Spain and Australia meet in their respective final matches on Monday in Curitiba, as both teams will be playing for pride as neither side was able to muster up enough points to qualify for the knockout round out of their Group B bracket.
Spain, the former World Cup Champion is certainly the biggest disappointment of the tournament being trounced by the Netherlands in their opening game 5-1and then losing to Chile 2-0. Spain has had a great run over the past decade but like many teams that have been on top for many years, it’s time for a change of guard.
Spanish Defender Raul Albiol stated the team will be very motivated to get the win even though Spain is mathematically out of the tournament after this match.
“We are at a World Cup, we may be eliminated, but we need to win and take some points so that we are not last in the group”, commented Albiol.
Australia on the other hand has not had a bad World Cup although they have lost both games as they were not expected to go anywhere in the tournament. Against Chile, Australia gave up two quick goals in the first half but regained composure and fought hard the rest of the match losing 3-1.
Australia’s second match against the Netherlands was no walk in the park for Holland as Australia stayed in the game for ninety minutes only losing by a goal, 3-2.
Unfortunately, Australia’s Tim Cahill, who may have scored the best volley of the tournament against Holland, will have to sit out this match due to a accumulation of two yellow cards.
With pride on both sides, this still should be a good match as both teams will not want to to go home losers and last in the bracket.
The game is set to kick off at 12:00 PM EST at the Arena da Baixada in Cuiabá, Brazil. It can be seen on ESPN 2 and in Spanish on Univision. If you want to live stream the match, simply go to WatchESPN here and here for a live stream in Spanish.
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