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FINAL - Spain 1, Netherlands 5: The Dutch humiliate the reigning world champions

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Is this the end of Spain's reign? Is tiki-taka dead? Can Iker Casillas be trusted again?

There are no answers to be found for reigning the world champions after a merciless thrashing at the hands of 2010 runners-up the Netherlands. On a wet night in Salvador, Spain was thoroughly humiliated by a heat-seeking Netherlands side seeking revenge for its fate four years ago.

Spain opened the scoring on a Xabi Alonso penalty kick after striker Diego Costa was fouled (just barely) and briefly looked like the Spain of old, but it was short-lived.

Dutch striker Robin Van Persie scored a sublime diving header just before the first half expired and Arjen Robben gave his side the lead shortly after play resumed.

From there, the rout was on. Long-time Spanish captain Casillas looked like a broken player, missing a punch to give the Dutch their third goal and bungling an easy play in his box to hand the Oranje their fourth.

Somehow, that wasn't even the end of the misery. The Netherlands notched a fifth and the night ended with Robben blowing kisses to the crowd and Group B was suddenly blown wide open.

There was always something a little off about this evening. Inexplicably, the Oranje wore blue and La Roja wore white. No one could have predicted this outcome, however. On just the second day of the tournament, the soccer world has one of its biggest stories in years.

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