• Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador • Group B
1 – 5
Spain 1 – 5 Netherlands
IT'S ALL OVER AT THE ARENA FONTE AND WHAT A RESULT WE'VE JUST WITNESSED!
90 Min: Torres manages to bring the ball down and beats the keeper! Must score in an open goal! VLAAR GETS BACK AND DISPOSSESSES HIM! This is all types of terrible from Spain everywhere on the park!
88 Min: Wonderful play from Sneijder and Wijnaldum, Wijnaldum recieves the ball after a one two on the penalty spot, shoots! Casillas saves! Robben follows up! Casillas with another wonderful save! Where was that earlier in the match?
86 Min: The Spain squad just look utterly dejected on the bench...
82 Min: The last time Spain conceded this many goals in an international was in 1963 when they lost to Scotland.
81 Min: This is quite unreal. Spain look nothing like they did in recent years and the Dutch are dominating. They want more goals!
80 Min: Spain hit on the counter! And Arjen Robben is chasing the ball down! He's gassing Pique for pace! Robben gets there first, Casillas comes out! Robben turns the keeper! Looks for an opening at the goal, shoots! GOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL! Unbelievable Jeff!
79 Min: Van Persie denied the chance for a hat trick as he heads for the bench and Jeremain Lens comes on.
78 Min: Fernando Torres zips inside Martins Indi and then skips past Vlaar down the byline in the box, Torres goes down! Nothing given! Silva comes off for Fabregas.
77 Min: Free kick for Spain on the edge of the box and they need to convert this...Ramos edges just past the goal!
72 Min: Ball passed back to Casillas who can't control it! Loses it to van Persie who slips in and scores a simple GOAL! What is going on with Spain!?!? This is sensational.
68 Min: Van Persie on a solo run. Beats a defender and shoots from distance! Casillas has to get down and parry away! The Dutch want more!
67 Min: Spain on the attack and the ball gets lifted into the box! Free header! Saved! Silva follows up it's in the back of the net! BU NO GOAL! Silva was offside!
66 Min: Van Persie with a nasty challege on Busquets and there's a bit of over-reaction from all of the players on the pitch. RVP gets a yellow card.
65 Min: Great chance for the Dutch from a free-kick down the left side of the box. Sneijder whips it in to the back post and it's not dealt with by Casillas! Dde Vrij bumbles it over the line! I DON'T BELIEVE IT THIS IS A BIG UPSET! GOAL!
63 Min: Called it! Costa is replaced by Torres! Uh-oh...
62 Min: Massive amount of space for Alba down the right, tries to play the through ball into the box for Silva but the Dutch keeper comes out to claim it. De Guzman comes off and Wijnaldum comes on.
60 Min: Robben dispossesses Busquets and bears down on goal! Draws the defender and passes to Janmaat who gives it one more to van Persie in the box from the right! Volleys at goal! HITS THE CROSSBAR!
58 Min: Costa is flagged for offside again. He's having a shocker of an afternoon and somehow makes Fernando Torres seem like a decent prospect up front.
57 Min: Spain corner is cleared away.
55 Min: Bit of a stoppage here as Martins Indi goes down clutching his face. Replays show Costa walked past and made a touching glance to his face. Overacting is an understatement.
54 Min: Well, well, well! Spain we'll definitely be cranking it up a notch now. Corner for Spain...
53 Min: Guzman goes wide to Blind who puts another ball over the top to Robben has got between Pique and Ramos! He brings it down inside the box! He cuts back onto his left, holds off Pique and smashes it home! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!
52 Min: Janmaat with the ball tries to squeeze that through ball for Robben but it's cut out.
51 Min: De Guzman turns Xavi and gives it off to Robben who gets away from two and then goes to ground from a Ramos tackle and the ref waves play on.
48 Min: Silva to Iniesta who finds a pocket of space and he decides to shoot from distance! Mis-hit low but still forces the keeper to get down for a save!
47 Min:Spain with the ball down the right deep in the Netherlands half....Here comes Xavi but Spain are forced to go back by some tenacious Dutch defending.
46 Min: these two sides have only drawn once in their history. Back in 1987. Wow that rain is really bucketing down.
45 Min: The Netherlands kick off and we're back into it as the rain begins to pour!
HALFTIME: So there it is at the end of the half 1-1, a soft penalty for Spain but Robin van Persie equalised with a move that will surely be known as the flying Dutchman from now on. We will be back for the second half but in the meantime how about some highlights the last time these two met in the 2010 World Cup final?
45 Min: That reall was a lovely finish from van Persie. He squared as if he would take it down and go the one-on-one route but instead surprised the keeper with an early header. Great stuff and just before halftime. RVP runs down to the touchline and shares a hi five with his manager.
44 Min: Long ball over the top from Blind, van Persie running through the middle is away from his marker! He takes it on the head! WHAT A GOAL! Lofts the header over the keeper! ITS ALL LEVEL!
43 Min: Spain corner and Cost looked to have been pushed off the ball in the middle but the ref doesn't call this one.
42 Min: Spain currently owning 60% of the possessio and Alonso through the middle plays a beautiful reverse pass for Silva! Silva is in between the defenders one-on-one with the keeper! Tries to chip him and the keeper puts it behind for a corner! Golden opportunity.
41 Min: This time it's Costa flagged for offside.
40 Min: De Vrij comes flying through from defence and fouls Silva and earns a place in the refs book.
39 Min: Van Persie releases Robben in behind the defence! But he's been flagged for offside...
38 Min: Spain back in possession and content to stay on the ball until the move breaks down on the left wing.
37 Min: De Guzman with a reckless challenge on Alonso and he's already in the book so needs to be careful.
36 Min: Martins Indi with a long ball forward for Van Persie who is offside but takes a wild shot anyway and blasts it over the bar.
35 Min: Good pasage of play for the Dutch at the moment. De Guzman with another very heavy cross but Sneijder grabs it out the back and lays it back to De Jong who shoots from distance but Casillas saves.
32 Min: Robben and Blind link up nicely down the left with a few back heels, Blind finds some space and crosses the ball in, Pique misses in the middle! Van Persie can't capitalise! Chance gone begging.
31 Min: Janmaat with a great ball down the right for De Guzman who loses his man and takes it to the byline, crosses but it's gone over everyone's head and that's a wasted opportunity.
30 Min: Netherlands wary of throwing men forward as Robben hurries down the left wing.
28 Min: Nice work from Silva on the touchline and he passes to Iniesta who opens things up with a pass to Azpilicueta but he's lost it and De Guzman tries to start the counter attack before being chased down by Iniesta.
27 Min: Xavi Alonso steps up...1-0 SPAIN! GOAL! Another poor penalty decision from a ref at the World Cup. And it's only the third game of the tournament!
26 Min: Spain with a quick attack, beautiful ball from Iniesta and Costa is in the box! Cuts back inside and goes down! Another PENALTY! I don't believe it! THAT WAS SOFT.
And we come out on the pitch for the first time in World Cup history that the teams that played against each other in the final, play in their first games at the next World Cup!
25 Min: Robin van Persie with a little dribble and he spits the ball out wide and Blind has it, crosses from the left and it falls to Janmaat at the back who lines up the volley! Instead he knocks it back to De Guzman who loses it and then fouls Iniesta and piicks up the first yellow card of the match.
24 Min: Vlaar is doing a good job of asserting himself on this game...Bit of pushing going on between him and Costa in the middle.
22 Min: Silva and Iniesta link up nicely with a one-two into the box and Spain win the first corner of the match. Sergio Ramos is left all alone in the middle! And can't get on the end of the corner!
21 Min: All Spain at the moment. They have the ball at the top of the box. But Silva is dispossessed and Blind hoofs the ball upfield for a quick breakaway that is settled by Casillas.
19 Min: Arjen Robben just sorting out his boot. He's taken it off for some reason and has been told to get off the pitch by the ref...in the meantime, Xavi with a decent ball into the box! He could be in here! Vlaar is there again to get in the way!
19 Min: Silva beats a man down the right and then lays it in for Costa just inside the box. Costa shoots and slices it into Row Z. Never troubling the keeper.
17 Min: Potential for another downpour in Salvador. There was a thunderstorm about an hour before the game started. But it seems to be pretty pleasant there at the moment.
15 Min: It's a really congested midfield in this game....Dutch doing a good job of hassling the Tika Taka that Spain play. Sneijder cuts down Busquets and is warned by the ref.
14 Min: Iniesta long ball to Alba but that one is overcooked.
13 Min: Costa recieves a pass and he's into the box with Vlaar ahead of him, tkes the ball to the left and tries to shoot but Vlaar is up to the challenge and blocks the ball!
12 Min: Little dink over the top for Costa but its easily claimed by the Dutch keeper.
11 Min: Diego Costa finds Azpilicueta on the right wing with some room...However he's forced back and Spain probe the other wing.
10 Min: Iniesta with Jordi Alba on his outside but he decides to take it himself and shoots from distance! Not far over the bar!
9 Min: Robben's away up the middle after Sneijder plays a lovely through ball! Robben up against Casillas with defenders in pursuit! Robben shoots! Casillas does well to parry away!
8 Min: Long ball forward finds van Persie who manages to chest it down but can't keep control. Looks like the Netherlands will go to that often in this match.
7 Min: Referee stamping his mark early on the game by calling some pretty standard fouls.
5 Min: Very quiet start on and off the pitch. Except when Costa gets the ball and there's a chorus of boos that come from the crowd.
4 Min: Wow Del Bosque has only lost eight matches in his tenure as Spain coach and I think he'll be confident of keeping that record this morning.
3 Min: Cagey start from the Dutch who are looking to keep possession at this point.
2 Min: Interestingly neither team are in the traditional kits. Spain in white and the Dutch in Blues....Ramos pumps an early long ball forward but it's too long.
1 Min: Spain kick-off and we are underway with the first match from Group B.
Rousing stuff and now on with the football!
Please stand for the national anthems...
Now the stadiums starting to fill up nicely and wow it looks like it will be a sea of orange in this one.
It will be very interesting to see how van Gaal goes at this tournament before he joins United. Can we expect any scenes like this?
Crowd seems to be mostly Dutch at this stage. By the way, there's pretty much no one in the crowd? It's 20 minutes before kick-off people!
Well hello to the Arena Fonte Nova for a doozy of an early world cup match! How will the defending champs kick off their 2014 campaign? They're favourites at the bookies but a European team has never won on South American soil...
Kick-off isn’t far away but in the meantime you can watch a wrap of all the action from the first day of the World Cup with the team from 4-4-2.
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Line-ups:
Spain: Casillas, Alba, Ramos, Pique, Azpilicueta, Busquets, Alonso, Xavi, Silva, Iniesta, Costa
Subs (from): Albiol, Martinez, Juanfran, Villa, Torres, Fabregas, Pedro, De Gea, Mata, Koke, Cazorla, Reina
Netherlands: Cillessen, de Vrij, Vlaar, Martins Indi, Janmaat, De Jong, Blind, Clasie, Sneijder, van Persie, Robben
Subs from: De Guzman, Verhaegh, Veltman, Kongolo, Kuyt, Lens, Fer, Huntelaar, Wijnaldum, Memphis, Vorm, Krul
Pre-game banter:
By Kieran Canning
Spain's Javi Martinez believes stopping the Netherlands' experienced front three, including Bayern Munich teammate Arjen Robben, will be the key when his side open the defence of the World Cup in a rematch of the 2010 final in Salvador.
"The greatest danger from the Netherlands comes from the three players up front; Robben, (Robin) Van Persie and (Wesley) Sneijder," Martinez said on Wednesday.
"Not only with the national team, but at Bayern as well Robben is very strong on the counter-attack. He moves very well into space and we will have to control him."
Robben was denied by two crucial saves from Spanish captain Iker Casillas with the score still at 0-0 in the final four years ago before Andres Iniesta went on to score the winner in extra time to hand Spain their first ever World Cup.
"We have spoken about it during our two years as teammates," added Martinez.
"It was a big blow for the Netherlands and for him, we have spoken a lot about those chances and Iker's saves.
"I said to him before the Champions League final in 2013 that if he got the chance again he wouldn't fail and he didn't."
Spain became the first side to win the World Cup despite losing their opening game in 2010 as they were shocked 1-0 by Switzerland.
However, with highly-rated South Americans Chile also to come along with Australia in Group B, Martinez is hoping for a better start in Brazil.
Martinez is likely to provide backup in central defence for Vicente del Bosque despite playing largely in midfield over the past two seasons for Bayern due to Spain's wealth of talent available in midfield.
Atletico Madrid's Koke is also likely to miss out on a starting place due to the likes of Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta, but the 22-year-old insisted it is a pleasure just to train alongside the Barcelona duo.
In the other match aside from Australia-Chile on Friday mercurial Mexico host troubled Cameroon in the sides' World Cup Group A opener in Natal.
The Aztecs have failed to get to the 'fifth game' and make the quarter-finals since 1986 when they bowed out 4-1 on penalties to West Germany.
Critics would argue Mexico should feel lucky to be in Brazil at all.
After a tortuous qualifying campaign, Herrera was parachuted in for a two-legged play-off against New Zealand, which the central Americans won 9-3 on aggregate.
But despite that result, Mexico have hardly lit up the world footballing stage of late, losing their last two friendlies 1-0 to Bosnia and Portugal.
Four years after becoming the first African side to leave the 2010 tournament, with zero points from three games, Volker Finke's Cameroon squad recently threatened to refuse to board the plane to Brazil due to a row over bonuses.
A deal was finally reached, but the episode has enhanced the general feeling that the 'Indomitable Lions' will whimper and not roar their way through a group which includes Croatia and hosts Brazil.
Although Cameroon possess class midfielders in the shape of Alex Song and Enoh Eyong, all eyes will likely be glued on Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o -- a four-time African Player of the Year who will be appearing in his fourth finals.
The goals who scored by the team of netherlands are:
72'
65'
80'
53'
44'