Spain vs Chile, World Cup results: La Roja eliminated after 0-2 loss

In World Cup action on Wednesday, Chile is playing Spain at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro in a huge Group B match up. After Chile won their opening game against Australia, and the Spain were routed by the Netherlands, this game became a lot more important in the Group B picture and determining who would advance to the knockout round.

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Heading into the game it looked like a Spain loss would them out of the tournament and a win would guarantee the Chileans a spot in the round of 16. Once the Netherlands defeated Australia earlier on Wednesday, it made those possibilities certainties when they moved to the top of the table with six points. Chile brings three points into the game and a win would give them six, making it a mathematical impossibility for Spain to come back.

Because of the ramifications of the game, Chile was prepared to face off against a motivated and angered Spanish team. An awakening the giant type of situation if you will.

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Unfortunately for Spain, it looked like it wasn’t going to be their day once again. The Spanish side found themselves down a goal in the 20th minute of the game after a goal from Eduardo Vargas. There wasn’t a whole lot they could do, there was some superb play on the part of the Chileans to get the goal.

Late in the first half, in the 43rd minute to be precise, the Spanish attack struck again. Alexis Sánchez lined up to take a free kick, and curled it around the wall on it was on target. Spanish goal keeper Iker Casillas was able to make the save but deflected it back into play at the feet of Charles Aránguiz, the man who set up the first goal.

Aránguiz took a second, collected the ball and put it in the back of the net. That goal puts Spain on the brink of elimination and in a 2-0 hole heading into the break. A draw would keep Spain in the equation mathematically, but they’d still need the Netherlands to beat Chile in the final group stage game and Spain would need to beat Australia, who gave the Netherlands a run for their money, convincingly to over come the goal differential.

The Spanish side had a quality chance in the second half, after a ridiculous bicycle kick to the back post. All Sergio Busquets had to do was tap it in for the easy goal, but he didn’t for some mind-boggling reason.

They weren’t able to overcome the deficit and the Spaniards’ World Cup campaign came to an end being mathematically eliminated. They still have one more game left in group play but they can’t advance to knock out rounds.