Mexico React to Dutch Robben

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Arjen Robben courted further controversy at the World Cup by insisting he was fouled for the penalty that led to Holland's last-gasp 2-1 win over Mexico, but apologised for diving earlier in the match.

The winger was accused by the Mexico coach, Miguel Herrera, of committing three dives during the match in Fortaleza that saw Holland go through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

However Robben said in quotes attributed to Dutch television channel NOS: "The one at the end was a penalty, I was fouled. At the same time I have to apologise in the first half I took a dive and I really shouldn't do that. That was a stupid, stupid thing to do but sometimes you're expecting to be struck and then they pull their leg away at the last minute."

Herrera said the Portuguese referee, Pedro Proenca, should have taken action against the Bayern Munich winger, who went down under a challenge by Mexico’s captain, Rafael Marquez, in injury time. "Robben did three dives and he should have been cautioned,” said Herrera. “You should caution a guy who is trying to cheat and then if Robben did it again he would be sent off."

Holland won thanks to Klaas Jan Huntelaar's extra-time penalty, after Wesley Sneijder's 88th-minute volley had equalised Giovani Dos Santos' goal. Herrera claimed Mexico had been victims of bad refereeing in their group matches against Cameroon and Croatia as well.

"Out of the four matches here, in all of them the refereeing was disastrous,” he said. “Robben did three dives and he should have been cautioned. You should caution a guy who is trying to cheat, and then if Robben did it again he would be sent off. And why did Fifa choose a referee from the same confederation as Holland instead of one from South America, Asia or Africa?

"The doubtful decisions were always against us. We have to say it in capital letters, in three matches we had horrible refereeing. The man with the whistle knocked us. I want the referee committee to take a look and that the referee goes home just like us."

Herrera also attacked organisers for making the teams play in the heat and humidity of a 1pm kick-off in Fortaleza. "What goes against football is to have to play in these conditions,” he said. “The players were suffocated by the sun, heat and the humidity." 

Holland’s manager, Louis van Gaal, admitted he used Fifa's new official cooling breaks – allowed during certain temperatures or humidity levels – to instruct his players on a change of tactics: "I moved to a 'plan B' and yes I did that in the cooling break but that's a clever way of benefiting from these breaks."

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Rosberg Wins Austrian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to beyond a race victory for the first time this season after winning a tense, closely-fought Austrian GP.

Although a pair of mistakes in qualifying had left Hamilton a seemingly costly six places behind his Mercedes team-mate on the grid, a stunning start to the race saw the Briton gain four places by the second corner and then end the opening lap right behind Rosberg in fourth as Williams' front-row starters Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led the opening stint.

However, in a compelling 71-lap race around the Red Bull Ring in which the day's critical moves largely occurred around the two pitstop phases, Hamilton's two stops proved a combined total of 1.9 seconds slower than Rosberg.

At the first round, Rosberg managed to jump both Williams' while Hamilton only managed to get one FW36 thanks to an opportunistic move on polesitter Massa at Turn Two after Williams, seemingly focusing on ensuring the optimum strategy for their two cars, stayed out several laps longer.

The middle phase of the race saw Rosberg, Bottas and Hamilton run in increasingly close company at the front, especially after the title leader made a mistake under braking for Turn Two and ran wide over the asphalt run-off area.

Attempting to undercut the lead Williams at the second stops, Mercedes then pitted Hamilton first but a four-second service meant that the Briton lost further ground to Rosberg, whose own stop a lap later was a second quicker. The one solace for Hamilton was that an impressively quick time on his first flying lap on fresh tyres at least allowed him to leapfrog Bottas for second place.

But that was where the 29-year-old would stay until the chequered flag, despite a late attack on the lead Mercedes, who locked up at Turn Three on the final lap, with Rosberg's third victory of the season meaning he opens up his largest points advantage so far - 29 points - ahead of Hamilton's home British GP in two weeks time.

Williams will head to their own home event in particularly high spirits after claiming their first podium in two years with Bottas in third and fourth place with Massa, even if the Grove outfit did look capable of winning until the final stops.

Yet the bigger picture for revitalised former champions is that their 27-point haul from Austria represents their highest since the current points format was introduced in 2010 and, crucially, lifts them ahead of McLaren and just two points behind fourth-placed Force India in the Constructors' Championship.

Although leading the opening stint, Massa slipped to fourth after a particularly slow opening stop and then lost further ground to Bottas behind the long-running Force India of Sergio Perez, the man who earlier in the week the Brazilian admitted he would "think twice" about passing the Mexican again after their spectacular collision in Canada.

While the pair didn't go wheel-to-wheel on this occasion, Massa's delay did allow his former team-mate Fernando Alonso to close up on him, the Spaniard making light of Ferrari's continued troubles to finish just a second behind the Williams in a quietly impressive fifth place.

After a 30-lap opening stint, Perez came home a fine sixth ahead of McLaren's Kevin Magnussen, but it proved to be a largely forgettable home race for World Champions Red Bull who experienced arguably their least competitive race in recent memory.

While Daniel Ricciardo, the race winner in Montreal just a fortnight ago, only salvaged eighth place via a last-lap move on the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, Sebastian Vettel's season had already taken another turn for the worse with his third retirement of the year.

After qualifying only 12th, the World Champion did initially make good ground off the start but fell a lap down when his RB10 started crawling round the lap when it lost drive, only to suddenly power up again.

By then, however, Vettel's chances of a points-paying result were effectively over and after a later collision with Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber prompted a nose change, Red Bull chose to cut their losses and retire the car.

Another past title winner, Kimi Raikkonen, experienced another low-key day and came home five places behind Ferrari team-mate Alonso in tenth place, as Jenson Button missed out on points.

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Williams Apologises to Wales Team

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Liam Williams has apologised to his team-mates following Wales' 31-30 defeat by South Africa in the second Test, says head coach Warren Gatland.

Wales were leading 30-24 when referee Steve Walsh awarded a penalty try after Williams shoulder-charged Cornal Hendricks into touch just short of the try line.

Morne Steyn converted to deny Wales their first Test win in South Africa.

"He's devastated about that and apologised to the boys," Gatland said.

"At this highest level, you just do not get away with anything and you've got to be squeaky clean.

"There were a few indiscretions that were costly to us and I think he'll learn from that experience and hopefully he doesn't do it again."

Gatland said he had no problem with Walsh's decision to award the late penalty try - South Africa's second of the game.

"We've made an error defensively, which is disappointing," Gatland added.

"Hendricks has got outside George [North] and unfortunately Liam's come in and led with his shoulder.

"I don't have an issue with the decision."

Tries from Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert had put Wales in control in what was a dominant opening 25 minutes.

But with Luke Charteris and Dan Biggar sin-binned, South Africa got back into the game through a penalty try and a Cornal Hendricks effort.

Ken Owens' try extended the lead early in the second half, but Willie Le Roux's try and a converted penalty try gave the Boks victory.

"We were playing really well at 17-0 up and we've gone from a good position [and] quadrupled our errors," Gatland said.

"We've gone from a penalty to another penalty to a yellow card to another yellow card and again at this level, with top-quality referees, you don't get away with that.

"Those are big moments in the game where you're under a bit of control and we said to our players it's about game management."

New Zealander Gatland described the second Test defeat as one of the worst experiences of his coaching career as Wales failed to record what would have been only their second victory over South Africa.

"I'm pretty gutted about it. I'm proud of the performance, the turnaround and how the guys fronted up," Gatland said.

"It just shows you at this level it's about playing for the whole 80 minutes and being accurate when you do come under some pressure.

"I think it was a game that was there for us to win, but the best teams in the world never give up."

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Dominance Now Over - Xabi Alonso

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Xabi Alonso says his country's dominance of world football is over after the defending champions' shock World Cup exit in Brazil.

Defeat by Chile after a 5-1 thrashing by the Netherlands means the Euro 2012 winners cannot qualify from Group B.

"We didn't know how to maintain our hunger or that conviction needed to win a tournament," said the 32-year-old Real Madrid midfielder.

"The joy and success we've experienced is over."

On Tuesday, the former Liverpool man claimed media reports that the current generation were past their best were "a little exaggerated", but speaking after their latest loss, he said: "Normally cycles come to an end after a defeat.

"Maybe it would be best to think about making changes."

Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque says there will be consequences of his side's exit and hinted his six-year reign as national boss may be coming to an end.

"It's true that when such things happen during a World Cup or a tournament such things have consequences," he said.

"We have time to analyse that and it is not the right time now. There will be time to think and reflect what we are going to do.

"I think this team is good but we have to take a decision about what is good for Spanish football and that applies to myself as well."

He said his side were "sluggish and not brave enough" in the 2-0 loss to Chile, while captain Iker Casillas admitted that "the commitment wasn't there".

"From the very first moment everything went awry," said the goalkeeper.

Spain went into the tournament having triumphed at their last three major tournaments - the European Championships of 2008 and 2012, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

But La Roja's campaign in Brazil got off to a humiliating start when the Dutch came from behind to rout them in their opening game and when they succumbed to two first-half goals by Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz at the Maracana on Wednesday, their reign as champions came to an abrupt halt.

On Monday, Spain face Australia, also eliminated after a 3-2 defeat by the Netherlands, in a battle to avoid finishing bottom of the group, while conquerors Chile take on the Dutch for top spot in Group B.

The South American side's coach Jorge Sampaoli had some sympathy for Spain and described his side as the "rebels" of the tournament.

"In football everything changes," said the Argentine.

"Spain has played very well over the years and had wonderful performances but today that generation of players couldn't keep that success going, and that's normal because success is not forever."

He added: "We have a chance to see if this is the best Chile team ever but that is something we can only say after the tournament is over.

"We were very courageous in the way that we played and you could say that we are the rebels of this tournament."

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