Spain, who achieved a rare distinction of winning three football crowns (two Euro and one World Cup) between 2008 and 2012, received a harsh reality check from the Dutch. The heavy loss that the men in orange handed over to them as a revenge of the defeat in the 2010 World Cup final marked the worst defeat that a defending champion had ever faced in the history of the World Cup since 1934 when the second edition of the tournament was held in Italy.
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Only Italy, Argentina (twice) and France had lost their first matches as the defending champions of the World Cup but all those losses were by just one goal. Spain became the first team in the history of the World Cup to lose by a wide margin of four goals in their opening match as the defending champions.
Only Italy, Argentina (twice) and France have faced losses as defenders
1934: Uruguay didn't participate
1938: Italy beat Norway 2-1
1950: Italy lost to Sweden 2-3
1954: Uruguay beat Czechosolavakia 2-0
1958: West Germany beat Argentina 3-1
1962: Brazil beat Mexico 2-0
1966: Brazil beat Bulgaria 2-0
1970: England beat Romania 1-0
1974: Brazil drew with Yugoslavia 0-0
1978: West Germany drew with Poland 0-0
1982: Argentina lost to Belgium 0-1
1986: Italy drew with Bulgaria 1-1
1990: Argentina lost to Cameroon 0-1
1994: Germany beat Bolivia 1-0
1998: Brazil beat Scotland 2-1
2002: France lost to Senegal 0-1
2006: Brazil beat Croatia 1-0
2010: Italy drew with Paraguay 1-1
2014: Spain lost to the Netherlands 1-5
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