Viva Espana!

Wow. Just... wow. Don't let the 1-0 scoreboard fool you, this was an incredibly exciting final with a lot of great chances for both sides. And with a score in extra time? Talk about high drama. We watched this match out at our favorite local bar, Irish Village, once again so I don't have specific notes throughout the match. I'll just do my best to capture the scene as it came to us.


Holland vs Spain

I got to the bar about ten minutes after two and it was already pretty full. The people I was watching with had locked down a corner booth so we stayed there for the entirety of the match, but there were plenty of shenanigans going on around the place. There was a group of 10-15 guys that were pretty heavily invested in the outcome, either through love of a particular side or through gambling, but they were the entertaining rowdy section of the bar for the day. Eventually we settled into the game and watched as Spain and Holland both tried their best to be the new name on the World Cup trophy. Early on, it was a physical match as Holland seemed determined to keep Spain from calmly possessing the ball and slowly moving forward. Henceforth known as the anti-Germany strategy, Holland pressured every pass that Spain attempted and refused to let the Spanish wingers receive easy balls to let them run one-on-one with Dutch defenders. Despite the pressure, Spain still had the best early chances. Off of a corner, Sergio Ramos put an excellent header on net but Maarten Stekelenburg was there for a great one handed diving save. A bit later, a long cross found David Villa on the back post, but his difficult volley ended up in the side netting rather than troubling Stekelenburg.

Holland was able to get some chances forward too, so don't let my pro-Spain bias fool you. Wesley Sneijder took a free kick straight at Iker Casillas, but the ball didn't dip enough to give the awkward bounce that Sneijder wanted. This game remained very physical with five yellow cards given in the first half, three to Holland and two to Spain. For the most part, these were valid yellows, either for an awkward challenge or persistent rough play. The only truly dicey call actually erred on the softer side when Nigel De Jong side-kicked Xabi Alonso directly in the chest. He completely missed the ball and got his high challenge directly into his opponent, studs up, chest high. Brutal, brutal foul that Alonso was lucky to get up from and De Jong was lucky to only see a yellow for. I don't blame the referee for not giving a straight red in the first half of a championship match but this is one of those times where you could actually see it happening. Regardless, De Jong, dirty bastard that he is (sorry, built up Stuart Holden anger bubbling over here), stayed on the pitch and the Dutch continued to do well to deny Spain easy possession. Xavi and Andres Iniesta were being pressured wherever they were on the field and couldn't rip the Dutch open on quick passes as they are want to do. The half ended with a 0-0 score but a lot of chances for each side.

I've already seen some complaints about the officiating of Howard Webb and for the first time in the World Cup, I feel the need to come to the referee's defense. There were a lot of very bad challenges during this match and plenty of them deserved yellow cards. Webb did slow the game down with his constant calls, but I really do feel that they were justified. Too many Spanish and Dutch players were hacking down their opponents in the midfield and too many players were diving to get calls. Given the pressure he was under, I thought that Webb did a great job. The first good chance of the second half was more than a good chance when Arjen Robben was played through for a 1-on-1 with the keeper and put a shot at the left post that Casillas saved expertly by dragging his back foot. Don't get me wrong; Robben could have done much better with this shot and perhaps should have. But Casillas made a fantastic save by taking away the easier front post and leaving his feet behind so he could stop a back post shot. Great, great, great save. Later on, Ramos did a great job of drifting away from his man to get open for another header off a corner kick, but he somehow endeavored to put it way over the net. This was a golden opportunity and Ramos needed to do so much better than his weak contact over goal. Poor, poor play.

As time went on, the Dutch looked like they would close the game out when Robben got another open chance on Casillas but was legally turned by the defender and then Casillas closed the ball out well. This may have been the highlight of Dutch attacking play as Spain was the more dangerous side from here on out. In fact, I remember saying "Spain is looking good" to my friends who were rooting for Holland on several occasions. After the 70th minute or so, it really looked like Spain was going to get one of those "matter of time" goals because of all of their pressure and build up. Cesc Fabregas came on for Xabi Alonso in the 87th and though he was a bit rough on his first couple of passes, he provided a creative spark for Spain that they were truly missing before. This is about where extra time came and you could tell it was needed as each side was just trying to get to the break.

Out of extra time, Spain had the first good chance as Fabregas was played through well and tried to go back post on Stekelenburg but the Dutch keeper made another excellent save with his back foot to deny Cesc. So close for the Spanish, but still too far. Just afterward, Joris Mathijsen headed an open chance over the net for the Dutch, apparently trying to make up for the chance that Ramos missed. At this point, it was good to see that the game has seriously opened up rather than closed down. Both teams were competing for their first World Cup victory but neither tried to slow it down and wait for shootouts, which was fantastic for all the fans watching. The game changed with eleven minutes left to go in the entire match when John Heitinga was sent off with his second yellow of the match. To be honest, even as a Spanish supporter, I think this was a bit harsh. Heitinga definitely committed a foul, but wasn't egregious with it in the least. No matter the truth of the foul, Spain made them pay in the 116th minute when Iniesta got free behind the defense and hit a well-struck volley into the back corner, despite Stekelenburg getting a hand to it. What a goal. It wasn't as pretty as many that we've seen in this World Cup, but it was an expert finish off of a good opportunity, which is more than we can say for several chances in this very game, most notably the chances of Robben. Spain managed to hang on through the last five minutes or so and won their first ever World Cup.

This was a fantastic win. I've seen a lot of commentary already about how this was a boring final match and I fully disagree. There were lots of chances for each side and the midfield play, while brutal at times, was very interesting to watch. Each side put shots on goal and Spain was the only team to be able to convert. Just a great match to watch. I'll be back one more time to give my team of the tournament and close with some comments. Thanks for anyone that has actually read this far. Viva Espana!