealt with by Casillas (who was also below par against the Netherlands) as he opted to punch rather than catch the shot. The ball then fell to Aranguiz who finished smartly from just inside the box leaving the holders trailing 2-0 at the break.
Spain started the second half brightly and could have rescued the match however; Diego Costa took too long over a good chance which ended up being deflected wide before Sergio Busquets missed a golden opportunity by somehow failing to hit the target from close range.
In the end Chile thoroughly deserved their victory and Arturo Vidal’s superb performance reflected this.
Australia followed the world champions out of the tournament after a thrilling 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands.
Arjen Robben continued his brilliant form so far with a fantastic individual goal with a low finish past Matt Ryan from a solo run. However, Australia were not behind for long as the Soceroo’s crossed the ball into the box more or less straight from the kick off and Tim Cahill fantastically volleyed home with arguably the goal of the tournament so far.
Jedinak scored a penalty early on in the second half to give Australia a shock lead after Daryl Janmaat was harshly penalised for handling the ball when there wasn’t much he could do about it.
Robin Van Persie equalised just four minutes later to score his third of the competition before a Memphis Depay shot slipped through Matt Ryan’s hands to win it for the Netherlands. This means Group B already has its winners and losers with the Netherlands and Chile progressing although both will be hoping to avoid Brazil in the round of 16. Holders Spain and Australia become the first teams eliminated from the tournament.
Cameroon were also knocked out on day seven as they were convincingly beaten 4-0 by Croatia. It took just ten minutes for Croatia to score with a good finish from Ivica Olic. There wasn’t much between the two sides in the first half, however that all changed after Alex Song was sent off for foolishly lashing out at Mandzukic. Croatia completed the rout in the second half with a goal from Perisic and a brace from Mandzukic which sent the Africans home early.
Today at the world cup
The main focus of today is clearly the crucial game between England and Uruguay. The three lions really cannot afford anything other than a victory if they want to progress. It will be a difficult encounter as the South Americans will want to amend their shock defeat to Costa Rica as well as the small matter of a certain Luis Suarez declaring himself “100% fit” to play.
Question marks continue over what position to play Rooney with some pundits even calling for him to be dropped all together.
Colombia and Ivory Coast will also be hoping to build on their first match wins when they face each other in Brasilia and Japan and Greece will be eager to get some points on the board when they play in Natal.