World Cup: Spain’s ouster leaves trophy up for the taking: Feschuk
The defending champions are out and the host nation is struggling, which means the most coveted trophy in global sports is anyone’s to win.
DAVID RAMOS / GETTY IMAGES
Security personnel try to control Chilean fans as they try to enter the stands before the start of Wednesday's match between Spain and Chile at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
RIO DE JANEIRO—In the hour before Wednesday’s crucial Spain-Chile match, a scene typical of the 2014 World Cup unfolded outside the Maracana Stadium. Thousands of fans revelled in the adjacent streets.
Cheap beer was swilled. Peppy chants were unfurled.
Hundreds of Brazil’s military police, some bearing automatic weapons, many in menacing black armour, watched the crowd from along the perimeter.
Then something unusual happened. Chilean fans without tickets saw a weak spot in the building’s defences — security at the entrance to the media centre was nearly non-existent.
And when a gate-crashing mob surged, overwhelming genteel volunteers and breaking glass along the way, the cops out in the street weren’t in position to stop the thrust. The intruders, almost all of them wearing the jerseys of their national team, ran through the normally placid media centre, where hundreds of the world’s press immediately began documenting their progress. The rabble knocked down temporary walls in a desperate search for passage to the stands.
But the frantic run at glory ended quickly. If any of the invaders got through, certainly most were rounded up and eventually taken away by police.
Let’s just say the detainees missed one heck of a national moment. Shortly after the shocking siege on the press room, Chile’s national soccer team made a compelling assault on the sport’s world order, authoring a 2-0 victory that sent the reigning kings of the game to early elimination from the tournament they won in 2010.
Spain, no less than the No. 1-ranked nation on the planet since 2008, never got their trademark offensive game in gear and seemed helpless to push back against Chile’s aggressive counterattack. And so ended a memorable dynasty that also included victories at the 2012 and 2008 Euro.
It had been noted often before last week’s tournament opener that no European team has ever won a World Cup on South American soil. Now Europe’s incumbent best — 5-1 losers in their opener to the Dutch — is out of the running.
“We must apologize. We are responsible,” said Iker Casillas, the Spanish captain and goalkeeper. “We’re hurting.”
Spain hadn’t lost consecutive matches at a World Cup since 1982. Alas, with many of the stalwarts of Spain’s core group well into their 30s, they’d appeared lacking from the get-go here in Brazil. And while the Spanish supporters could look back four years and note their heroes had lost their first game en route to the title, this campaign came attached to a different feeling.
It was hardly a first; the defending champion French were ousted in the group stage in 2002, as were the defending champion Italians in 2010. And it was hardly a fluke. All the vulnerability Spain showed in the loss to the Netherlands was on display on Wednesday. Spain’s tika-taka passing game showed flashes of its prime brilliance — the Spanish out-possessed their opponents 56 per cent to 44 per cent and outshot them 9-4 — but it never boasted the crisp attractiveness that characterized its best days. And as for Spain’s back line, at times it looked as feeble as the media-centre watchmen.
Ditto Spain’s much-maligned Casillas, who likely would have been yanked from his starter’s role after his debacle against the Netherlands if backup David De Gea had been healthy. De Gea, to the chagrin of Spain’s supporters, was hurt in practice earlier this week. And Casillas, 33, could not rise to the occasion. He wasn’t necessarily at fault for Chile’s first goal — scored by Eduardo Vargas in the 19th minute after Spain made a sloppy giveaway. But Casillas did make a questionable decision in the first half’s dying moments, punching at a ball he might have better caught to give a golden chance to Chile’s Charles Aranguiz. Aranguiz found the net to make it 2-0, and the Maracana erupted.
The crowd of 74,101 was overwhelmingly Chilean. While the Spanish players wore red jerseys and Chile wore white, the sea of red in the audience was mostly made up of South Americans who booed and whistled when Spain had the ball and taunted struggling Spanish forward Diego Costa.
While the game was in progress, FIFA released a statement that said “at least 85” media-centre invaders had been detained by military police. The sport’s governing body condemned their “violent acts,” but didn’t take responsibility for the lax security that allowed such a shambolic breach. No one appeared to be seriously injured in the fray, although there were innocent bystanders, many of whom held tickets, caught up in the human wave. Some displayed bruises and appeared shaken.
Paulo Keupuchur, a Chilean who came bearing a ticket but wound up pushed into the media centre, called the situation “dangerous.”
“They pushed us into the bars. And everybody came in,” said Keupuchur, 36. “It was very scary. We have tickets. . . . It’s not secure. . . . It’s ridiculous. But today we are going to win (against) Spain.”
The most coveted trophy in global sports is available for the taking — and who’ll make the successful run at glory seems as hard to gauge as the mentality of a mob.
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