Salute the World Cup winners – Spain and South Africa

Posted by Cathal Breathnach on July 13, 2010 | No Comments

As predicted by Paul the Octopus, most pundits and online betting sites, the 2010 World Cup final was won by Spain in Johannesburg last night. A single goal from Andres Iniesta late in extra time was enough the sink the Netherlands and so Spain go into the history books as the eighth nation to win the World Cup.

After the success of the first ever World Cup tournament to be held in Africa it would have been nice to see a final that was a great showcase of all that is best in football but sadly what the 84,490 spectators in the Soccer City stadium and the watching millions around the world got was not the Beautiful Game but a shocking display of clogging negative football. The chief culprits in the thuggery and fouling were Bert van Marwijk’s Netherlands. Not only did his team lose the game but they also lost the respect and goodwill of many who remembered the “Total Football” era Netherlands of the 1970’s with affection. They clearly decided to try to disrupt the Spanish style of passing, flowing football by putting the boot in.

The English referee Howard Webb handed out 14 of yellow cards – a record for a World Cup final – and sent off Johnny Heitinga of the Netherlands in a brutal game that was marred by heavy tackling and blatant fouling, most of it perpetrated by the Dutch.

Almost from the kick off the Spanish dominated the play and they pushed the deep into the Dutch half with their fluid passing and skill. The only answer that the Netherlands players seemed to have was to try and use brute force to disrupt the Spanish onslaught. This led to a fairly dire first 45 minutes although Spain’s Ramos nearly scored after just four minutes but his header was brilliantly saved by Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Things did improve slightly in the second half and for a few moments it did look like the Dutch might take the lead when Wesley Sneijder put Arjen Robben through but his shot was saved by the Casillas. That was probably the best chance that the Netherlands had as gradually Spain began to assert themselves.

In spite of the Dutch strong-arm tactics the Spaniards were patient and when the game went into extra time the arrival of Cesc Fabrigas had a major impact on the game. It was his assist that led to Andres Iniesta breaking the deadlock in the 116th minute.

Vincente del Bosque’s Spain were already European champions and few who witnessed the final game in the South African tournament would argue that they did not deserve to be World champions as well. They conceded only two goals during the entire tournament and are the first European nation to win the World Cup on another continent.

Spain was not the only winner though. The staging of the tournament has been a triumph for South Africa and they can how consider bidding for the Olympic Games, either in 2020 or 2024.

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