World Cup: "We have no excuses, it's a sad day for our players," says del Bosque

The 63-year-old who led Spain to World Cup victory in 2010 also accepted it could be the end for his charges, including the under-fire captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas, David Villa and Xavi Hernandez, who he dropped. The list could also include Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres. “It’s true that when such things happen during a World Cup or a tournament such things have consequences,” Del Bosque told UK’s The Telegraph.

“But I don’t want to speak about that right now. We have time to analyse, time to think and reflect what we have to do. I think this team is good, is fit but we will have to take a decision of what is best for Spanish football as well and that includes myself.

“I would never, ever have thought we’d leave the tournament after the first phase. Sometimes you see teams who are not dedicated but that was not the case with Spain,” he said. After their 5-1 hammering at the hands of Holland in their opening match, del Bosque was looking for a response in the Maracana, but instead he saw his side’s hopes of progressing from Group B vanish with defeat.

First-half goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz secured victory for Chile, and del Bosque admitted they deserved their win. “We have no excuses,” del Bosque told Sky News.

“We were too slow, timid from the start. It’s a sad day for all of the players and time to think about the future.

“We played two games, and were not able to be better than Holland or Chile, so we are out of the World Cup.

His remarks were echoed by team captain Casillas adding that there is no option but to look into the future. “It is hard to explain what happened. I ask for forgiveness. We did our best and did not want to disappoint people,” he said.