No time for regrets, says Spain defender Ramos

CURITIBA Brazil (Reuters) - Sergio Ramos declared he was not going to spend another second beating himself up over Spain's 5-1 World Cup defeat to the Netherlands but, like Dutch strikers the night before, the questions kept on coming.





Meeting a subdued national media on the Saturday after the champions' worst World Cup defeat in 60 years was never going to be comfortable but the experienced defender faced the music manfully.

"Of course it marks your life, it marks your professional record and clearly it was one of the worst matches in my professional career," he said, sitting alongside fellow defender Jordi Alba.

"But nor am I going to spend another second thinking about this match, there's no time for regrets. A 5-1 result in a World Cup would affect any player...but it's another motivation for the next match."

Spanish newspapers greeted the defeat with 'humiliation' and 'nightmare' written large across their front pages but the mood in the media room at the Atletico Paranaense training ground outside Curitiba was as mild as the weather outside.

The Spanish flag billowed under overcast skies, with araining session scheduled for the late afternoon when conditions were cooler.

Maybe, some suggested, that was the problem with Spain training in the more temperate south for a match in the heat of Salvador. The Dutch have based themselves in steamier Rio de Janeiro.

Ramos, whose side play Group B rivals Chile next on Wednesday, refused to make any excuses or seek them.

"We are training here in good temperatures, in good conditions and with good facilities," he said. "You have to accept it. If we'd won, you wouldn't have been talking so much about this subject."

Spain, he said, remained fully motivated and determined to reward the army of fans who chanted their support as they boarded their late night flight from Salvador with cries of 'Yes we can'.

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who shouldered much of the blame for the defeat after Spain had scored the opening goal, was bearing up well.

"I see him super-motivated, super-convinced that we can do it, that we have to turn a page and go forward," declared his Champions League winning club team mate.





(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer)


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