Sloppy Spain easily beaten by Holland despite second half improvement

First half goals from Stefan de Vrij and Davy Klaassen made a lacklustre Spain pay for a poor performance against Holland on Tuesday night. 

At the half way point of the qualification process for next summer's European Championships in France, it is the Dutch who are struggling in their group. However, it was la Roja who were at odds with themselves in Amsterdam.

De Vrij flicked a header home after Spain had failed to clear a corner in the 13th minute and Klaassen doubled the home side's lead three minutes later. 

It had been billed as a chance to avenge the 5-1 thrashing at last summer's World Cup -- even if Spain did win the big one, the 2010 World Cup final -- but that never looked on the cards once the game began. 

Even before Holland opened the scoring, the exciting Memphis Depay had already tested David de Gea's reactions. He skipped away from several Spanish players, but his shot was well saved by the Manchester United goalkeeper. 

There was little De Gea could have done about the two goals he conceded. 

The first goal was down to poor marking, while the second was a rebound after he had already done well to keep Klaassen at bay.

Vicente del Bosque's side struggled to make an impression in the first half. Pedro looked the most likely, but he was denied by Kenneth Vermeer after robbing the ball in the box, while Juanmi shot wide after a smart turn. 

Meanwhile, the likes of Raul Albiol and Mario Suarez failed to impress once again. 

There was an improvement after the break. Spain took control of the ball, but they couldn't take their chances. 

David Silva, a second half substitute, had a goal ruled out for offside and Vitolo wasted a great chance on his debut following good work from Alvaro Morata to set him up.