Day Two, And More Referee Howlers

Didn't look as if the problems with the officiating cost anyone a match (though there have to be serious questions as to whether Spain decided to mail in their tournament after the debacle yesterday in Sao Paulo and actually getting a challenge from the Dutch after a penalty (more a matter of drawing the foul than a true dive) was equalized with a van Persie golazo -- a flying header which opened the second-half floodgates), but the second Group A match had a couple real howlers which could've turned the tide for Cameroon.

11th minute, and Giovani Dos Santos should've made it 1-0 on this effort:

The blue line shows the third defender in the box made Dos Santos onside.

30th minute, off a Mexican corner, Dos Santos again is incorrectly denied!



Even so, Mexico rallied from those two questionable decisions to snag a 1-0 victory.

Perhaps the bigger questions (more off the pitch than on it) are going to come from the four-goal second-half collapse of the soon-to-be-no-longer-defending champions, Spain, as the Netherlands took them to the woodshed for a 5-1 embarrassment.

Could Spain have seen Day 1's debacle and decided, at the first real sense of adversity, not to bother?