"I didn't do things like I should have, especially to start a World Cup," said Casillas, after earning his 155th, and most humbling, cap. "It wasn't one of my best games. I have to accept all criticism."
Pique was easily rounded by Robben for his first goal and then outsprinted by the Dutchman for his second, despite having a clear head start on the 30-year-old midfielder.
"The second half was terrible," Pique said, "we were just awful."
The instinctive reaction is to draw the curtain on their gilded era. To watch the distraught Spaniards streaming out of the Arena Fonte Nova was to witness fans who had experienced not just a defeat, not just a drubbing, but a violent rejection.
They were not wondering if Spain would get out of Group B. They were wondering if things would ever be the same again.
If their 3-0 defeat to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final could be put down to a second-tier competition and a rampant home side, then there could be no such excuses here. The days of tiki-taka may not yet be over, but the days when their mere presence alone would be worth a goal's head-start certainly are.
Del Bosque has never been afraid of experimentation, and there was much talk of a new era, with fresh faces being introduced to inject hunger into a squad that has won everything in the past six years.
But when Del Bosque named his squad, it contained no fewer than 16 of the 23 who played in South Africa. When it came down to it, the normally dynamic Del Bosque went back to the players who had served him so well in 2010, but who now had four more years in their legs.
Casillas has hardly played for Real Madrid all season except in the Champions League, like the fancy crockery you only get out of the back of the cupboard when special guests come to visit. Pique has been out of form all season. This was a Spain side picked on reputation, not form.
Those players trudged from the pitch in disbelief.
In one game, they had conceded more goals than in their last two major tournaments combined. Spain conceded only one goal in retaining the European title in 2012 and just two as they lifted the World Cup for the first time in 2010.
The European champions, who hadn't been beaten so humiliatingly since losing 6-1 to Brazil in 1950, has little time to regroup in a tough Group B given they face Chile on Thursday (NZT).
The Dutch will take on Australia three hours earlier supremely confident after showing the host nation why the Dutch have often been called the Brazilians of Europe. They humiliated Spain but could have scored more.
"It was inexplicable," said van Persie, the leader of a team which arrived in Brazil carrying few expectations. The veterans were thought too old, the rookies too inexperienced.
"This is why you play football," Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said.
Crunch clashes loom
Mexico vs Cameroon
Mexico have put themselves in front of the presumed race for second spot in group A, edging Cameroon 1-0 in Natal yesterday morning. A second-half strike from Oribe Peralta — the scorer of five of his country's nine goals in the playoff win over the All Whites — proved enough for the Central Americans to draw level with Brazil atop the pool.
Mexico will face the host nation on Wednesday morning (NZT) but it is their encounter with Croatia next Tuesday that many view as decisive in the battle to progress to the round-of-16 alongside Brazil.
Mexico could have been more comfortable in their win over Cameroon but for a pair of incorrect offside decisions that saw two first-half efforts from Giovani dos Santos disallowed.
Chile vs Australia
Chile's less-than-convincing 3-1 win over Australia has set up a crunch clash against Spain next Thursday morning (NZT), with the South Americans in position to potentially eliminate the defending champions.
After progressing through South America's gruelling qualification process just four points behind Argentina, many tipped Chile to be a serious threat in familiar conditions.
And two early goals from Alexis Sanchez and Jorge Valdivia seemed set to justify that billing, before Tim Cahill's header before halftime completely changed the game.
Jean Beausejour's stoppage time strike eventually sealed the points and left Chile with another chance to test their credentials against a reeling Spanish side.
- UK Telegraph / AP
