FIFA made a blunder to have two of the biggest teams in the group to have their opening game against each other. Spain would of been a different team had they not play against a tough opposition early on. After the thrashing of Holland, they lost their confidence immediately and they showed it in this match. I think the defeat and the possibility of facing Brazil has impacted their concentration.

Well if Spain get even a 0-0 draw against Australia they've done better by virtue of the fact that they've scored a goal.

I think Spain fell into the trap of being too loyal to players who had won stuff in the past and not giving the new generation a fair crack. It was the same with France in 2002 when they wheeled out a load of old champions who were past it (Desailly, Lizarazu, Petit, Djorkaeff and even Lebouef) when they had a new generation ready to go (Sagnol, Gallas, Silvestre, Dacourt, Lamouchi, Giuly etc).

Picking Torres ahead of Llorente and Negredo was a mystery. Even though he was part of the old guard, David Villa was a striker they had who could make good runs off the ball and add some pace to the attack. Spain looked very pedestrian. Casillas has been on the wane for a good while, as has Xavi. I was surprised that Mata and/or Fabregas didn't appear against Chile.

As for Chile, I did tip them to go through but I thought it'd be at the expense of Holland.

It'll be interesting to see how Spain line up in Euro 2016 qualifying and then the tournament itself. They might keep some of the old guys around in qualifying for now to lend an experienced hand but I would expect them to have moved on by the time of the tournament. I expect to see the likes of De Gea, Carvajal, Koke, Muniain, Illarramendi, Isco, Deulofeu and Morata coming into the side with some of the more experienced players like Busquets, Cesc, David Silva etc. sticking around too. They'll probably never be as dominant again but that's still a good basis for a team that can challenge for major tournaments if they get them in now and playing in the right way together.

So FIFA should fix the draw to give preferential treatment to certain teams?

Holland faced exactly the same issue and don't exactly have a poor squad. Going into the tournament they were very confident and not the usual divided dressing room (I suspect that van Gaal would not tolerate that nonsense we have seen previously)
Brazil were pre-tournament favourites but unless they improve greatly, I don't see them being that hard to get past.

hugely enjoy watching Chile play and hope that lad that went off injured isn't too badly injured as he's a good player. Great example of a coach having 2 world class players and a lot of good players and making them play so well as a team. Hope they go far in the tournament. Brazil should be quite worried if they have to play them.
I do really like Juventus and afraid that I can't see them managing to hang on to Vidal which is a great pity. I hate that all the top players end up at the same few clubs.

As for Spain, I'm sad for del Bosque who is a fine man and a great coach. His loyalty to the old guard was a mistake. Having said that, imho an even bigger mistake was not playing David Villa in this one. He's the go-to man for goals in a team very short of goals, and he'd scored 2 in their last warm up game. Baffled by the Costa/Torres preference. Don't think anyone could have foreseen how poor Alonso would be, as he's had a good season with RM. Casillas yes, he's only played CL and made 2 mistakes in the final that he got away with.
Costa looks like he doesn't belong or feel he belongs. Big mistake.
Thanks for the memories Spain.

I think you are right in terms of confidence it certainly was a big factor going into the second half and the next match. Spain did not play that bad in the first half against Holland but the goal by RVP just before half time shocked them. The goal also gave Holland a massive lift they just attacked Spain in a way they have not been used to for 8 years. They just did not have an answer to any of the questions when sides attack them or don't allow them time on the ball.

I think the manager must take some blame for the selection I don't understand Costa being asked to fit into a tic tak style given that is not the way he plays for his club. The goal keeper has not featured much this season perhaps even for a keeper of his standing was a risk. Given his errors in the first match I would have dropped him to the bench.

I dont think Spain need to throw out the style of play or old players just yet but they need to re-group.

That's how I read it as: Spain played crap so it's FIFA's fault

That being said, they should go back to the old method of seeding using a mixture of past World cup performances and FIFA rankings instead of rankings at the time of the draw. Probably still wouldn't help Spain though

Costa gives them something that spain lacked for a long time. He has physical presence, is 6ft 2 inch in height, he has these advantage that spain can utilized. He just lacked experience and the players not assisting him with enough chances and failing to cross the ball in the box had an effect in his performance.

Agree with you and the person above who says that they obviously need to bring in new faces. What has been missing from this team, which Chile have done so well in the past few years, was winning the ball back high up the pitch. Only when Koke came on was there a bit of fight in the middle of the park.

Casillas, Xavi, Alonso, and Villa will all retire, along with Puyol going that would be 5 big big misses, however they do have replacements for them - Koke, Martinez, De Gea etc

My highlight of the world cup so far

I don't think it was a confidence issue with Spain, neither was it their group,it was simply that they did not play well. Outclassed easily by Holland and Chile, panicking and making stupid mistakes. It certainly is a shock to see them not even make it past the group stages, but with them out, Brazil being mediocre at best, it certainly sets the scene for a very exciting knock out stage,

He wasn't match fit, was plainly obvious, but the rest of the strikers didn't have great seasons either. Torres and Villa are past it, Pedro is more of a winger, Negredo would have gone but he didn't score after February and Soldado was worse than Torres this season.

International football has become a lot more competitive over the last 10 years or so. The only really poor team I've seen so far has been Cameroon. Big teams are going to have to get used to having at least two tough group games in these tournaments.

France could still lose to the Swiss and Ecuador, both Croatia and Mexico gave Brazil a good game, Bosnia was the same against the Argies and Costa Rica hammered one of the dark horses of the tournament.