World Cup Brasil 2014

After the second goal by Netherlands, whatever was left of Spain's defense just fell the fuck apart. Reeeeal bad. Ramos has always been a great defender, but tonight he just couldn't.

This was exhausting to watch.

I should probably go back to not having a horse in the race. The highs aren't as high, but at least there aren't any significant lows.

Muahahaha i'm Dutch and we totally didn't expect this! Huge festivity going on right now so i'm off to party :p

Also, Chile versus Australia in 45 min, so we'll see what Spain is up against.

@animasta: When Greene had a shocking start for England in 2010 a lot of people responded to this kind of statement by saying that removing the keeper after one poor performance is likely to make the morale of the team take a massive nosedive, so I'd be surprised if they did, but who knows? It was a really poor performance on his part. He just fell apart by the end. Maybe Van Persie concussed him.

Pretty exciting way for the world cup to continue though! I've always liked the way the netherlands play football, and tonight was a pretty good example, in the second half they were just so energetic, it was nice to see!

Eh, I think Casillas should still be their first choice. 4-1 was truly awful, but the other goals you can't really pin on him. I would have a long talk with him though. He looked pretty rattled after the match.

To be fair to Green, at least he made more saves than he did mistakes.

He was pretty rough in the CL game too, the one goal Atletico did was entirely his fault.

Though Casillas is the captain afaik so probably not.

Hehe the dutch are going sky high! I should join in on the fun

Casillas' performance is the direct result of keeping him for the cup matches only (which was rightly, and obviously, the perogative of Mou and Ancelloti). VdB is too cozy with his favoured players. Koke needs to start (quicker and more direct than Xavi= better to take advantage of Costa's runs in behind) and they need the physicality of Martinez alongside Busquets to protect the full-backs.

I would like it if Chile routed the Australians and they get 2nd by goal difference

Man would I love it if this was finally the championship for the Netherlands. They had some really great plays, while the Spaniards seemed pretty much dead on the court.

Also what the fuck is up with the referees? 2 terrible goals in the first games (the penalty, and the goal that didn't count), 3 terrible goals in the second (both goals for Mexico were regular, and the should have gotten a penalty) and 1 terrible goal in the third game (that again, was no penalty). This is borderline ridiculous.

@sessh: You're spot-on about the refs. Though this is nothing compared to how bad they were in the 2002 WC.

Man, I don't want to see that for personal reasons. I have kind of a soft spot for the Aussies, because every Aussie I've known has been batshit crazy/awesome. Whereas my knowledge of Chile is limited to the fact that some miners got trapped there once. Not very worldly of me, I suppose, but my rooting interests are decided this randomly. Plus, Australia is a huge underdog in their group, so there's that.

After games like these I always wonder if FIFA is going to show color. Right now, 3 out of 3 matches have had horrible referee decisions.

Diego Costa had better be banned for a few matches after tonight's show of 'skill' from that man.

I was disappointed to see Holland wearing those dark blue jerseys and Spain using white. At least Chile and Australia are using some bright colors.

Jeez sloppiness from both sides there that luckily for Chile got them a goal.

Edit: that second one was nice.

it never rains but it pours...

The problem is that instead of picking the best referees from round the world, they pick a selection from all the different federations. I know they are doing this to be inclusive, but what it means is that you get some referees from Africa/Asia etc that don't have experience officiating in really big, high pressure matches. This isn't meant to sound racist or anything, its just that you need to pick the best refs, even if it ends up with most of them being from Europe and South America.

Well, Chile v. Australia is going to be an entertaining and very one-sided match.

Your wish may be coming true...Australia look a shambles

This has been a pretty good start to the tournament, goals and good football - early days tho. Love seeing a great diving header,you don't seem to get many these days.

Just please, whatever happens to England,I hope they don't stink the place out. I can take losing, just please, please lets play with some style.

I don't know. Ref in the Spain - Holland game was good in my opinion. The sliding tackle that missed Costa was so incredibly close to him, I can't really blame the official for not noticing their feet never actually touched. This particular wrongfully awarded penalty I blame entirely on Diego Costa's shameful flapping.

Yeah the world cup can often house some of the worst displays of refereeing in any tournament. There is always controversy. The problem is a lack of consistency and different interpretations of the rules based on local play. Buckle up folks, this is only the beginning of ref-fest 2014 :)

At least they have their goal-line technology - they seem very proud of that - and the graffiti they do at each free kick (although that is a good idea)

Ia it just me or does it seem like Chile is not even trying anymore?

Well, would you look at that!

Maybe this could get interesting after all.

That goal was easily preventable. I hope Chile loses for acting like such cocky assholes.

They might have to now. Australia said they were going to try and target the short-ass Chilean centre-backs and it might be starting to work.

Ohhh..almost 2-2. This is great stuff...

This is going in - I can feel it

EDIT; ha maybe not!!That was terrible.

Chile continues to seem like they are not taking Australia seriously. Either that or the weather is getting to them. If they keep it up it is going to bite them in the ass.

Australia just need to play those high balls into the box and then they will eventually get a goal. Chile's defence looks slightly insecure when faced against Cahill.

EDIT: And there it was, too bad that an offside was called.

holy shit. chile seems to be in serious trouble now. really lucky there.

Good goalkeeping from Chile. Aus keep battering these highballs in but that was a quality save and then good claim from the cross.

Hope Chili-Aus ends in a 2-2 draw, just to make it easier for the Netherlands to make it to the next round. While the second half was great from The Netherlands, 5-1 is actually craaaaaaazy when you think about it. Hope our defensive capabilities keep it up the rest of the world cup.

Game seems to end 2-1 for Chili though...

Edit: Ok, 3-1.

Good game! Can't help but feel bad for Australia though, they really fought. Played way better than I'd expected.

Yup. They did not go down without a fight.

Nice try from Oz,Chile just a little too good. Aus just don't have a player who can do something really special, and it was a bit too old-fashioned English lumping at times...Nevermind, win their next two and they are through :/

Do you guys think Chile has any chance of beating Spain? Their team didn't seem to have nearly as much synergy as Spain's. Never mind Holland, I have no doubt they will win their next two games.

I think Chile is the kind of side that with the right luck can cause an upset, but I'd be surprised to be honest. Their strikers might have what it takes to beat Casillas if his form stays as poor as it was tonight, but Spain would have to be having a bad day up front I think. Maybe bad enough that they do something stupid and someone gets sent off.

It would be great, but I just don't see it happening. They might've been thrashed today, but they're still Spain. No matter how you look at it, they're still a top tier team with an excellent coach, who has something up his sleeve. On the other hand, if they went out on the pitch and played like they did today, Chile could have a chance, but I find it highly unlikely that we will see this kind of performance happen twice.

Okay once Australia got that goal I was rooting for them, but alas...

Also, four matches tomorrow. That is a lot of world cup goin down

Outstanding performance by Holland. Just one of the most enjoyable matches I've watched in a long time - a couple of sensational goals and incredible incisive counter-attacking football. Can't wait to see how the Spanish respond in that Chile match. Let's hope the World Cup continues to deliver on the great entertainment so far.

I've been watching and re-watching the highlights for the past 4 hours. As a Dutchman I am baffled. It's a genius performance by what are essentially 2,5 world class players and a collection of humdrum players from a 'fallen' Dutch national competition.

If they can adapt from a counter-based system to a dominance-based system (for Australia) there's a good chance of trucking on. There are far better teams in the competition than Spain however. But what a start...

@jertje: AKA the Van Gaal influence, the man is a genius.

@jertje: I think you underestimate the Eredvisie. The relative lack of money allows the top clubs to give youngsters and when you look at the number of young talented players it has produced (Blind, Clasie, Ericksen - even though he's not Dutch, Maher etc) you can see that it is a league on the rise - if it can keep its good players.

This world cup been great so far, loads of goals. It will all come crashing down when England play tonight.

The Columbia Greece game is going to be reffed by the American, so hopefully he doesn't screw up that badly

@animasta: The american?

That's what they call him! Mark 'The American' Geiger.

@animasta: Ah

@majid: I really don't think so. I won't pretend to be a football-guru, but I do go to around 10 eredivisie games per season and watch a whole lot more. It's been in strong decline relative to other European competitions for years now. Players like Blind, De Vrij and BMI still make rookie mistakes against 2nd Bundesliga-level strikers on a weekly basis. I've always thought of Blind as a solid player, but this guy has been absolutely ridiculed by most of the Dutch population (even Ajax supporters, at times!) for years. Cillessen, Blind and Veltman have played multiple games in the Jupiler (second) League this season. I mean, name one player currently in the Eredivisie worth more than 15 million? (well... before yesterday's game ;D) Every player in the Spanish team is worth more than 15 million, including the bench! The main advantage of the Dutch schools is that the tactical training is second to none, but the budgets for Eredivisie clubs are dropping every year (except for Ajax) and most of the talent is leaving at an earlier age every season to whither away on the bench in other leagues, because budgets are on the rise almost everywhere else.

Van Gaal has worked some real magic with this system (which was absolutely maligned by nearly every analyst in the country as it broke with the traditional 4-3-3 school), but I think everyone played to full potential yesterday, which is amazing to see. I still can't believe it :)

I'm just super curious now to see how Spain will react against Chile, and if the Netherlands can carry on in their current form. It could shape up to be a very interesting world cup!