Australia vs Spain 23rd June 5pm

The final Group B game presents Spain the opportunity of salvaging their last day as defending World Cup
champions, and Australia can build off some of their more surprising performances with a victory against
a squad still sporting some of the best players in the world. Australia bounced back from its 3-1 opening loss to Chile with an excellent display against the Netherlands, and maintained a lead against the group favorites, however brief those four minutes were. Cahill scored a great goal with a superb strike against the Netherlands and will be absent in this fixture due to a suspension.

Vicente del Bosque’s side couldn’t recover after the 5-1 beating the Netherlands handed down in the Cup opener, and Spain’s poor all-around play carried over into its 2-0 loss to Chile that ended any chance of consecutive world titles. Strangely, the Spanish dominated possession and forced more corner kicks than opponents in their first two matches, but they’ve failed to parlay that success into real chances. It’s the first group stage exit for Spain since 1998 after their 3-2 loss to Nigeria, and second in the last 36 years, and Xabi Alonso’s singular goal against Holland is Spain’s lowest scoring effort in all 14 tournament appearances. This could very well be the last hurrah for Spain after a torrid and unprecedented run around the globe with three consecutive major tournament victories. Forwards David Villa, 32, Fernando Torres, 30, along with midfielders Alonso, 32, and Xavi, 34, could be making their last Cup appearances. That core has netted 124 goals over the years, and they’ll look to wipe away the embarrassment handed down by Holland.

In as much as La Roja will be itching to bow out of the competition with heads high by winning the Socceroos it's actually going to be a tall mountain for them. Both sides has not actually met each other before and it's going to be a tough call since both teams have nothing asides from pride to play for. Both teams have conceded at least once in the first half in their previous matches since the competition started. Australia without Cahill will be a little blunt at attack while Spain has not always been a threat at goal for a while now with Xabi Alonso’s goal as the only 2014 World Cup goal for them. I don't really expect a win or rather an easy win for the La Roja side but I expect the first half to end as a stalemate.

Verdict: First half DRAW