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Chile send Spain packing, goal-spree continues in World Cup

By PTI
Rio de Janeiro, June 19: Spain today made a shock early exit from the World Cup after a disappointing 0-2 loss against Chile even as Brazil 2014's scintillating goal-scoring spree continued on the seventh day.

Schedule; Results; Points Table; Photos

Spain needed either a win or at least a draw to remain afloat in the tournament but they were outclassed by an aggressively attacking Chile to join Brazil (1966), France (2002) and Italy (1950 and 2010) in the dubious club of defending champions bowing out of World Cup in first round.

They now join Australia, who lost to the Netherlands 2-3 in an earlier Group B match of the day, as the first teams to bow out of the tournament. Eduardo Vargas put Chile in the lead in the 20th minute before Charles Aranguiz made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute to send Spain packing in front of the packed crowd at the iconic Maracana Stadium. Chile thus avenged their 1-2 loss to the same opponents in their group match in the 2010 World Cup.

By virtue of the win, Chile made it to the round of 16 from Group B along with the Netherlands. Spain's final group match against Australia on June 23 at Curitiba has now been rendered inconsequential. Spain also earned the dubious distinction of making the earliest exit from a World Cup by a defending champion in history. No defending champions have ever been eliminated after only two games of the first phase.

In other matches of the day, the Netherlands rallied from a goal down to edge past a gritty Australia 3-2 in a Group B match at Porto Alegre while Croatia sent 10-man Cameroon packing from the tournament with a 4-0 thrashing in Group A at Manaus which saw Alex Song being red-carded for elbowing an opponent in a moment of madness.

It turned out to be the worst night for Spain as they did not have any answer to the aggressive and attacking football of Chile in the initial 45 minutes and then played a chasing game in the second half to be outclassed by their opponents in the end.

PTI

Story first published: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 11:47 [IST]
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