FIFA World Cup 2014: Five reasons it went wrong for Spain

Spain became the fifth holders to be eliminated from the World Cup at the first stage after their 2-0 defeat by Chile at the Maracana on Wednesday.

We have a look at five reasons why it all went wrong for the holders in Brazil.

- Sticking with the old-timers

After the 5-1 defeat against the Netherlands, coach Vicente del Bosque was forced to react and chose to drop both Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique, replacing them with Pedro Rodriguez and Javi Martinez. However, it would appear that the rejuvenation of the Spain squad should have begun sooner. A player like Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke, full of energy and desire, was introduced to the side too late.

And the decision to keep faith in Iker Casillas proved to be a mistake. The captain of the great teams of the recent past he may be, but he has not been playing regularly for Real Madrid and Del Bosque has enough alternatives in the goalkeeping department, even in the absence of the injured Victor Valdes.

It's Brazil's World Cup to loose - World Cup Predictions

Looking for a World Cup favorite? All you really need to know is this: The World Cup gets underway Thursday in Sao Paulo, and it’s really hard to beat Brazil in Brazil.

The table below calculates every team’s chances of advancing past the group stage and eventually winning the tournament. The forecasts are based on the Soccer Power Index (SPI) — a system that combines game- and player-based ratings to estimate a team’s overall skill level — to calculate odds of each country’s performance during the two stages of the World Cup. SPI has Brazil as the heavy favorite, with a 45 percent chance of winning the World Cup, well ahead of Argentina (13 percent), Germany (11 percent) and Spain (8 percent).

True, Brazil is the betting favorite to win the World Cup — but perhaps not by as wide a margin as it should be. The team’s price at the betting market Betfair as of early Sunday evening implied that it has about a 23 percent chance of winning the World Cup — only a little better than Argentina (19 percent), Germany (13 percent) and Spain (13 percent).