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World Cup Finals Spain vs Netherlands who wins Thu 08 Jul 2010, 16:02
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I voted for Spain to win
Spain vs. Netherlands: Looking Ahead to the World Cup Final
DURBAN, South Africa -- The exclusive fraternity of World Cup winners is guaranteed to grow on Sunday, when Spain and the Netherlands -- both deserving finalists -- play for the title at Johannesburg's massive and appropriately named Soccer City Stadium.
For the first time since 1978, the final features two teams that have yet to win the sport's biggest prize. That year, Argentina defeated the Dutch, 3-1, in overtime, becoming the sixth country to lift the World Cup. France became the seventh 20 years later and, this weekend, either Holland or Spain will become No. 8.
It's the hardest club in sports to get into and, with a semifinal round that featured two outstanding games behind us, FanHouse looks at a few story lines already developing for Sunday's showpiece.
More Coverage: Puyol's Header Beats Germany | Spain World Cup Photos
Complete World Cup Coverage | World Cup Gallery | World Cup TV Schedule
Unfamiliar Foes
Despite their relative positions of strength in European soccer, Spain and the Netherlands have met in official competition on only two occasions. Both games took place in 1983 and were part of the qualifying tournament for the 1984 European Championship. Each team won at home, but the Spanish qualified after topping their group on goal difference. They went on to lose the tournament final the following year to France.
Holland and Spain also have played just six exhibitions against each other, the most recent a 1-0 Dutch triumph in 2001 in Rotterdam. The Netherlands leads the all-time series, 4-3-1.
The national teams may not be too familiar with each other, but there are Dutch fingerprints all over Spanish professional soccer. The country's two great clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, have each relied heavily on players and coaches from the Netherlands in recent decades.
Barcelona's ties aren't surprising. Beginning in the 1970s with the legendary Johann Cruyff and Total Football, Dutch players have been schooled in the sort of geometric, possession style of soccer that Barcelona favors. Throw in the progressive and cosmopolitan cultures of the the Catalan and Dutch capitals, and one can see why players from the Netherlands might feel comfortable furthering their careers at the Spanish giant.
Cruyff started it all in 1973 when he left Ajax Amsterdam for Barcelona, claiming he chose the blaugrana over Real Madrid because he didn't want to be part of a club associated with dictator Francisco Franco. Barcelona won the Spanish title that season for the first time in 14 years. In 1988, Cruyff returned as coach and built a team that would win the club's first European crown in 1992. The man who scored the winning goal in the final, Ronald Koeman, was Dutch.
Barca won its second Champions League title in 1996 under coach Frank Rijkaard, an Amsterdam native who played more than 70 times for the Dutch national team. Current Netherlands national team captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst started for Rijkaard against Arsenal in the final, in which Spanish semifinal hero Carlos Puyol and midfielder Andrés Iniesta also were featured.
Other famous Dutch players who've suited up for Barcelona include Johan Neeskens, Frank de Boer, Phillip Cocu and Patrick Kluivert. De Boer and Cocu will be assistant coaches for the Netherlands on Sunday.
Real Madrid has its share of Oranje influence now. It currently employs Dutch national teamer Rafael van der Vaart, Clarence Seedorf helped Madrid to the European and World titles in 1998, and Ruud van Nistelrooy won two Spanish titles there.
David Villa
Spain Impresses
Spain's performance against Germany here on Wednesday has the soccer world swooning. The Germans had utterly destroyed England and Argentina in its previous two games, but were made to look very ordinary by a Spanish team playing at an incredible tactical and technical level. The game wasn't nearly as close as the 1-0 score might indicate, and La Furia Roja were unlucky to win going away. Striker David Villa called it "the most complete game we've played in the World Cup."
Even Holland coach Bert van Marwijk was impressed.
"Spain are the best team in the world at the moment. They have been in impressive form in the past couple of years. I enjoy watching them play and I'm looking forward to meeting them in the final. It will be a challenge to try to beat them," he said.
Defeated Germany coach Joachim Low said he is "fairly convinced Spain will win the title."
He said after the semifinal: "They played very well and over the last two or three years they have been the most-skilled team of all. They showed that tonight with the way they circulated the ball very quickly and we were not able to reproduce the kind of play we did in previous matches. I think we were a little inhibited. But it was very difficult. When we won the ball we were losing it very quickly and it was if we were not 100 percent confident. But that is what it is like playing against Spain. Every team playing them has to work incredibly hard."
Meanwhile, back home ... "Our moment has come in football and I think this comes at a good time to lift the confidence and self-esteem of the country," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
El Mundo gushed about Carles Puyol's winning goal: "Was it Michael Jordan jumping near the penalty spot, or was it Superman? No it was simply Puyol, with springs in his calves and a cape of invincibility."
Referee Watch
A tournament that's been brutal for officials, to say the least, will end with Englishman Howard Webb refereeing the final. Selected because he's one of the few who hasn't embarrassed himself here in South Africa, Webb's been on a bit of a roll. He ran the middle for the UEFA Champions League final in May, when Wesley Sneijder's Inter Milan defeated Arjen Robben's Bayern Munich in Madrid. Webb also was the ref when Switzerland beat Spain in the first round.
On Thursday, FIFA suit Jerome Valcke told the BBC that the 2010 World Cup will be the last one "with the current refereeing system," presumably meaning one center referee, two linesmen and no technological or replay assistance or common sense.
"The game is different and the referees are older than all the players," he said. "The game is so fast, the ball is flying so quickly, we have to help them and we have to do something and that's why I say it is the last World Cup under the current system."
Europe will be expanding its trial of two additional assistant referees to watch the goal line and penalty area to both the Champions League and qualifiers for the 2012 European Championship.
Final Facts
Sunday will mark the first time that Europe wins two consecutive titles since Italy repeated in 1938.
Spain becomes just the seventh country to play in the final in the past 40 years.
If Holland loses, it will be the second country to finish runner-up at least three times. Germany's lost four finals.
If Holland wins in regulation or overtime, it'll be just the second team (after Brazil in 2002) to go 7-0-0 in a World Cup. Brazil lost six of its 18 qualifying matches for that tournament, however. The Dutch were 8-0-0 in qualifying for this tournament, so are 90 (or 120) minutes away from a perfect World Cup.
"We won every qualifying game, every game here," Sneijder said. "We are not going to allow that Spain beats us now."
I voted for Spain to win
Spain vs. Netherlands: Looking Ahead to the World Cup Final
DURBAN, South Africa -- The exclusive fraternity of World Cup winners is guaranteed to grow on Sunday, when Spain and the Netherlands -- both deserving finalists -- play for the title at Johannesburg's massive and appropriately named Soccer City Stadium.
For the first time since 1978, the final features two teams that have yet to win the sport's biggest prize. That year, Argentina defeated the Dutch, 3-1, in overtime, becoming the sixth country to lift the World Cup. France became the seventh 20 years later and, this weekend, either Holland or Spain will become No. 8.
It's the hardest club in sports to get into and, with a semifinal round that featured two outstanding games behind us, FanHouse looks at a few story lines already developing for Sunday's showpiece.
More Coverage: Puyol's Header Beats Germany | Spain World Cup Photos
Complete World Cup Coverage | World Cup Gallery | World Cup TV Schedule
Unfamiliar Foes
Despite their relative positions of strength in European soccer, Spain and the Netherlands have met in official competition on only two occasions. Both games took place in 1983 and were part of the qualifying tournament for the 1984 European Championship. Each team won at home, but the Spanish qualified after topping their group on goal difference. They went on to lose the tournament final the following year to France.
Holland and Spain also have played just six exhibitions against each other, the most recent a 1-0 Dutch triumph in 2001 in Rotterdam. The Netherlands leads the all-time series, 4-3-1.
The national teams may not be too familiar with each other, but there are Dutch fingerprints all over Spanish professional soccer. The country's two great clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, have each relied heavily on players and coaches from the Netherlands in recent decades.
Barcelona's ties aren't surprising. Beginning in the 1970s with the legendary Johann Cruyff and Total Football, Dutch players have been schooled in the sort of geometric, possession style of soccer that Barcelona favors. Throw in the progressive and cosmopolitan cultures of the the Catalan and Dutch capitals, and one can see why players from the Netherlands might feel comfortable furthering their careers at the Spanish giant.
Cruyff started it all in 1973 when he left Ajax Amsterdam for Barcelona, claiming he chose the blaugrana over Real Madrid because he didn't want to be part of a club associated with dictator Francisco Franco. Barcelona won the Spanish title that season for the first time in 14 years. In 1988, Cruyff returned as coach and built a team that would win the club's first European crown in 1992. The man who scored the winning goal in the final, Ronald Koeman, was Dutch.
Barca won its second Champions League title in 1996 under coach Frank Rijkaard, an Amsterdam native who played more than 70 times for the Dutch national team. Current Netherlands national team captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst started for Rijkaard against Arsenal in the final, in which Spanish semifinal hero Carlos Puyol and midfielder Andrés Iniesta also were featured.
Other famous Dutch players who've suited up for Barcelona include Johan Neeskens, Frank de Boer, Phillip Cocu and Patrick Kluivert. De Boer and Cocu will be assistant coaches for the Netherlands on Sunday.
Real Madrid has its share of Oranje influence now. It currently employs Dutch national teamer Rafael van der Vaart, Clarence Seedorf helped Madrid to the European and World titles in 1998, and Ruud van Nistelrooy won two Spanish titles there.
David Villa
Spain Impresses
Spain's performance against Germany here on Wednesday has the soccer world swooning. The Germans had utterly destroyed England and Argentina in its previous two games, but were made to look very ordinary by a Spanish team playing at an incredible tactical and technical level. The game wasn't nearly as close as the 1-0 score might indicate, and La Furia Roja were unlucky to win going away. Striker David Villa called it "the most complete game we've played in the World Cup."
Even Holland coach Bert van Marwijk was impressed.
"Spain are the best team in the world at the moment. They have been in impressive form in the past couple of years. I enjoy watching them play and I'm looking forward to meeting them in the final. It will be a challenge to try to beat them," he said.
Defeated Germany coach Joachim Low said he is "fairly convinced Spain will win the title."
He said after the semifinal: "They played very well and over the last two or three years they have been the most-skilled team of all. They showed that tonight with the way they circulated the ball very quickly and we were not able to reproduce the kind of play we did in previous matches. I think we were a little inhibited. But it was very difficult. When we won the ball we were losing it very quickly and it was if we were not 100 percent confident. But that is what it is like playing against Spain. Every team playing them has to work incredibly hard."
Meanwhile, back home ... "Our moment has come in football and I think this comes at a good time to lift the confidence and self-esteem of the country," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
El Mundo gushed about Carles Puyol's winning goal: "Was it Michael Jordan jumping near the penalty spot, or was it Superman? No it was simply Puyol, with springs in his calves and a cape of invincibility."
Referee Watch
A tournament that's been brutal for officials, to say the least, will end with Englishman Howard Webb refereeing the final. Selected because he's one of the few who hasn't embarrassed himself here in South Africa, Webb's been on a bit of a roll. He ran the middle for the UEFA Champions League final in May, when Wesley Sneijder's Inter Milan defeated Arjen Robben's Bayern Munich in Madrid. Webb also was the ref when Switzerland beat Spain in the first round.
On Thursday, FIFA suit Jerome Valcke told the BBC that the 2010 World Cup will be the last one "with the current refereeing system," presumably meaning one center referee, two linesmen and no technological or replay assistance or common sense.
"The game is different and the referees are older than all the players," he said. "The game is so fast, the ball is flying so quickly, we have to help them and we have to do something and that's why I say it is the last World Cup under the current system."
Europe will be expanding its trial of two additional assistant referees to watch the goal line and penalty area to both the Champions League and qualifiers for the 2012 European Championship.
Final Facts
Sunday will mark the first time that Europe wins two consecutive titles since Italy repeated in 1938.
Spain becomes just the seventh country to play in the final in the past 40 years.
If Holland loses, it will be the second country to finish runner-up at least three times. Germany's lost four finals.
If Holland wins in regulation or overtime, it'll be just the second team (after Brazil in 2002) to go 7-0-0 in a World Cup. Brazil lost six of its 18 qualifying matches for that tournament, however. The Dutch were 8-0-0 in qualifying for this tournament, so are 90 (or 120) minutes away from a perfect World Cup.
"We won every qualifying game, every game here," Sneijder said. "We are not going to allow that Spain beats us now."
