Spain 1-5 Netherlands, Player Ratings

The European and the World champions, Spain were torn into shreds by a ruthless Netherlands side. A penalty stroke from veteran midfielder, Xabi Alonso gave the Spanish side a slender lead, but screamers from Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Stefen De Vrij earned the Oranje a famous World Cup finals victory. 

Wesley Sneijder, the playmaker had a golden opportunity to put his side in a 1-0 in the eighth minute. But his shot went straight to Iker Casillas and was parried.

Spain were gifted a  penalty after the referee claimed that former-Brazilian player, Diego Costa was fouled by De Vrij inside the penalty box. Real Madrid midfielder, Xabi Alonso made no mistake with his stroke to give Spain a 1-0 lead.

Van Gaal's Netherlands was looking good on the pitch with Arjen Robben swiftly moving inside the box a number of times and was also combining well with No.10, Sneijder. On the other hand Silva missed a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 after a " mouth-watering " pass by Andres Iniesta. It proved to be costly for the defending champions, as moments later van Persie tried to imitate Superman with his magical goal.

Dally Blind's brilliant pass was met by the Manchester United No.20, van Persie whose header sailed over Iker Casillas which equalized the score to 1-1.

Robben then easily made it 2-1 for the runners-up of the last season and became the only player to score in three different World Cups for Netherlands while De Vri's header took it to 3-1 after the Sneijder-freekick.

Persie and Robben scored a couple of more goals to end Spain's unexpected misery.


                                               Spain

Iker Casillas - 5

Cesar Azpilicueta - 6

Sergio Ramos - 6

Gerard Pique - 5

Jordi Alba - 6

Xabi Alonso - 7

Sergio Busquets - 5

Xavi - 5

Iniesta - 7

Silva - 6

Costa - 7

(Sub) Pedro - 6

(Sub) Fernando Torres - 4

(Sub) Cesc Fabregas - 5

                                          
                                              Netherlands 

Jasper Cillessen - 6

Daryl Janmaat - 7

Ron Vlaar - 7

Stefan De Vrij - 8

Bruno Martins Indi - 6

Daley Blind - 9

Nigel de Jong - 7

Jonathan de Guzman - 5

Wesley Sneijder - 9

Arjen Robben - 9

Robin van Persie - 9

(Sub) Georginio Wijnaldum - 6

(Sub) Joel Veltman - 6

(Sub) Jeremain Lens - 6 

    The World Champions had a bad experience against the Hollish side of Louis van Gaal. Last time they had to face a loss against Switzerland but ended up winning the World Cup. Do you think this time they can silence their critics by playing well in the next matches?