Netherlands 2-0 Spain: De Gea concedes twice as Casillas benched


Netherlands revived bitter Spanish memories from last year’s World Cup finals when they beat a second-string La Roja 2-0 in a friendly in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Rather than reliving their World Cup final triumph against the Dutch from 2010, Spain were overrun in the opening 20 minutes at the Amsterdam Arena, falling behind to goals from Stefan de Vrij in the 13th minute and Davy Klaassen three minutes later.

The superiority of the home side recalled their 5-1 thrashing of the Spanish in the group stage in Brazil last year, a defeat which signalled the end of Spain’s glittering six-year run when they won the 2008 and 2012 European Championships and the 2010 World Cup.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque did field a largely experimental side, with Malaga forward Juanmi and Sevilla midfielder Vitolo making their international debuts.

However, Del Bosque will have been concerned that the presence of the likes of experienced campaigners Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla in his midfield did not prevent Netherlands from running away with the match in the early stages.

De Vrij netted the opener from a Wesley Sneijder centre and Klaassen followed up his own saved shot to rifle the rebound past Spain goalkeeper David De Gea.

Pedro and Juanmi came close to pulling a goal back before the break and Bruno Martins Indi almost made it 3-0 to Netherlands with a free header in the 54th minute.

Vitolo, who replaced Pedro at halftime, fluffed his shot when well placed in the 68th minute and Spain had the better of the final stages but failed to breach the home defence.

FRIENDLY RESULTS
Ghana 1-1 Mali
Japan 5-1 Uzbekistan
South Korea 1-0 New Zealand
Singapore 2-2 Guam
China 1-1 Tunisia
Liechtenstein 1-0 San Marino
Tajikistan 2-3 Syria
Mauritania 2-0 Niger
Estonia 1-1 Iceland
Switzerland 1-1 USA
Iraq 1-0 DR Congo
Russia 0-0 Kazakhstan
Sweden 3-1 Iran
Ukraine 1-1 Latvia
Luxembourg 1-2 Turkey
Slovakia 1-0 Czech Republic
Italy 1 – 1 England
Netherlands 2-0 Spain


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