Spain becomes the eighth different team to win the World Cup, after a bruising and battering game in Soccer City on Sunday night. Barcelona playmaker Andreas Iniesta was the difference, settling the outcome with Holland when we looked set for another final to be decided via the cruel fashion of penalties.
On paper, this match had the ingredients to be an absolute classic. Holland, despite lacking the former ‘Total Football,’ guise, were playing well and in players like Arjen Robben and Wesley Snejider, the quality to turn a game on its head, just ask Brazil. Spain turned up as slight favourites, and could also turn on the style when required, but also have the ability to grind out a result, should it be required. Sadly, the billing didn’t live up to its occasion.
Early on, it was the Spanish who produced the early pressing, with Maarten Stelkenberg forced into a smart save from a Sergio Ramos header. Soon afterwards, the game transcended into a wrestling contest. The Dutch took the ‘1990 Argentina’ approach, kick the living daylights out of your opponents and hope for the best. English referee Howard Webb struggled to keep a complete control on events, slightly flustered it seemed, by having to dish out five yellow cards in fifteen mad minutes. Mark Van Bommel was a disgrace all night, bickering with every single decision that Webb made, and as the game wore on, the Dutch started to drag their opponents into a wrestling contest. Shortly before half-time, Nigel de Jong, Manchester City’s defensive shield, produced a shocking ‘kung-fu’ kick on ex-Liverpool man Xabi Alonso. Webb tried desperately to not send anyone off, but how de Jong escaped with a challenge that frankly, is more associated with a cage fighting battle, is beyond me.
In the second half, Snejider, involved in the general fracas, produced a moment of quality; with a measured pass which Gerard Pique made a meal of it. Consequently, Robben was in the clear, with the whites of the goalposts beckoning. Unfortunately, his shot was saved by Iker Casillas, with his legs. Was that Holland’s golden chance? During the brutal assaults on players, Ramos missed a golden chance with another header, and David Villa, desperate to score another goal that would win him the golden boot, narrowly missed making contact with a Jesus Navas low cross. As extra-time beckoned, the yellow card count increased. Howard Webb eventually showed 14, a new record for the World Cup final.
In extra-time, Robben missed another chance and was promptly booked for dissent, whilst substitute Cesc Fabregas missed a one-on-one. Before the end of the first period, Johnny Heitinga took out Iniesta cynically and having being booked, Webb had no option, but to send the Everton defender off the field. In the process, Heitinga joined the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Marcel Desailly in becoming the fifth player in World Cup final history to be dismissed. With five minutes left, a Dutch free-kick took a double deflection off Fabregas and went behind. Webb missed the deflection and left Holland incensed. They then wanted a free-kick for a challenge by Joan Capdevilla on Eljero Elia, which wasn’t given.
The Spanish went down the other end, and at the second attempt, Fabregas played a lovely ball through to Iniesta, who shook off Gregory Van der Wiel’s attention and stroked the winner past the despairing Stelkenberg. Although Fernando Torres pulled up in the closing exchanges, with a suspected groin injury, Spain held on for a deserved success.
It was left to captain Iker Casillas to lift the trophy aloft, and ensure that the Spanish are really, the total dominant force in the international game. They become the first team to win the World Cup, after losing their opening group game, as they did against Switzerland on June 16th in Durban. Despite only amassing eight goals in seven games, the Spanish deserve this success because they attempted to play football. On Sunday, Holland turned the beautiful game into a disgraceful act of foul play, they got what they deserved which was nothing and scathing criticism worldwide.
CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN, ON BECOMING 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP WINNERS.
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