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World Cup Daily: Holders humiliated, while England expects

| 14.06.2014

In one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, holders Spain were given a Dutch dressing down in Group B, as rampant Holland team came from a goal down to annihilate Vicente Del Bosque’s side 5-1 in Salvador.

Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben (AKA Robin and Robben) did most of the damage with a brace apiece in the ransacking, and as such are now priced at 6/1 and 16/2 respectively to land the golden boot.

Mexico were the other big winners in Group A as they had to score three times before one finally registered to beat Cameroon 1-0, after former Tottenham forward Giovani Dos Santos had two legitimate efforts wrongly ruled out.

In the headlines

After Spain’s second-half capitulation in Salvador, La Roja not only drifted to retain their world crown, but Louis van Gaal’s free-scoring Oranje outfit leapt into Group B favouritism at 1/4, while Chile’s 3-1 win over Australia sees them at 15/4 for group supremacy.

All rather distressing then for those associated with Spain and especially their veteran keeper Iker Casillas who has come out in the media asking for fans to ‘blame him’.

Real Madrid’s reserve stopper had an awful night in goal, getting stranded for the first header from RVP, flapping at a cross for the second and then worst of the lot, gifting the Manchester United striker the fourth after a disastrous touch.

Meanwhile, Spain’s naturalised Brazilian striker was always going to be in for a tough time from the home crowds and he made sure he was centre of attention too (until Holland ran riot).

The Atletico man firstly won a dubious penalty and then later appeared to head butt Holland defender Bruno Martins Indi, though even replays prove inconclusive.

The England Camp

Ahead of England’s World Cup curtain raiser against Italy in Manaus the noises coming from the England camp all seem to be fairly bullish.

Skipper Steven Gerrard has been leading the charge with some typically defiant rhetoric.

Gerrard said: “As each day creeps closer to the game itself, a sense of excitement grows.
“It is here now. All the distances and the miles we have covered, the heat preparation – we have done all that. There are no excuses now.”

Let’s hope he’s not setting himself up for a fall, but Ladbrokes customers should remember if you place any First Goalscorer, Scorecast or Correct Score bet with the bookmaker and if Roy Hodgson’s men ruin your Saturday night and lose in Manaus, the bookmaker will refund all losing stakes on those markets as a free bet.*

Injury list

Aside from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s ongoing knee injury the Three Lions can thankfully boast a clean bill of health against Italy as Danny Welbeck’s scare is apparently over.

However, not such great news for England fans is that Luis Suarez is likely to be left on the Uruguay bench against Costa Rica unless he’s urgently required as he recovers from knee surgery – meaning he will be fit to face England next time.

Fan Watch

After missing on the World Cup trophy itself four years ago in South Africa, Holland’s jubilant fans understandably let their hair down once their heroes had served revenge with that 5-1 mauling in the Arena Fonte Nova.

And in other news..

Screenshotmirror

Roy Hodgson take note….the secret of Dutch success could well have been United’s new manager allowing the WAGS a quick visit ahead of the game.

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Author

Christian Crowther

Give Christian a sport with anything remotely spherical in it and he’ll happily while away the hours watching it on the box. However, he’d much prefer writing about, playing or betting on golf, football, cricket, tennis, snooker.... you get the picture.