Chile nail in Spain’s coffin, Dutch continue to delight

Moving on to the headline news, the reign of Spain ended in the Maracana – a fitting venue almost a year since that handsome Confederations Cup final defeat to Brazil. An unbeaten qualification campaign papered over this crack in the Del Bsoque edifice, but the Iberian outfit’s modern idols have been brought back down to earth.

An energetic Chile outfit, given an identity by unorthodox Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa that has been continued by successor and disciple Jorge Sampaoli, executed a perfect game plan. Spain were pressed and harassed all over the pitch, forcing sloppiness.

Del Bosque has lived and died by his loyalty to the core of a squad which has enjoyed unprecedented success, but the nature of the Netherlands defeat was a clear indicator that sweeping change was needed.

Iker Casillas retained both his place in goal and the armband simply because of this, while ageing metronome Xavi and defender Gerard Pique were cut. Two alterations were nothing like enough to stop the malaise.

Maybe Spain have numbed themselves at long last, having done so to every opposition faced apart from Brazil, the Netherlands and Chile. They simply look tired of passing with too many miles on the clock for Xabi Alonso, usually so dependable.

Even Manchester City’s creator in chief David Silva was off-colour. It is not as if alternatives the golden generation of Spanish football haven’t garnered attention. While the senior side were in Brazil last summer for the Confederations Cup, the Under-21s retained the European Championship crown in Israel.

Just David de Gea, who injured his buttock in training, and Koke, a second half substitute against Chile, from that youth side made Spain’s World Cup squad. Del Bosque cut like full backs Daniel Carvajal and Alberto Moreno, and ignored the likes of Asier Illarramendi, while Thiago Alcantara was injured.

Diego Costa, off the pace up front after injury, may be wishing he stuck with the country of his birth. After all, Brazil are still in the tournament. Chile clearly capitalised on this Spanish slump, with the only sour note being the loss of scorer Charles Azanguiz to what looked like a medial ligament strain.

The tone was set early on in the Maracana. Roared on by fans so passionate that they were prepared to break into the stadium, Chile attacked with pace and intent; Spain were nervy and lethargic. What will hurt even more is that they lost to a team playing with makeshift defenders, and did so without scoring.

A once unshakable pillar of football faith, tiki taka was trumped by a team ethic typified by the runs of Eduardo Vargas, who netted the opener, and Alexis Sanchez, plus an all-action performance from Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal.

Spain’s fall from grace will be dissected in lurid detail in the coming days. The Netherlands and Chile have both been cut by Coral to win the World Cup into 11/1 and 18/1 respectively.

It’s an industry leading price of 11/5 that the South Americans pip the Dutch to top spot in Group B, and that decider has all the ingredients to make even more compelling viewing.