Van Persie and Dutch stun Spain

Robin van Persie scored a classic World Cup goal and also netted in the second half for Louis van Gaal's Netherlands in an incredible 5-1 rout of holders Spain.

The Dutch demolished the world champions in Salvador to avenge the 1-0 defeat in the final four years ago and stun Vicente del Bosque's men. Xabi Alonso's penalty was cancelled out by a wonderful effort by van Persie, who notched his 44th international goal in the 44th minute. A fine through ball by Daley Blind allowed the Dutch captain to somehow throw himself into a diving header, whilst maintaining the control to loop the ball over the stranded Iker Casillas.

The electric Arjen Robben handed his side the lead and only the bar denied van Persie when he lashed a ferocious drive past Casillas. After Stefan De Vrij did add a third, when van Persie jumped with Casillas for a Wesley Sneijder free-kick, the United star got on the scoresheet again by robbing the Spain keeper and prodding into an empty net with his left foot as Gerard Pique tried to close him down.
Van Persie departed on 79 minutes to a huge ovation and handed the armband over to Robben, who promptly ran through the defence to add another special goal for number five. Juan Mata and David De Gea were unused substitutes for the shell-shocked Spanish.
Earlier in the day, Javier Hernandez came off the bench for Mexico in a 1-0 victory against Cameroon in Group A. The United striker replaced goalscorer Oribe Peralta with 16 minutes remaining and worked extremely hard in driving rain.