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The reign of Spain was not merely on the wane - it was over. 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. 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. 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. At the end La Roja were left red-faced. Humbled 5-1 by the Netherlands in the opening match of their title defence last Friday, observers, and no doubt the Chileans, had been braced for a proud and angry response. Instead the Spaniards were once more bulldozed. The 2-0 scoreline was kinder, but the manner of defeat was no easier to stomach for a side used to sweeping all before them.
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