Champions Spain and Young England crashes out of the Football World Cup 2014

Defending champions Spain and young England are officially out of the Football World Cup in Brazil. Both the team suffered back to back losses in their first two matches in the World Cup. Fan favourites and number one seeded Spain lost their first match against runner-ups of the last instalment of the tournament. This defeat was followed by another one after they lost the game to Chile. This produced the worst World Cup performance of Espana in any edition of the tournament. England too had high hopes for their young team with veteran Steven Gerrard leading from the front.  Their losses were against former champions Italy and then against Costa Rica who are currently on a riot after being the first team to qualify to the next round  from their group.

Ranked 1 in FIFA rankings, Spain was the considered the team with the highest chances of winning the trophy. With their current form, it didn’t look a distant dream. Fans were waiting for the rematch of the final of World cup 2010  where Spain took on vengeful Holland in their first match. They even seemed like winning for the first few minutes of the  first half after a penalty was converted by Xabi Alonso after a tackle inside the box by the Dutch. But the happiness of Del Bosque and his friends didn’t last too long . Their dreams had the first crack after a stunning header by Robin Van Persie equalising just before the half-time. The game then took a U-turn from there on. The Dutch started pushing forward and fourmore goals followed from  Arjen Robben , Van Persie and Stefan De Vrij. Yes, revenge is best served cold! Spain wasn’t ready to give up even after the humiliating defeat against the Dutch. In the next game , they went up against number Chile . Tiki Taka didn’t do much help in their first game neither did Casillas. But they couldn’t improve in the next game. The passed went sloppy, shots went wide and crosses didn’t reach their team mates.  Chile Struck first after 20  minutes after a goal from Eduardo Vargus and just before halftime, any hopes of Spain advancing diminished after Charles Aranguiz  scored yet another goal for  Chile. Though statistics favoured Spain by a small margin, the ball never rattled the Chilean goalpost. And ironically, it was all over for the defending champions, their most humiliating record in any world cup  . With one match in hand, all they scored is one  goal and that too a penalty and had given seven goals away. Yes the reign of Spain is over!

England was one of the most unluckiest teams in the latest instalment of the Football World Cup 2014. Grouped against Italy, Costa Rica and Uruguay , group D is known as the death group of the world cup. With three teams within the top 10 ranks of  FIFA, all football fans did expect tight matches  between these teams. England was the favourites of this group. They went against the 2006 champions Italy in their first match. The young English team attacked well for most of the first half. But Italy had no intention of backing down. At last after 35 minutes of intense playing, Italy scored the first with a goal from Claudio Marchisio. But young Liverpool player Daniel Sturridge stuck back for England in less than two minutes of the first goal. The goal from Mario Balotelli in the second half sealed the score and the game in Italy’s way though the English and the Azzuris kept on trying till the final whistle. The second match was crucial for the English and Uruguay , with both of them losing their first match. The English squad didn’t look  as exciting as in the match against Italy and the English defence was pushed constantly by the Uruguayan striker Luiz Suarez who opened the account in the 39^th minute. England hopes of the next round were fading till super striker Wayne Rooney struck for England in the 75^th minute. The happiness didn’t last long as Suarez fired a superb goal near the final whistle and grabbed the three points from England. England still had a chance of qualifying if Italy wins all three matches and England wins the game against Costa Rica. Sadly the next day the Azzuris were trashed by the Costa Rica  team and England chances of qualifying were no more .

Spain and England are the two main teams that will leave Brazil after the 1^st round. Their disappointing performances sure had hurt the players as well as the fans in the same degree. The managers and the players had a tough time in Brazil and let’s hope that they will bounce back to their feet so we could see them again in great form 

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