Spain 1 – 5 Netherlands

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking ‘why didn’t they try and do this four years ago?’. And given the fact that the teams were largely the same in personnel, it’s a wonder that the difference in class was so astronomic. It’s very rare you get to see a sporting empire crumble in real time, but this felt like that. After the Spanish obliterated all and sundry in 2008, 2010 and 2012, nobody could’ve predicted how badly they would’ve done at the 2014 World Cup. A 2-0 loss to Chile in the following match meant that the final match was effectively just a wooden spoon competition. They didn’t win that either. The Dutch fared much better and got to the semi finals. But lost on penalties. You know. Like they do.