Netherlands Take Revenge, Stun Spain

 1-5 

Defending World Cup champions Spain were in action today in a first round match against the Netherlands.  In the 2010 World Cup final Spain defeated the Netherlands 1-nil in overtime to lift the Cup.  Today the result was quite different as the Dutch punished Spain for their previous heart-break.

Spain fielded a similar line-up to that during the Euros and the Confederations Cup with one major exception.  Diego Costa got the start for Spain at striker after choosing not to play for Brazil.  The striker helped Spain take the lead when he won a penalty kick in the first-half.  Dutch defender Stefan De Vrij missed his slide tackle on Diego Costa in the box and the spot-kick was given for Spain.  Xabi Alonso took the shot and scored the penalty with a well placed drive to the corner (27').

Not shaken by the deficit, the Netherlands responded just before half-time to level the score.  Daley Blind played an early cross into the box to pick out Robin Van Persie.  The Dutch captain timed his run well to stay on-sides and with his first touch struck a perfect header that beat Spanish keeper Iker Casillas (44').

In the second-half Spain's defense fell apart and captain Casillas was a complete mess between the posts.  Arjen Robben scored shortly after the break to give the Dutch the lead.  A great first touch to trap the ball inside the box set him up for a second touch around defender Pique before beating the keeper (53').

Not long after falling behind Spain elected to make a pair of changes removing Diego Costa and Xabi Alonso for Torres and Pedro.  However as soon as the two came into the match, the Netherlands extended the lead on a set-piece.  Sneijder delivered the free-kick into the box and Dutch centerback De Vrij scored at the back-post (64').

Later Van Persie scored another goal when Casillas coughed up the ball after mishandeling a back-pass.  Van Persie was quick to snatch the ball away from the keeper and fire off a shot on an empty net (72').  Then Robben scored a second goal when a long ball played forward gave him room to out-run Sergio Ramos.  Casillas attempted to stop Robben's run by coming off his line, but the Dutch forward confidently dribbled around the keeper and scored the final goal of the match (80').

The Dutch successfully got revenge on the team that kept them from lifting the trophy four years ago and will be favored to win the group.  Australia and Chile make up the rest of the group, but do not have much of a chance to reach the knock-out rounds.  Spain do not need to panic just yet and should be able to advance out of the group stage despite today's poor performance.  Once they do get out though, they will have to play much better against the next level of competition.

Real Madrid Blowout Bayern Munich, Reach UCL Final

 0-4 

Real Madrid travelled to Germany for the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final today with Bayern Munich.  Madrid barely edged the defending champions in the first-meeting 1-0 and now playing on the road Madrid needed another solid performance in this hostile environment.  Munich are normally unbeatable in their home stadium, but today found themselves in trouble very early in the match.

Madrid centerback Sergio Rames scored a pair of goals in the opening stages of the game to put Munich in a three goal hole.  First on a corner kick by Modrić, Ramos made a late run to the back-post where he was given a free header that he put into the net (16').  Just minutes later on another set-piece Ramos won a second header in front of Munich's goal to increase the lead.  Di María delivered the free-kick into the box and Pepe helped the cross along with a flick header to Ramos at the back-post for the score (20').

Real Madrid added one more goal in the first-half on a counter-attack through the middle of the field.  Bale was released on a break-away and at the last moment laid the ball off to Ronaldo who had a free shot and scored through the legs of keeper Neuer coming off his line (34').  By the end of the first-half the match was essentially over.  Bayern came into the match already down one goal from the previous match and found themselves in far greater hole by half-time.

Now needing five goals to overcome their tremendous deficit, Munich essentially gave up in the second-half.  Following the half-time break Bayern manager Pep Guardiola removed the central striker Mandzukic and inserted the defensive midfielder Javi Martínez.  Later other attacking players Müller and Ribery were taken out in place of Götze and Pizarro.  None of the changes made a positive impact on the game and Madrid even added a final goal at the end of regulation.

Ronaldo had two opportunities to score from well-placed free-kicks at the end of the match and finished the second chance.  His first free-kick was blocked by the wall, but the second time Ronaldo fired the shot low and rolled the ball under the wall as they jumped to score (90').

Surprisingly this is the first time in over ten years that Real Madrid have made it the Champions League final.  Tomorrow their opponent will be decided when Chelsea take on Atletico Madrid for their semi-final second-leg at Stamford Bridge.

Brazil Win 2013 Confederations Cup

3-0

Host nation Brazil won the 2013 Confederations Cup by beating Spain 3-0 in the final.  Although Spain is the top ranked team in the world, under the circumstances of tonight's match, they never had a chance.

Just to reach the final Spain had to endure a grueling overtime match against Italy that was eventually decided in a shoot-out.  Brazil had an extra day of rest before the final and of course had the enormous support of the fans as the host nation.

And that support was directly translated onto the field.  Especially in the first-half, all the calls by the referee went in Brazil's favor.  Two yellow cards were issued to Spanish players, Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos, while Brazil got away with a number of fouls that went unbooked.  Later in the second-half Pique was sent off with a straight red card after a foul on Neymar, who was running away from goal.

Brazil were the better team today though, and understandably so with their motivation to win.  The citizens of Brazil have been quite unhappy about the recent build up to next year's World Cup, protesting for the last two weeks.  The players knew that the protests were towards the government, not the teams, and by winning the tournament they would at least give the people something to celebrate.

There is still a lot of work ahead for Brazil, both for the team and the nation as a whole.  Winning today is certainly a step in the right direction and hopefully it will give the people something to believe in.

Borussia Dortmund Drop Madrid, Headed to Wembley

4-3 

Real Madrid were facing a three goal deficit for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund following the stellar performance of striker Lewandowski.  Playing the second leg in Spain, Dortmund knew they did not have to be as good as they were a week ago in front of their fans, as the pressure was on Madrid to score.

Higuaín was again selected over Benzema to start for Madrid as the center forward and had a great opportunity to carve into the lead with an early goal.  Keeper Weidenfeller made a good save to deny the forward and his day did not improve after that.  Ronaldo and Özil also had very good chances early, but another big save from the keeper as well as a bad miss kept Dortmund sitting comfortably in front.

In the second-half Benzema replaced Higuaín and Kaka replaced Coentrão as the urgency to score increased.  Benzema was a positive change and gave hope to Madrid in the last the moments of the match.  Kaka played Özil into space wide right and he was able to pass to Benzema crashing the near-post for the first goal of the match (82').  Then the light at the end of the tunnel got a little bit brighter when Madrid scored again minutes later.  Benzema controlled a loose ball at the Dortmund end-line and picked out Sergio Ramos waiting at the six yard line.  Ramos used one touch to settle the ball before blasting the shot into the top netting (88').

Unfortunately for Real Madrid the scoring came too little too late and Borussia Dortmund held on for the final 4-3 aggregate score.  Dortmund will have to wait until the end of tomorrow's semi-final replay to know who they will face in London, though the odds are certainly in favor of Bayern Munich.  Dortmund may have to play without their central midfielder Mario Götze who left today's game early with an injury.  He is set to join Bayern Munich next season, but Dortmund need him to play now while they still have him.