sloppy Iker Casillas display allows Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz to score Spain 0-2 Chile

The world champions are out. History. Kaput. Spain are gone. Tied first in departing this tournament, with Australia. Not in body, because there is still the matter of a meaningless final group game in Curitiba on Monday, but mathematically and in spirit. They trooped off the pitch in the Maracana Stadium last night, heads bowed, all resistance spent. After two games they have no points and a goal difference that reads 1-7. This truly is a seismic development for football.
It is the worst defence of a World Cup title in history, poorer even than Italy in South Africa four years ago. They, too, exited at the group stage, but at least their final game was live. Spain now travel Brazil a redundant embarrassment. Nobody wants to be one of those teams, the dead rubberers, fulfilling a fixture list simply because they must.
This will be the game that many say marks the end of the era of tiki-taka, too, but with that is raised a more existential question. Was there ever any such thing? Did tiki-taka create a great Spanish team, or was it merely itself the invention of 11 outstanding players.