What's good in the past does not work for the future

Sure Chabal...but consider who carved them up. Thirty year old Arjen Robben and 30 year old van Persie. The Spanish play has been on the decline for a while...witness the drubbings of benchmark Barcelona last year.
I think Spain looked tired, and poorly coached. Today against Chile they kept trying midfield inter passing against a very agile team. Some longer balls might have helped and perhaps two men upfront.
You have identified the effect, but not the cause.

 The problem is...the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain...my fairlady,Cloudy should know this...lol.



And for Hurricane fans and Stormers fans like Beeno...and Pommie ladies like Becs...In Hartford,Hereford and Hampshire,hurricanes hardly ever happen....haha...might augur well for RWC 2015.

 Seb
Soccer obviously suffer from the same disease as rugby.  No rugby team has won the WV twice in succession and I believe the reason is the same as to soccer and in this particular case with Spain.
Even though some players goes into decline - WC winning teams tend to make minimal team changes in the four years between WC's.   That means that as time goes by the weaker players are retained on the basis of reputation and not actual performance.
Meyer seems to be harkening back more and more to the 2007 WC winners - even though the core of them was not up to standard by 2011 in the (mistaken?) believe that they could still perform well in 2015.   The AB's are in serious danger as well with players like McCaw and Carter.  If you look at performances over the past year or so it is evident that the so-called sabbatical did not refresh McCaw - he was downright poor in the last two matches and what will be the position with Carter?  
Sure there must be a strong element of experience in WC teams - whether it be rugby or soccer - but these should be evaluated with due regard to performance.    I think we need adjustment in some team members - the core team is fine.   If those adjusments are not made - we are not going to be competitive next year.             

 Jokes aside...Spain being tired and poorly coached in strategy is precisely the point...the same could apply in rugby...old players.

In soccer the same applies to the Russian side...good players in the past but well overdue and long passed their best.

Bakkies and Matfield are still notable players but are long way over their best and running on 3 cylinders imo.

There is just too much young talent in SA rugby to be ignored...it might pay some dividends in the shorter term but leave rugby in the doldrums in the medium to longer term.

 "Soccer obviously suffer from the same disease as rugby.  No rugby team has won the WV twice in succession and I believe the reason is the same as to soccer and in this particular case with Spain."

You sure?
Italy- 1934 and 1938
Brazil - 1958 and 1962

Ceradyne
That was bloody 60 years and more ago - when the WC was basically a European and South and Central American comp.  Get real - it was exceptions ages ag o.  

 Hahahaha. Where are the biggest concentration of football clubs?

In recent competitions the squads have only been extended to include more African teams. For the rest, it has always been the usual suspects over the years. In 1934 the only African country to play was Egypt. The East Block countries like, Czechoslovakia, Romania, etc were always involved as well. Even Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) played in 1938.

Perhaps you should revisit the qualification criteria for the Football World Cup.

 Mike youare right, the trouble is peaking over 8 years with the same team is well nigh impossible. You have to renew. Meyer needs to quickly make the right calls re which of the older palyershe needs for 2015.
Ou windpomp doesn' t realise that even soccer has moved on with the game being played at a faster pace etc. 

 Beeno, better you try staying away from football. Football has always been played at pace. Only difference is that great football players have more skill in their little toes than what most rugby  players have in their entire bodies. Watch and admire:

Sebastian- fool Then their would be no such as evolution or a Caveman inventing the wheel in what if good in the past does not work in the future

Since we're doing comparisions with other sports, NBA finals was between Heat and Spurs.
Out of 30 teams in the NBA the Heat had the oldest (30.4 years) and most experienced (8.2 years). Spurs had the 5th oldest (28.7 years) and 7th most experienced (6.0 years) roster. 

Baseball World Series last year was won by Red Sox with the 2nd oldest roster in the sport.

Gridiron Super Bowl was between Broncos (5th oldest) and Seahawks (5th youngest - there is your exception)

Mens Tennis #1 - Nadal at 28, Federer was #1 at 31Womens Tennis #1 - Williams at 32

 oi-matey
Whether we like it or not the prime performance of players in contact sport is from about 25 to 29 years of age.  After that age performances start to deteriorate and players get more and more bothered by injuries that takes longer to heal.
You can get rare exceptions = but those are usually in the category of Habana and De Villiers - who admit that they have to train twice as hard as they did two years ago to produce the same results.
If you look at our rugby players De Villiers have been off injured often enough this year, Habana was off for months,  Bakkies Botha the same, Burger has played less games than he played because of injuries - just to name a few.  
It is interesting that you mention Nadal and Federer.   They vary good performances and poor performances regularly.  They get beaten with ease in one tournament and perform well in the next.   The spirit may be willing - but is the body equally so?      

WTF?

"It is interesting that you mention Nadal and Federer.   They vary good performances and poor performances regularly.  They get beaten with ease in one tournament and perform well in the next.   The spirit may be willing - but is the body equally so?"     

World ATP rankings at the moment:
1 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) (Age: 28)     
2 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) (Age: 27)
3 Wawrinka, Stan (SUI) (Age: 29)     
4 Federer, Roger (SUI) (Age: 32)     
5 Murray, Andy (GBR) (Age: 27)     
6 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) (Age: 28)     
7 Ferrer, David (ESP) (Age: 32)     
8 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG) (Age: 25)     
9 Raonic, Milos (CAN) (Age: 23)     
10 Gulbis, Ernests (LAT) (Age: 25)

Those are the top  10 out of hundreds of mens tennis professionals in the world and the two that you are referring to are sitting at no 1 and 4 respectively.

 Ceradyne
Federer went out early in teh Grench Open and won (against lesser opposition) the next week in Halle.  Nadal won the French Open and lost the first game at Halle. Do you get the message.   Those are not the only examples - it already happened a couple of times this year.

 They are not at the top  of the world rankings by luck. You are the one who always say that you look  at tendencies over a period of time.

 Even in a sport with massive running like tennis... There is no player under 25 with a prayer against Nadal, Fed and the Joker.