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Spain national football team
World Cup | Group Stage
Jun 13, 2014 at 8pm UK
 
Netherlands national football team

1-5

Alonso (27' pen.)
FT(HT: 1-1)
van Persie (44', 72'), Robben (53', 80'), de Vrij (64')

Arjen Robben: 'We cannot give Spain space'

Netherlands attacker Arjen Robben warns his team not to give Spain space in their Group B opener on Friday.

Netherlands attacker Arjen Robben has insisted that his team cannot afford to give Spain space in their Group B opener on Friday.

Louis van Gaal's side have been drawn into arguably the toughest group this summer alongside La Roja, Chile and Australia.

However, the Bayern Munich forward is confident that their work on the training ground will allow the 2010 finalists to progress into the latter stages.

"After the match against France, we were thinking a lot and spoke with the other players. We held a two-hour meeting to see what was best for the team and create more security as a unit. France passed over our heads and if we don't do anything new against Spain, we'll have a problem," he told De Telegraaf.

"Spain obliges us to play well, we cannot give them any space. The coach came with the idea of playing in a 5-3-2 and I agreed. We must always be respectful of Dutch school of thought, with final football and our strengths are still in our position play and the attack, but we have to open ourselves up more.

"And if we leave Spain with too much space, we'll have problems. We can't afford to give anything away in defence, we've struggled a lot in training for the team not to split together. We worked very hard and recorded the sessions to correct any errors."

Robben has scored 23 times for his country since making his debut in 2003.

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Netherlands Netherlands32107
Q Senegal flag Senegal32016
3 Ecuador flag Ecuador31114
4 Qatar Qatar30030

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England32107
Q United States USA31205
3 Iran Iran31023
4 Wales flag Wales30121

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Argentina Argentina32016
Q Poland Poland31114
3 Mexico Mexico31114
4 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia31023

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France32016
Q Australia Australia32016
3 Tunisia Tunisia31114
4 Denmark Denmark30121

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Japan Japan32016
Q Spain Spain31114
3 Germany Germany31114
4 Costa Rica flag Costa Rica31023

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Morocco Morocco32107
Q Croatia Croatia31205
3 Belgium Belgium31114
4 Canada Canada30030

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Brazil Brazil32016
Q Switzerland Switzerland32016
3 Cameroon flag Cameroon31114
4 Serbia Serbia30121

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Republic of Korea South Korea31114
3 Uruguay flag Uruguay31114
4 Ghana flag Ghana31023


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