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Goals fly in, officials tune out

Atique An am
Did anyone see it coming? Vicente Del Bosque certainly did not. Having inherited a winning squad from his predecessor Luis Aragones after Euro 2008, the former real Madrid boss was happy to keep faith on the system which made Spain the dominant force in world football over the last eight years. And despite looking like being found out quite a few times, that team won the World Cup and defended the Euro title, with their passing football, which relies on taking a central route via horizontal and often vertical passes to the target.
As much as they thrived in that approach, Del Bosque's side did not seem to have a plan B if things did not work out this way. On Friday they came up against an approach they were not perhaps prepared for. The Dutch, guided by Luis van Gaal - one of the best in the business - used a 5-3-2 system, which took advantage of the lack of width of the Spaniards and their vulnerability in the air. What the Dutch did was to minimise the
Spanish passing game at the attacking third, pounced on the counter at devastating speed, much like what we see from Germany, and finish the moves clinically. Easier said than done, but when you have the vision of a Daley Blind (how inaptly named!), the clinic of Van Persie and the outrageous skill of Arjen Robben - all three of them playing at telepathic understanding - this type of scoreline is not unimaginable.
If the scoreline itself does not seem monstrous enough, here are a few statistics to help put things into perspective. Defending champions have never lost their opening game by more than a single goal margin and neither have they conceded five goals in a match in their defence campaign. The five goals Spain conceded on Friday is one less than they conceded in all of their last three major tournament triumphs (Euro 2008, WG 2010, Euro 2012).
But it had looked like an all too familiar story in the first half as
Spain were conjuring their acting skills against the physical approach from the Dutch. Diego Costa bundled on to the pitch having left his leg on to a challenge from Stefan de Vrij (that man deserves an Oscar, but will face heavy competition from Fred) for the penalty in the first half, dispatched with aplomb by Xabi Alonso. Spain were enjoying a 'perennial' 1-0 lead, until Van Persie came out flying.
Talking of playacting and officials being fooled, this tournament has already seen far too many of those for comfort. The tournament opened with the most glaring of playacting instances when Brazil striker Fred, who was otherwise invisible throughout the 90 minutes, took a massive fall after his shirt was slightly tugged for an instant by Croatia defender Dejan Lovren. Hapless Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot, a decision he might rue in future. Then there was the Mexico versus Cameroon match where the linesmen ruled out two perfectly valid goals from Giovanni dos Santos for offside. This tournament has introduced a number of new technologies to make the job easier for the officials, but one wonders whether there is a cure for the playacting which seeks to dupe officials.
On the positive side of things, the tournament has already seen 15 goals in its first four matches — 10 more than the last time around and six more than the previous edition. It is not just the number of goals that matter though; it is also the quality of play that has been highly rewarding for fans. And that is what the tournament needed, especially after months of demonstrations over the staging of the event in Brazil.
P.S. Don't already count out the Spaniards. They still have arguably the best first eleven (and reserve bench) in the world to advance while at the same time the Dutch have imploded after an initial burst far too many times.