Spain Wins 2010 World Cup

JOHANNESBURG -- They were wearing dark blue on Sunday in South Africa, and for nearly 120 minutes they didn't look like themselves. Stuttering and out of sync, Spain was on the brink several times during its first World Cup final as a rugged Dutch side pounded them to near submission.

Then, with four minutes remaining in overtime and the nauseating prospect of a penalty kick lottery looming large, a moment of genius from Cesc Fàbregas and Andrés Iniesta finally unleashed La Furia Roja at Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium.

A championship game unworthy of the participants' pedigree was settled with a very worthy goal. Playing with a man advantage resulting from a tournament's worth of brutality by the Netherlands, Spain pressed the issue and was rewarded.

Fàbregas, a Barcelona product who now plays for London's Arsenal and who has been a reserve throughout this World Cup, found some space just above the Dutch penalty area and with one masterful touch, sucked five defenders toward him.

Iniesta, who'd been willing to do the extra running all evening, was free on the right. Fàbregas chipped the ball, Iniesta took a touch and saw space between Holland goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and the far post.

So many players on both teams had wasted an opportunity to be a national hero on Sunday, but Iniesta, growing stronger as the game wore on, took his chance. He is now a Spanish legend, the man who lifted his team to a 1-0 victory and who secured for one of the sport's most distinguished but long-suffering countries its first World Cup. Spain is the eighth nation to earn the honor.

"I simply made a small contribution in a match that was very tough, very rough," Iniesta said. "All sorts of things were happening on the pitch. Spain deserved to win this world championship."

The result ended nearly 80 years of angst for a nation that has produced so many great players but only one great team, and they celebrated Iniesta's goal as if all that frustration was released at once.

It had been building not only through decades of disappointment, but through a final that lived up to none of its promise. Nelson Mandela made an emotional appearance before the game to welcome the 84,490 fans, but he was just about the only one at Soccer City who delivered. The match was chippy, rough and random, and even though there were plenty of scoring chances, there was very little of the quality soccer these two teams are known for. The sport's showpiece event was hardly a showcase for the beautiful game. And that was largely the Netherlands' doing.

The previous record for yellow cards in a World Cup final was six. Holland alone eclipsed that by 50 percent. Their approach was crystal clear from the very first minute, when

Share Robin van Persie -- a forward -- cleaned out Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets. The Dutch were going to hound and hammer Spain and hope their normally slick and skillful players would hesitate and feel some fear.

This would be Total Football, in the sense that the Baltimore Ravens play Total Football.

Still, Spain started well and were unlucky not be leading after only five minutes, as defender Sergio Ramos' sharp header forced an outstanding diving save from Stekelenburg. In the 11th minute, a dangerous Ramos cross caused some panic in the Dutch defense. A minute later, striker David Villa volleyed a feed from Xabi Alonso into the side netting.

Spain's advantage withered, however, under the Oranje onslaught. Van Persie earned the first yellow card from referee Howard Webb in the 15th when he cut down Joan Capdevila. Spain's Carles Puyol got a yellow of his own a minute later for a foul on winger Arjen Robben -- who would prove to be Holland's only real threat -- but it was the Dutch who were the destroyers.

Holland hard man Mark van Bommel was cautioned in the 22nd minute for a rough two-footed foul on Iniesta, and Nigel de Jong should have been ejected in the 28th for cleating Alonso flush in the chest.

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The tactics were disgraceful, but they were effective. Spain was quieted. Their possession was far from goal, the fouls knocked them off their rhythm and Robben was proving more and more dangerous on the counter. Holland could even have had the lead in the 37th, but a wide-open Joris Mathijsen whiffed on van Bommel's pass.

With Spain playmaker Xavi Hernández and leading scorer Villa subdued, the Oranje continued to create. Their best player up until the final, Wesley Sneijder, was surprisingly quiet. But Robben was dangerous on the dribble and forced another save from Casillas in first-half stoppage time.

"They made it very difficult for us to play comfortably," Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. "It was a very intense match." Pressed further on the Netherlands' abrasive play, the triumphant manager took the high road. "I am here to speak about the good, beautiful things of football. Holland played a good game. So did we. It was a very intense battle, a very balanced, even, tight match. Yes it was rough at times, but it is part of football."

Spain was a bit more assertive as the second half opened and, with an apparent commitment to try to match Holland physically, nearly opened the scoring in the 48th. Puyol, the semifinal hero, headed a corner kick down toward the left post but Capdevila couldn't finish.

The Villarreal defender wouldn't be the only player wishing for a do-over in a second half that featured more wide-open play and several gilt-edge scoring chances. The cards kept coming too -- Giovanni van Bronckhorst, John Heitinga and Robben for the Netherlands and Capdevila for Spain. The Netherlands would finish with an astonishing nine yellows, while Spain had a robust five.

Robben's caution was for yelling at Webb, and the winger's frustration was understandable if not misdirected. Twice in the second half, he had his country's first World Cup title at his feet, and both times St. Iker got the better of him. In the 62nd minute, Sneijder finally demonstrated his quality and slid a perfect through ball down the center of the Spanish defense. Gerard Piqué was beaten and Robben was in alone. Casillas dove the wrong way, but the goalkeeper alertly lifted his leg and put a foot to Robben's shot. In the 83rd minute, Robben raced past Puyol and was one-on-one with his former Real Madrid teammate once again. Casillas picked the ball of Robben's foot clean, coming to the rescue of a team known for its offense and its reliance on players from Barcelona.



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Spain National Team
Spain had its chances as well. The best one fell to Villa -- the five-goal scorer, the one you'd want to have near goal with the World Cup in the balance. But like everyone else on the field for the first 115 minutes, he could not master the moment. A cross from the right and a stumbling Dutch defender left Villa alone on the left post, but he scuffed the shot.

Meanwhile, Iniesta had come alive after halftime and was finding space outside the Dutch penalty area. Holland continued to commit fouls, but Xavi could not make them pay on the ensuing free kicks.

The 90 minutes ended scoreless. A World Cup final had finished 0-0 after regulation just once before, when Brazil and Italy ultimately settled the 1994 title with penalty kicks at the Rose Bowl. That game is remembered for a miss -- the great Roberto Baggio's heartbreaking chip over the bar.

Overtime began, and the prospect of this highly-anticipated final ending in a shootout became real. Spain knew it deserved better. Iniesta and Fàbregas, who had entered just before the end of regulation for Alonso, nearly combined for a goal in the 95th minute, but Stekelenburg made the save. Iniesta was energized. Dutch captain van Bronckhorst, set to retire at the whistle, stymied Iniesta's threatening run in the 99th, and another Spanish substitute, Jesús Navas, nearly scored in the 101st.

"We began to dominate the game. We had great ball possession and great opportunities," Del Bosque said.

The Dutch were starting to falter. Fàbregas poked a shot wide in the 104th and then in the 110th, Iniesta partnered with Xavi on an incisive give-and-go that would force Heitinga (a teammate of U.S. goalie Tim Howard's at Everton) to grab Iniesta from behind. The Dutchman was ejected with his second yellow card, and the game was then Spain's to win. Iniesta drew another yellow for good measure, this time from Gregory van der Wiel, in the 112th.
"It has been our intention to play beautiful football, but we also were facing a very good opponent," Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk said after the game to one of a host of questions regarding his team's brutal tactics. "Spain was the best the last two years and we needed top play to beat them. We did a good job and were in good position. Both sides committed fouls. It might be regrettable for a final. It's not our style. But then again, you do play a match to win. It's a World Cup. It's a final."

Van Marwijk claimed that Robben was fouled by Puyol on his second breakaway, and he may have been right. But much of Spain's aggressive play was in response or self defense. Spain changed its image forever on Sunday -- it is now and will always be a world champion. The Dutch did as well -- this final will be a stain for years to come, and it will have to be referenced alongside all the great players and exquisite performances they produced in the past.

With time short, the player who clearly was in the ascendancy at Soccer City rose to the occasion. Despite all the missed chances and rough play, this team and this tournament deserved a better fate. Iniesta would come to the rescue with a championship-worthy goal.

The real La Roja emerged just in time, and it was appropriate that the new champions changed into their traditional red shirts before receiving the trophy. There was one difference, however. The new jerseys featured a gold championship star above the crest, signifying Spain's first world title, and it is that star that will define them from here on out, not decades of failure.

La Roja were not at their best in blue, but they clearly have been the best team in the world over the past four years. And on Sunday at Soccer City, no one could deny that Spain was the only team worthy of lifting the 2010 World Cup.