BOW DOWN TO SPAIN

 

 

Uruguay faced Germany in the World Cup 3rd place playoff at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Thomas Muller opened the scoring for Germany only for Uruguay to equalise through Edinson Cavani in what was looking to be a tasty encounter. The South American side then took the lead through Diego Forlan only for Marcell Jansen to level for Germany not long afterwards and then Sami Khedira to hit the winner for Joachim Loew's side. For the Germans it was their third World Cup medal in a row and people are already talking about what this team might be able to pull off in Brazil 2014. They were certainly underestimated this time around.

Of course one of the teams that Germany saw off earlier in the tournament was England, it's been oh too long since the Three Lions even got a chance to compete in a third place playoff and as for the final - well, not in my lifetime. The World Cup final is still the biggest game in football though and yet the quality of play doesn't always match up to the occasion. My first World Cup final was in '94, and that ended in a penalty shootout but I still have positive memories of that affair. '98 and '02 were a bit too one sides for my tastes though. '06 was interesting but at least partly for the wrong reasons. Did Zidane really want to go out like that.

The last time the Dutch were in the World Cup final was back in 1978 when they were beaten 3-1 after extra time by Argentina at the Estadio Monumental. That was their second World Cup final but the Oranje have yet to lift the trophy. Spain in the meantime hadn't been involved in anything resembling a World Cup final prior to this tournament and have constantly fought against the tag of being underachievers in major tournaments. That tag started to come off after they won Euro 2008 but though that raised the expectations this time around it was no garuntee that they could win on the biggest stage of all even if I had been backing them all the way through.

The Dutch on the other hand, weren't a team that I'd been backing to get this far but having mugged Brazil in the quarter finals and won a brilliant semi final against Uruguay, you couldn't rule them out completely. Spain had lost their opening game and appeared to be going through this tournament on cruise control and yet, they were indeed in the World Cup final at Soccer City and if they could hit top gear on the biggest stage of all then the Dutch just wouldn't know what to do. Both sides had their share of classy players and either one could become the first European team to win the World Cup outside Europe. Time for a final rumble.

When I say "rumble" though, I didn't think I'd see what the Dutch appeared to have in mind. The Oranje decided to hack the European champions to pieces and it was all referee Howard Webb could do not to send someone off early doors. In the meantime the Spaniards tried to get on with business and a Sergio Ramos header forced the Dutch goalie to look lively. The Dutch finally got a shot on target late on but neither side could hit the net. Unfortunately this half pf football will be remembered for the number of cards shown rather than any particularly good play - surely the Dutch didn't need to resort to these sort of tactics.

The Dutch started to get their act together in the second half and Arjen Robben missed a great opportunity to put his side ahead but it was still Spain that were looking the smoother though with the bulk of the action in the middle of the park, all bets were clearly off at this point in time. The yellow cards kept coming(and became a record for a World Cup final) and neither side seemed to have much idea of how to break the deadlock. Indeed theiy were unable to break the deadlock and the World Cup final was forced into extra time for the second tournament in a row. The only hope was that with players turing, it would start to open up a bit.

Indeed the first half of extra time finally saw the game open up and it was Spain that finally showed their class but the Dutch weren't done. Still Joris Mathijsen should have been able to head the ball into an open goal. The Spaniards were battering the goal for the last few minutes of the half though it was one of those "sooner or later they are going to score a goal" moments. Unfortunately for them, the ball didn't find the net before the teams switched sides one last time. I was glad that the game had started to pick up and the spirit of the two sides suggested that neither wanted it to go to penalties but still, someone had to find a goal surely.

The Spanish picked up where they left off in the second half of extra time and then the inevitable happened - the Dutch went down to ten men! Still, the follow up efforts from Spain from that incident were pretty weak. The Dutch then blew a chance at the other end and then in the 116th minute the Spaniards fastbreaked and Cesc Fabregas set up Andres Iniesta who slammed the ball into the net while the Dutch whined to Exeter assistant Mike Mularkey that the goal should be dissallowed due to a supposed foul! The Spaniards though were already crying tears of joy before the full time whistle and erupted into ectasy once the game was over.

So, congratulations to Spain, the 2010 World Cup winners. It's the first time they've won the tournament and off the back of their Euro 2008 triumph this group of players have certainly made themseves immortals in Spanish football history. They're also the first European team to win the tournament on another continent and the first team I backed all the way through that actually won a major tournament. Are they worthy winners, well it did take them till the final to hit top gear but they were certainly the better team in the final itself and with the players they have on board they were always going to be up there - and will remain the team to beat for Euro 2012 at least.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage