Netherlands picks apart previous champions Spain 5-1 in World Cup

The Netherlands showed the world that Spain's reign as champions is coming to an end on Friday after losing 5-1 in the World Cup. Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas came up short in his bid to break Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga's long unbeaten World Cup record.

Had Casillas kept a clean sheet until at least the last four minutes of Spain's Group B opener against the Netherlands in Salvador, he would have overtaken Zenga's 517-minute unbeaten run from Italia 1990.

Casillas had not conceded a World Cup goal since Rodrigo Millar scored in the 47th minute of world champions Spain's final group game 2-1 victory over Chile in South Africa four years ago.

But when Dutch striker Robin van Persie netted in the 44th minute of Friday's clash, to equalise Xabi Alonso's earlier penalty, Casillas's run stopped at 477 minutes, 40 minutes short.