The Departures (World Cup Day 7) ●

Spain, current World & back-to-back European champions, along with Australia were one of the first ones to go home. And their exodus were really dramatic.

Australia produced a gem of a match with Holland. Holland, coming after their historic win over Spain, were clear favourites. But they were taken by surprise by the swift gameplay by Australians & Cahil’s superb volley to the goal. In the end, Holland held on to their nerves and Dempay, the substitute, scored the winning goal. Nevertheless, this game would be remembered for the kind of play Australians showcased than Holland’s defensive anomalies (to which we might come back some other time).

Similarly, Chile produced the true South American way of life on a football field that I was expecting from Brazil or Argentina. And the Spaniards were as helpless as they were against Holland. Chile was aggressive, fast & full of trickeries for the old legs of Spain mid-field & defence. And when it came to offence, Spain lacked their typical precision & vigour. It was more of a Chilean magic than Spanish mediocrity.

It’s good that we will now have a new World Champion.

And in the last match of the day, Croatia just added some more colour to the group A by defeating Cameroon by 4 goals. Last matches in this group, especially for Brazil & Mexico, would be quite interesting.

This tournament is now open.