<p>And so it was official. The reign of Spain was not merely on the wane – it was over.<br /><br /></p>.<p>But this was no hard luck story. No tale of near misses, or if onlys. It was a 90-minute clubbing of a once-mighty empire.<br /><br />Of red-shirted men who had been elevated to almost mythical status with two European Championships and a World Cup in the last six years.<br /><br />Here, in the magnificent Maracana, the chants of 'ole ole ole, Chile, Chile' and 'E-lim-inado' served as a funereal dirge for the Spaniards who are lurching from crisis to embarrassment at this World Cup.<br /><br />At the end La Roja were left red-faced.<br /><br />Humbled 5-1 by the Netherlands in the opening match of their title defense last Friday, observers, and no doubt the Chileans, had been braced for a proud and angry response.<br /><br />Instead the Spaniards were once more bulldozed. The 2-0 scoreline was kinder, but the manner of defeat no easier to stomach for a side used to sweeping all before them.<br /><br />Reputation alone is never enough, however, and the simple truth is their tiki-taka style of play which won these men such riches proved as effective as tap-dancing in a cage fight.<br /><br />Sunday league stopper<br /><br />As was the case against the Dutch last week, it simply was not enough against stronger, livelier and, frankly, hungrier opponents.<br /><br />It was not that Spain lost, it was the manner of the defeat which rankled.<br /><br />Once again goalkeeper Iker Casillas played less like the most-capped player of the world champions and more like a Sunday League stopper.<br /><br />He allowed Eduardo Vargas to skip around him for the first goal, and comically punched a free-kick straight back towards the boot of Charles Aranguiz for Chile’s second.<br /><br />It would not be accurate to place all the blame on Casillas, for he was joined in terms of mediocrity by most of his team mates.<br /><br />The Chileans were sharper on the break. They were more robust in the challenge. Their passes were crisper.<br /><br />Diego Costa, the Brazilian who deserted the land of his birth to play for the Spaniards, was blunt up front. So Spain turned to Fernando Torres – himself no stranger to fading fortunes.<br /><br />Perhaps unsurprisingly the once-magical Torres failed to spark any kind of revival as the Spaniards labored through the latter stages of this contest.<br /><br />Like schoolboys blinking back tears in the playground, they ran and they harried. They fought frustration.<br /><br />But with the swagger sucked out of them, first by a crushing defeat and then by a pugnacious Chilean side, they failed to ever get a foothold in this match.<br /><br />On the day King Carlos of Spain abdicated his throne, his once glorious footballers found they would advance no further and will return home at the end of the first stage.</p>
<p>And so it was official. The reign of Spain was not merely on the wane – it was over.<br /><br /></p>.<p>But this was no hard luck story. No tale of near misses, or if onlys. It was a 90-minute clubbing of a once-mighty empire.<br /><br />Of red-shirted men who had been elevated to almost mythical status with two European Championships and a World Cup in the last six years.<br /><br />Here, in the magnificent Maracana, the chants of 'ole ole ole, Chile, Chile' and 'E-lim-inado' served as a funereal dirge for the Spaniards who are lurching from crisis to embarrassment at this World Cup.<br /><br />At the end La Roja were left red-faced.<br /><br />Humbled 5-1 by the Netherlands in the opening match of their title defense last Friday, observers, and no doubt the Chileans, had been braced for a proud and angry response.<br /><br />Instead the Spaniards were once more bulldozed. The 2-0 scoreline was kinder, but the manner of defeat no easier to stomach for a side used to sweeping all before them.<br /><br />Reputation alone is never enough, however, and the simple truth is their tiki-taka style of play which won these men such riches proved as effective as tap-dancing in a cage fight.<br /><br />Sunday league stopper<br /><br />As was the case against the Dutch last week, it simply was not enough against stronger, livelier and, frankly, hungrier opponents.<br /><br />It was not that Spain lost, it was the manner of the defeat which rankled.<br /><br />Once again goalkeeper Iker Casillas played less like the most-capped player of the world champions and more like a Sunday League stopper.<br /><br />He allowed Eduardo Vargas to skip around him for the first goal, and comically punched a free-kick straight back towards the boot of Charles Aranguiz for Chile’s second.<br /><br />It would not be accurate to place all the blame on Casillas, for he was joined in terms of mediocrity by most of his team mates.<br /><br />The Chileans were sharper on the break. They were more robust in the challenge. Their passes were crisper.<br /><br />Diego Costa, the Brazilian who deserted the land of his birth to play for the Spaniards, was blunt up front. So Spain turned to Fernando Torres – himself no stranger to fading fortunes.<br /><br />Perhaps unsurprisingly the once-magical Torres failed to spark any kind of revival as the Spaniards labored through the latter stages of this contest.<br /><br />Like schoolboys blinking back tears in the playground, they ran and they harried. They fought frustration.<br /><br />But with the swagger sucked out of them, first by a crushing defeat and then by a pugnacious Chilean side, they failed to ever get a foothold in this match.<br /><br />On the day King Carlos of Spain abdicated his throne, his once glorious footballers found they would advance no further and will return home at the end of the first stage.</p>