Spain vs Netherlands 6/13 11am AKDT

Final: 5-1 Netherlands

After the final whistle, one of the commentators: “Even as an underspoken Englishman: ‘Wow.'”

In the first half, it seemed an even game. Spain even went up first on a penalty kick.

Van Persie scored the first of his goals just before halftime with a great run up and a header right over the goalie. Beautiful play.

Going into the half, 1-1, I don’t think anyone, even the Dutch, were expecting what happened in the second half.

Shortly after the second half began, Robben got the first of his goals, on a beautiful passing play to put the Dutch on top 2-1.

10 minutes later, the Dutch scored again on a scrum in the goalie box. One of the offenders blooped in a goal in the middle of it. After the goal, you could see the Spanish give up and not put as much effort into the game.

Which led to the Dutch running away with it. Two more goals would be scored, one each by Van Persie and Robben, to yield a blowout game. You could tell that after the 3rd goal, Spain kept participating in the game, but stopped trying for it.

The Spanish had some high expectations, but perhaps Netherlands was waiting for their revenge after the 2010 World Cup final.

What a blowout.