Unleashed

Dogs

The Brazil team were exceptionally aggressive and intimidating. All fouls seemed to merit a scuffle. Players pushing and shoving and calling for cards. The Spanish looked like someone had set the dogs on them.

Cautions?

Kuipers should have pulled a couple of yellows out of his pocket there. In the end the Brazil side left the match without a single caution.

Lucky

In the end the Dutch referee regained control, but he was lucky Fred managed to flick an early goal in. The match could have gone way out of hand otherwise.

Red

The match was fast-paced and this left Kuipers too far away from the action now and again. He watched from a distance as Arbeloa floored Neymar who would have had a clear run on goal with just Casillas left in his way. A textbook example of a straight-red; Bjorn Kuipers picked a yellow instead. When Pique tried to pull a similar trick in the second half, he did see red.

Chances

The Spanish had their chances. In the first half they came (extremely) close to a goal when Pedro's shot was just cleared from the line by Jack-in-the-box David Luiz. In the second half Sergio Ramos hit the post from the penalty spot.

Unleashed

The Brazil play was majestic. Brazil's second goal was a real beauty. An unstoppable ball by Neymar. Left foot. Hard and high in the net. The third goal was a nice curl ball affair by Fred. And there were a number of other dangerous shots on goal. If it hadn't been for the formidable Iker Casillas the beating could have been much worse. The Spanish may have been exhausted by the encounter with Italy. They certainly had no answer to this unleashed Seleção.