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Spain fall to 2-0 defeat away to Holland in friendly game

Xinhua, April 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Holland defeated Spain 2-0 in a friendly game on Tuesday night in a match which had been billed as a grudge meeting between the two sides who had met in the 2010 World Cup final and again four years later in the 2014 World Cup.

Spain had won the 2010 clash to win their first World title, but the Dutch started what many see as the start of the decline of the Spanish national team 4 years later in Brazil with a 5-1 thrashing of the Spanish.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque had spoken before the game of his work to rejuvenate his squad following last summer's World Cup failure and Tuesday's side showed nine changes to that which had disappointed winning 1-0 at home to the Ukraine on Friday.

Del Bosque had also warned that Spain had suffered from high balls into their penalty area, but that warning clearly was not heeded when Holland took the lead after 12 minutes when Wesley Sneidjer's cross into the box was met by a firm header from central defender Stefan de Vrij.

The Dutch doubled their lead three minutes later when Davy Klaassen scored after David de Gea had saved an earlier effort.

The game had been billed in Spain as the chance for revenge following last summer's defeat, but in the opening minutes his side looked lackluster and the only chance they had was through debutant Juanmi whose shot went just wide.

Del Bosque reacted at the break by bringing on David Silva and Vitolo, who as a result made his debut, replacing Isco and Pedro Rodriguez.

Cesc Fabrigas almost got Spain back into things soon after the start of the second half, but his back-heel went just wide and it seemed the Spanish were moving the ball more sharply, although Martin Indi was unlucky to see his header from a corner bounce over the Spanish bar.

Spain then brought on Alvaro Morata, Sergio Ramos and Mikel San Jose and saw how Silva had a goal correctly ruled out for offside, although the Manchester City player had also accidentally controlled the ball with his hand.

The Spanish had improved and forced the Dutch onto the back foot and they should have scored with 10 minutes remaining, except Cesc failed with the final pass. Endite