Reliving the FIFA World Cup 2010 final

Written by Peter Gautam

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There is nothing in football more intriguing than when two teams employ two entirely different strategies to take on each other. When this happens on the biggest stage of all, those keen on the game can be assured that you have a treat on your hands. The 2010 FIFA World Cup Final saw just that when the counter attacking prowess of the Oranje took on the possession maestros of La Furia Roja who displayed more than just a whiff of the all conquering Barcelona side of the time.

Both teams came to the World Cup quiet confident in their abilities. Spain were the reigning European champions while the Netherlands boasted recent finalists of the UEFA champions league and a tightly knit squad and both teams had won all the games in their respective World Cup qualifying groups.

However, they also had their reasons to be cautious being that the Netherlands hadn’t made it to the final of the competition in over 30 years while Spain had never even been there before – ever. When both the finalists of the previous edition of the tournament were knocked out in the very first round though, the tournament was suddenly blown wide open for both these teams!

The Road to the FIFA World Cup Final:

After breezing through their group, the Netherlands defeated perennial favourites Brazil and then the tournament dark horses Uruguay in two very close contests on their way to the final where they met a Spain side who had recovered from the shock of losing their first game of the tournament to Switzerland to qualify to the next round level on points with Chile before two 1-0 victories against the tournament surprises Paraguay and pre-tournament favourites Germany took them to the final. We had two European teams in the final and would for first time witness a European team win the FIFA World Cup outside Europe.

Prior to this game, the Netherlands and Spain had never met each other in the main tournament stages of a major competition. Neither side could boast better head-to-head results – the teams had met nine times since 1920, and both teams had won four games each with one game ending in a draw. In the six games each team played before the final, the Netherlands scored a total of twelve goals and conceded five, while Spain scored seven and conceded just two. At kick off, Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands and David Villa of Spain were tied as the top scorers of the tournament with five goals each. There truly was little to separate the finalists apart from the manner in which they approached their games. The stage was set for a dramatic night at Soccer City, Johannesburg with 84,490 spectators in attendance.

Kickoff and the 123 minutes of Football: 

With Howard Webb the referee for this match, the game kicked off to the hum of voovoozelas drowning out the noise of everything else in the stadium. When Van Persie hacked down Sergio Busquets with a kick in the back of the knee in the very first minute, the Spaniards knew they were in for a game. Neither side was able to make any significant progress until a free kick from wide on the right wing for Spain led to Sergio Ramos heading the ball towards goal prompting a supeb save from Stekelenburg who had been thestar keeper im the tournament so far. Pique came in with a follow up shot which was smothered away by a combination of the keeper and Dutch defenders. A lovely chipped ball from Xavi skidded away from a well timed run by David Villa and into the confident arms of Stekelenburg. The early nervousness of the sides had passed as both sides looked to stamp their authority on the game, but it was the Spaniards who had created the better chances so far while the Dutchmen had done little more than kick a few Spanish players around. Some good attacking play from Ramos on the right flank led to him beating his marker to fire in a low cross that was cleared by Heitinga without much fuss.

By now Spain had taken control of the game and were now threatening to create openings at regular intervals. Much of their chances though came from wide areas which was quite unusual to the manner in which Spain had played in the tournament so far. And then from a well worked short corner, Xabi Alonso put in a beautifully weighted cross that was volleyed into the side netting at the far post by David Villa. Just 11 minutes had passed and Spain had created quite a few good opportunities. The extra man in midfield was begining to count as Spain controlled the flow of the game and looked to be on the verge of scoring a goal with the Netherlands actively yet calmly doing enough to keep the score level. The pace of Robben and the trickery of Sneijder were always going to be the most potent weapons in the Dutch armoury, but they were not able to string enough passes together to construct a proper attacking play. Van Bommel and De Jong for all their destructive ability to break up the opponents’ play was expectedly finding it tough to cope with the technical brilliance and the advantage in the numbers that Spain had in the central midfield area. But if they felt any fear these two fighters did not show any of it on the field.

A couple of yellow cards in the space of a minute to Van Persie and Puyol around the 20 minute mark broke down the rhythm of the game as Netherlands was able to get into it a little bit and created a few forays into opposition territory mostly through the pace and dribbling of Arjen Robben, breezing past Alonso down the right and then nearly skinning Capdevila before Alonso got back to thump the ball out for a corner. The set piece was headed clear by Puyol, but the Dutch had finally gotten into the game.

From here on, the game got dirtier by the minute with tackles flying in from both sides, culminating in an iconic karate kick that De Jong planted on the chest of Alonso that for some bizzare reason was deemed by the referee to only have been a yellow card. The rest of the first half petered out with little incidents, both sides largely restricted to shots from distance. The highlight was a freak incident when the Dutch played the ball back to Casillas to return possession after the ball had been put out due to an injury only for the Spanish captain to misjudge the flight of the ball and nearly let it fly into the net.

The second half started with the Spaniards picking up the pace a bit in line with the knockout games they had played in the tournament so far. They nearly scored as a corner was flicked on at the near post by Puyol only for Pedro at the far post who was completely unmarked at the far post to miss the ball completely. The Spaniards were the first to make a change, bringing on the pace of Jesus Navas in place of Pedro on the hour mark, signalling a more direct approach to goal. Just a couple of minutes later, Sneijder played a lovely ball into the pat of Arjen Robben who made a run past the Spanish defense and with just Casillas to beat, contrived to kick the ball straight at the keeper! A brilliant chance wasted by the Dutch!

Apart from a yellow for Capdevilla for a cynical foul on Van Persie who would otherwise have been stomping through towards goal, little happened until a David Villa miss to match Robben at the other end. Nevas sent in a low, hard cross through the six-yard box from the right. Heitinga swipes a miss at the ball, allowing it to reach Villa, four yards out who shoots first time, but straight at Stekelenburg who had got back to parry the ball up and away in a nanosecond. A terrible miss but a fine save. Seven minutes later, Sergio Ramos missed the goal with a free header from a corner as the game became more tense as we entered the last quarter of an hour and the game picked up the pace from there. With 8 minutes to go a hoofed clearance came to sneijder who flicked it in the direction of the oealty box as Robben brushed past Puyol’s tugs and pulls to once again be thwarted by the Spanish Captain in goal. Robben there did well to stay on his feet despite the physical contact from the Barcelona defender and is understandably angered that there were no consequences for the Spaniard. 3 minutes of added time brought nothing but for a risible attempt by Sneijder from the half way line as for the second time in a row, the world cup final went to extra time.

Spain kicked off extra time with a couple of poor attempts at goal with neither chance making any substitutions. 4 minutes into extra tame, Fabregas was played through clear on goal, only for the Spaniard to once again miss a one on one opportunity. This was followed by a clear miss by Mathijsen at the other end from a corner as Casillas came for the ball only to flap at thin air and a bit of Fabregas. At this rate it looked like neither side was going to score!

5 minutes later, that statement seemed vindicated as a shot from Jesus Navas deflected of a Dutch defender, leaving Stekelenburg wrong footed only for the ball to hit the side netting and out for a corner. Half time in extra time arrived and with it the much maligned Fernando Torres as Spain looked to push further for a goal. 4 minutes in, the world cup final that saw the most number of yellow cards finally saw a red card as Heitinga got a second yellow for pulling down Iniesta who was dribbling through into the penalty box with the defenders beaten. Netherlands sat further back as they went a man down, and the Spanish defensive line pushed further forward into the Dutch half. 6 minutes later, a goal finally arrived. Torres clipped the ball into the centre from the left. The ball bounces off a defender at the edge of the box.

Fabregas is on hand to roll the ball wide right to Iniesta in the box, who takes a touch. The ball bounces up and Iniesta hammers a shot past the keeper and into the bottom left corner of the net. An assured finish from an assured player! The Dutch then threw caution to the wind and as often happens, having defended for the whole game found themselves having to score a goal to stay in the game. No such opportunity arrived though as at the end of extra time, much to the delight of the Spanish and purists alike, Spain were champions of the world for the first time ever!

Curtains down:

Congratulations to Spain for deservedly claiming their first World Cup. The Netherlands were compelled to break down Spain’s midfield artistry by hook or by crook – or risk being passed to death. However, the cynicism of the Orange went way beyond what many believed they were capable of, even provoking the Spaniards into some football that was very unlike their usual renowned “tiki-taka” style. To my mind though, the best team on the day but the second-best team in the tournament had won. I thought that apart from the semifinal, Germany played more incisive football than the Spaniards, whose short passing often failed to produce the finish their elaborate interchanges deserved especially after David Villa went off the boil after the quarterfinals. And, let’s be honest, eight goals in seven games by La Roja tells its own story. But a win is a win, whether you do it by one goal or by the dozen and for that, they have to be applauded.

I think that the continued homogenization of football with players moving freely between countries and leagues, and with those clubs playing each other so often makes for too little contrast in styles to produce classic matches of old as had been evident at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. So the purist in me did feel a little let down by the tournament as a whole, but the next one at Brazil leaves me with hope as the ones in South America have always been passionate and entertaining. FIFA president Sepp Blatter had said many times that he wanted a uniquely African World Cup, but he didn’t get one and maybe in the global world of today, that was a good thing.