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| what a beautiful goal |
Reports of the Oranje's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Their 5:1 win over Spain was nothing short of the most devastating performance in a World Cup in about 30 years. Their old school, 5-3-2 formation completely dominated the world champions – the fullbacks accounted for a goal and two assists. Skill players get hot, and the partnership of Van Persie and Robben clicking on all cylinders is worrisome. Those two ran wild in this game. And this match was a statement to the other 30 teams in this tournament – if you want to win this tourney, you had better up your game, because if the Dutch play six more games like this, they are taking that trophy home with them.
2. Spain is screwed
The math really does them in at this point – they're down -6 in spread to 2nd place Chile to Group B. Even with a win in the next game v. Chile, they likely need help to advance from the Dutch, who sure as hell aren't going to help them. I was reminded, while watching this game, of the 2004 Mariners. The 2001 Mariners won 116 games. The M's in 2002-03 were 90+ win teams who got eked out of the playoffs. The 2004 M's finished last, a collective group of talent who got old and slow and shockingly bad all at once. Spain was like that today. Their 1-0 lead was hardly deserved, and what was more telling than the final scoreline was how dominated Spain was – much like they were in the Confed Cup final a year ago. Sneijder and De Jong wiped out the Spain midfield game, and the Spanish passing game style – controlling the ball 75% of the time and frustrating the opponents into oblivion – felt passé. There is still time for Spain to recover, but the deck is certainly stacked against them.
3. 3 points is 3 points
Brazil was meh and still won 3:1 v. Croatia, owing to a gift penalty, some marginal Croatian goalkeeping, and a generally cowardly offensive approach by the red and white checkers. Whatever. Wins are wins. I heard a lot of pundits say "the Brazilians need to up their games ..." Well, no shit. First game jitters, they didn't play all that well, and they still win 3:1 while conceding an own goal. Brazil is just fine. They are many yards ahead of the other teams in Group A. They won't have a legit challenge for another 3-4 games.
4. The officiating sucks
There have been two disallowed goals which should have been good and two penalties which are marginal, if not phantom. In four games. That's unacceptable. After 2010, you would think that FIFA would've done more to raise the world officiating standards, but the refs seem outmatched and seem to be guessing a lot of the time. Both penalties they've awarded were plays were officials were anticipating the fouls, instead of seeing the play and making the call. The missed goals – both in the Mexico game v. Cameroon – were downright sloppy. C'mon here guys, you can do better than this.
