By RYAN TOLMICH
After the 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands last week, today is do-or-die for the defending world champions.
Spain faces a must-win situation when they take on South American powerhouse Chile today, as anything less than a win will all but confirm a group stage exit for the 2010 champions. For their part, Alexis Sanchez and Chile are coming off a 3-1 victory over Australia and any sort of result should make them emerge from Group B into the knockout stages.
In Group A action, Croatia will look to bounce back from a controversial loss to Brazil on Thursday when they take on Cameroon. Tuesday’s draw between Brazil and Mexico means that the Croatians will need to pick up at least a point to essentially make their third and final group stage matchup with Mexico an elimination game.
Finally, Spain’s tormentors, the Netherlands, is also back in action today when it takes on Australia. The Dutch have become heavy favorites in group B, but the Australians will pose questions of their own via the always-threatening head of Tim Cahill.
If you will be watching today’s matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (TV listings after the jump):
TODAY’S WORLD CUP SOCCER ON TV
12 p.m. – Australia vs. Netherlands – ESPN
3 p.m. – Spain vs. Chile – ESPN
6 p.m. – Cameroon vs. Croatia – ESPN
Mandzukic’s 2nd: He wasn’t sure if he was offside or not… that was like the most casual goal ever.
He also maybe gets fouled in the box but can’t even be bothered to act like it might be a pen.
Cameroon having an embarrassing World Cup thus far. The Mexico-Croatia matchup is looking sumptuous at the moment.
It will be amazing no matter who wins.
looking forward to it
African squads not finding much joy so far in Brazil. Cote d’Ivoire might have to carry the torch for the continent this go round.
Yep, Concacaf may not have the players with the fame of Afcon but atleast were not doing our best not to implode.
Algeria has a chance to play spoiler anyway though.
Song just threw an elbow and the game for…. who knows what reasons.
pathetic play, wtf?
Mandzukic can be chippy but honestly he didn’t do anything of note there. He jogged into position to slow down Song but it wasn’t even close to a foul or anything.
he might have said something but no excuse
have to mention in here on how Chile did it to Spain
high line of 3 on D pressuring everything in Spain’s defensive 3rd supported by 2 high midfileders beneath them, caused all kinds of problems. Changed all to an up tempo game and Spain had no time on the ball and turned it over a lot vs. sitting back and giving them tiki taki. Also Costa had a stinker and looked to have no explosion at all (still hamstrung imo)
but that D pressure, made Spain look old and tired, or at least very disjointed…probably al 3 considering the lineup del Bosque threw out there. And poor Iker, another clear mistake, feel for the guy
another thought in the beauty of hindsight
del Bosque played right into Sampaoli’s tactical hand when he deployed Costa who was slow out there, to be kind
USA has already scored as many 2nd game goals as Brazil and Spain combined.
Well, now the US has to go through, because now I have no fallback team.
Imagine being there and having paid good money for Spain v Australia…
The Aussie fans will likely get drunk, have a great time, and be extremely vociferous. Their team has played bravely in both losses and had no huge expectations to begin with; it would be huge for a young squad like Australia to claim a scalp as big as Spain, no matter what the stakes.
Friends in Spain sending me memes of things like Nadal in a Spain kit saying, disgusted, “Am I going to have to go to Brazil or what?!?”
Haha, He certainly couldn’t do worse.
I’m kinda glad Nadal is healthy. He is amazing except his body can’t quite take his playing style.
Casillas single handedly cost Spain this tournament. You’re lying to me if there aren’t 3 keepers better than Casillas in Spain
Their 0 goals from open play probably contributes a little. Though I guess you could argue casillas is responsible for that too?
Cost them the tournament? He stinks. No doubt. But they have zero goals from the run of play. Plenty of blame to go around. Not that I’m blaming anyone, mind you. I’m enjoying watching the implosion.
Wow.
Spain just look bad.
Credit to Chile though… they look stylish today. Very impressive.
Sooo another free kick and Ramos again?
It was decent but I don’t get this trend. Its like when David Luiz takes them for Brazil….
Let Neymar or Iniesta take it…
Wow, Sergio Busquets is horrible. I’m glad he missed, can’t stand his flopping and dirty play.
Why did Spain take Xabi out? sheesh I had a 5$ bet on the red card going!
They really should get that particular “because futbol” ad off the air…
If Spain lose, what’s the betting line on Del Bosque — does he resign w/i 24 hrs. or is he fired w/i 24 hrs.?
Emigrates to USA to coach Chivas in MLS.
Somebody explain to me why Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso are both still on the field. 2 D-Mids on a team that’s given up 7 goals in a game and a half and has scored exactly 0 goals from the run of play. Have the hutzpah to bench one of those two for an attack-minded player, it’s not like they’re helping the defense here.
Koke comes on for Alonso.
I can only hope we are witnessing the slow, agonizing death of Spanish football. The only thing that would improve on their elimination from the a World Cup would be to see Torres crap his shorts trying to chase down a ball.