[WORLD CUPFINAL] Spain beat the Netherlands, 1-0, on Andres Iniesta‘s goal in the 116th minute to win the World Cup for the first time. The loss marked the thirdtime the Dutch have fallen in the final. The game at Johannesburg’s Soccer City featured 14 yellow cards — more than double the previous record for a final — and one red card …
120 Yellow card: Xavi for delay of game.
117 Yellow card: Iniesta for taking shirt off.
117 Yellow card: Mathijsen for dissent.
116 Goal: Iniesta takes a pass from Fabregas after
111 Yellow card: van der Wielfor foul on Iniesta.
110 Xavi shoots free kick over the bar.
109 Red card: Heitingafor second yellow card.
109 Yellow card: Heitinga for taking down
106 Substitution: Spain — Fernando Torres for Villa.
105 Substitution: Netherlands — Braafheid for van Bronckhorst.
104 Fabregas breaks down the middle but shoots wide.
101 Navas shot is deflected wide for a corner kick.
99 Substitution: Netherlands —
98Iniesta breaks into the area but van Bronckhorst takes the ball away.
95 Fabregas‘ open shot is blocked by Stekelenburg.
Stats: The 2010 World Cup final is the sixth final to go to overtime after the finals in 1934, 1966, 1978, 1994 and2006.
Second Half (45 minutes + 3):
87Substitution: Spain — Fabregas for
84 Yellow card: Robben for dissent.
83 Robben breaks past Puyol but shoots weakly at Casillas.
77 SergioRamos misses open header from four yards.
77 Villa‘s shot is deflected wide by
71 Substitution: Netherlands — Elia for
70 Villa‘s shot on doorstep is tipped over goal by Heitinga‘s feet after Heitinga fails to clear Navas‘ cross.
67 Yellow card:Capdevila for taking down van Persie.
62Sneijder feeds Robben, who is stopped byCasillas on breakaway.
60 Substitution: Spain —
56 Yellow card: Heitinga
54 Yellow card: van Bronckhorst for taking down Sergio Ramos.
First Half (45 minutes + 2):
Stats: 20 fouls, 5 yellow cards, only 4 shots on goal in the firsthalf.
45+1 Robben shot headed to near post is pushed wide by Casillas.
38 Pedro finds pocket of space but shoots wide from 25yards.
37 Dutch corner into the area is mishit by both van Bommel and
28 Yellow card:
23 Yellow card: Sergio Ramosfor foul on Kuyt.
22 Yellow card:
18
Stats: Spain has 60 percent of the possession after 15 minutes.
12 Spain piles on the pressure but Villa volleys off side-netting.
8 Busquets turns ball over in his area but Kuytshoots weakly.
5 Stekelenburg dives to save Sergio Ramos with powerful header.
Lineups:
Spain — 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos,3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 16-Sergio Busquets, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta; 18-Pedro, 7-David Villa.
Netherlands —1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 8-Nigel de Jong, 11-Arjen Robben, 10-WesleySneijder; 9-Robin van Persie.
Referee: Howard Webb (England).
Possession football was the winner tonight. A fitting cap for a Vincente. Congratulations to all those who’ve made this tournament a success. See you in Brazil in 2014
Possession football was the winner tonight. A fitting cap for a Vincente. Congratulations to all those who’ve made this tournament a success. See you in Brazil in 2014
To day that Spain was the better team tonight was silly. I was not impressed by the Spain swan dives all night long. Yes there were a few very hard fouls by both sides that were not called, but Spain got the best of Howard Webb, and in the end a defensive sub error cost the Oranje the game. We were even surprised how well the Netherlands did with 10 men on the pitch. Spain certainly showed how to play a rugby style of soccer that works very well at that level, particularly in the defensive third of the field. I wanted to see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar out there but I suppose after all the crying Van Persie did the last time he was removed you wonder if that proved to be one of several game changing decisions by Bert van Marwijk that helped Spain win the game. I feel terrible for Robben … he could have been the hero — he played very well. I thought second yellow on Heitinga on the play on Xavi was the game changer right there. So many times the Spaniards were rolling on the ground after a slight touch, or in this case a complete miss … what a shame that we did not see a shootout — that would have been cool.
To day that Spain was the better team tonight was silly. I was not impressed by the Spain swan dives all night long. Yes there were a few very hard fouls by both sides that were not called, but Spain got the best of Howard Webb, and in the end a defensive sub error cost the Oranje the game. We were even surprised how well the Netherlands did with 10 men on the pitch. Spain certainly showed how to play a rugby style of soccer that works very well at that level, particularly in the defensive third of the field. I wanted to see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar out there but I suppose after all the crying Van Persie did the last time he was removed you wonder if that proved to be one of several game changing decisions by Bert van Marwijk that helped Spain win the game. I feel terrible for Robben … he could have been the hero — he played very well. I thought second yellow on Heitinga on the play on Xavi was the game changer right there. So many times the Spaniards were rolling on the ground after a slight touch, or in this case a complete miss … what a shame that we did not see a shootout — that would have been cool.
I’m happy to see the BETTER TEAM “SPAIN” come out the winner. The Netherlands were lucky in several of the previous games to get through to the finals. Sorry to see CH doesn’t recognize a true winner.
I’m happy to see the BETTER TEAM “SPAIN” come out the winner. The Netherlands were lucky in several of the previous games to get through to the finals. Sorry to see CH doesn’t recognize a true winner.
Mr Holden, I respect your opinion but whether you agree w/the espn commentators or not, to a man every one of them agreed that the Dutch fouls were way too aggressive, numerous, and often downright brutal. Even Ruud Guillet of Holland was embarrased by his countrymen. If you insist that Spain was merely diving all over the place then please do me a favor and re-watch the Holland/Brazil game. Robben put on the single most grotesque display of diving in this WC by far. And guess what, he was very effective in drawing numerous yellow cards on Brazil and baiting Melo into an ejection. Live by it die by it, I guess. Also, if Heitinga ejection was game changer then what was non red card for DeJong, who has now admitted he was surprised he didnt get a red card for his karate kick to the chest manuever. I’d say that was the game changer. An obvious red card on Dejong would have changed the game from the 1-0 OT win for Spain that it was, to an easy regulation time win for Spain.
Mr Holden, I respect your opinion but whether you agree w/the espn commentators or not, to a man every one of them agreed that the Dutch fouls were way too aggressive, numerous, and often downright brutal. Even Ruud Guillet of Holland was embarrased by his countrymen. If you insist that Spain was merely diving all over the place then please do me a favor and re-watch the Holland/Brazil game. Robben put on the single most grotesque display of diving in this WC by far. And guess what, he was very effective in drawing numerous yellow cards on Brazil and baiting Melo into an ejection. Live by it die by it, I guess. Also, if Heitinga ejection was game changer then what was non red card for DeJong, who has now admitted he was surprised he didnt get a red card for his karate kick to the chest manuever. I’d say that was the game changer. An obvious red card on Dejong would have changed the game from the 1-0 OT win for Spain that it was, to an easy regulation time win for Spain.