Tragic Figure

The Spain goalkeeper and captain increasingly cuts a tragic figure in the purest Shakespearean sense. Iker Casillas has been capped more than 155 times and presided over the devastating defeat by Holland last week; all this following a complicated couple of seasons where he has lost his regular position in the team of Real Madrid.

He is already behind after another unseemly goalmouth scramble in the match against Chile tonight. Maybe he should have been dropped to avoid the denouement of this bloody last night. I fear it will be the last match he plays for Spain, and I think he knows it, here, minutes before kick-off.