Espanyol Ecstatic Dutch Duffed As It Ends Not With A Bang But A Whimper

Spain 1 ( Iniesta 116)

Netherlands 0

A game that had been hyped to the heavens was a real damp squib as the occassion seemed to get to two of the best footballing sides in the world. The Spanish just about deserved to win it although the Dutch showed superb steel defensively to stop the Spanish having too much joy. The joy came in the closing seconds of extra time as Andes Iniesta netted the goal that made the Spanish the world champions the first to win the trophy after losing their opening game & the first european side to win it on another continent.

The  first clumsy tackle of the evening came only 2 minutes in from  Robin van Persie as he caught Sergio Busquets, and the Dutch seemed to have been controlling the opening stages very well.

The first chance of this World Cup final came on the 5th minute, Xavi whipped a free-kick in from the Spanish right and Sergio Ramos bravely got there first, powering a header goalwards that the big Dutch stopper does well to turn away to his right.

Iker Casillas admitted he was feeling nervous in the build-up, and there are hints some of his team-mates were too as only on the 12th minute  Sergio Ramos nearly threw the ball straight to Dirk Kuyt only for Carles Puyol to intervene. At the other end, Ramos went past Dirk Kuyt only for John Heitinga to whack away inside his own six-yard box, and a moment later David Villa volleyed into the side-netting from an angle on the left.

After 15 minutes you got a real indication that this wasnt going to be a classy game on 16 and 18 minutes we had our first yellow cards, no messing around from Howard Webb.  Mark van Bommel committed his first foul of the evening , going in late on former Barca colleague Carles Puyol. Robin van Persie is then booked by Howard Webb for a late challenge on Joan Capdevila, his second of the night. Then, Webb flashed yellow at Carles Puyol for catching Arjen Robben on his ankle. By the looks of things these wernt going to be the only yellow cards handed out by the Englishman.

The Dutch were giving the ball away a bit too much. Spain though hadn’t quite got into their very best rhythm, in losing so much possession the Dutch were getting very frustrated, and the most obvious booking of the final, Mark van Bommel lost his head for a second and slid straight through the back of Andres Iniesta. No choice for Howard Webb there, the Spaniards wernt exactly keeping their cool, Sergio Ramos was cautioned for fouling Dirk Kuyt. Webb’s life getting harder by the second in Johannesburg.

This game started to look very rough and it was indeed looking like a horror show, with the amount of stoppages and yellow cards issued, and the cards just kept coming,  with only 29 minutes gone in the game 4 players had been noted in Howard Webbs book, and Nigel de Jong became the fifth and it really should have been a straight red, for a chest-high boot on Xabi Alonso. At this stage the game had yet to see a first real chance for either team.

There were far too many stoppages for the game to flow properly in the first half. The blame by no means could be pointed at Howard Webb, but it was getting quite niggly. He gave a free-kick for a non-foul on Arjen Robben, before the Dutch almost score when the ball takes a horrible bounce as they tried to give it back to Spain after an injury stoppage. Iker Casillas is at full stretch to feather it behind, but the Netherlands gave the corner straight to the Spanish captain.

The opening stages of the second half saw alot more control and passing and at last some chances.  straight away Arjen Robben turned beautifully away from Xabi Alonso inside the Spanish half, but his slide-rule pass to Robin van Persie was just too strong for the Arsenal striker. Good start to the second half and a good change in the pace of this game.

It appeared to be all Holland in the second half. The Netherlands’ turn to attack as Gregory van der Wiel did well to get forward down their right, but his cross along the six-yard box was a good 10 yards ahead of any Dutch forwards and Spain cleared comfortably. It’s a little livelier, though.  Spain had yet to but in any threats on the Dutch goal.

On 52 minutes Arjen Robben hit a speculative left-footer from 30 yards, but Iker Casillas was paying attention and saved low down to his left.  Moments later Giovanni van Bronckhorst was booked for sticking his arm out and bringing Sergio Ramos about 25 yards from the Dutch goal. You could feel Howard Webbs first red card was looming.

On 56 minutes John Heitinga kicked David Villa after the ball had gone and Webb had no choice but to flash yellow once more. The players were not making this easy. The Spaniards were furious. Moments later Andres Iniesta fouled Wesley Sneijder and this time Howard Webb kept s his cards in his pocket. Webb had done well, most of the yellows so far had been warranted. In fact, he was probably trying hard to keep it 11 v 11. The players certainly weren’t.

It took an hour for the first substitution to be made Pedro was taken off for Spain and tricky Sevilla winger Jesus Navas came on in his place. Seconds later, Robin van Persie headed Dirk Kuyt’s cross from the Dutch left over, under pressure from Carles Puyol.

Biggest moment of the match came just over the hour mark. Wesley Sneijder, on the halfway line, managed to slip a pass forward that Gerard Pique slightly misjudged and suddenly Arjen Robben was clean through. Time seemed to stand still as Robben got in on his trusty left boot, but after picking his spot Iker Casillas made a brilliant save with his legs.

After Arjen Robben’s miss, a Spanish corner found Sergio Ramos unmarked, six yards out in the middle of the area, but he could only power a header over. A minute later he still had his hands on his head.  Spain were cranking it up a bit at Soccer City, they after 80 minutes looked the likelier of the two teams to nick a late winner.  Some gaps were starting to open up for them, and even Xavi was pushing forward more.

Definite gaps appeared. Andres Iniesta jinked his way into the Dutch area down the left and he is only prevented from shooting by a desperate though excellent challenge from Wesley Sneijder.  There wasnt much time to rescue something from this game in the regulation 90 minutes before it going to half an hour of extra time and possibly penalties, but only one more chance came in the 90.

Arjen Robben did Carles Puyol for pace, burning past the defender as they chased a flick on into the Spanish half and with Puyol trying to haul Robben back, he stayed on his feet, only to be met by Iker Casillas, who raced off his line to gather. Robben raced up to Howard Webb and demanded a free-kick – to be fair to the Bayern winger, he was penalised for staying on his feet there. So that was it for the 90 minutes and both sides took a break before an extra half an hour of play.

There was certainly more intent from both sides in the opening stages of extra time as neither would have wanted the game to be settled on penalties.  Straight away though, the Spanish bench were furious because they wanted a penalty for John Heitinga’s foul on Xavi inside the box. Howard Webb pointed to the corner spot instead. Moments later, it was Cesc Fabregas’s turn to be distraught. He ran on to a perfectly weighted through ball from Andres Iniesta and it looked to the whole world he had  to score, but the Arsenal captain’s shot was blocked brilliantly by Maarten Stekelenburg.

OHH JESUS!!!!!  on 104 minutes Jesus Navas got into space down the Spanish right and surged into the area – his shot took a wicked deflection off Gio van Bronckhorst and flew into the side-netting. Could’ve gone anywhere.  That was it for the first half of the extra time and it was mind boggling to how it had ended 0-0.

It was only a matter of time, but was controversial. Andres Iniesta plays a one-two and latched on to the return, but he went down under a challenge from Heitinga, who was shown his second yellow of the game by Howard Webb, the first he has given in the competition but the question remained was it going to be his last . Xavi slamed the resulting free-kick over the bar.

On 113 minutes Arjen Robbenwas flagged offside and the Spaniards crowded around Howard Webb trying to get him booked for playing on after the whistle. It’s unseemly and unnecessary. The game desperatly needed a goal.

And it came. Fernando Torres got the ball on the left and cliped a cross into the box. It was half cleared to Cesc Fabregas and he found Andres Iniesta in the area – the little Barca magician took a touch before volleying past Maarten Stekelenburg. He whips his shirt off and the Spaniards went  mental. Was that the goal to win Spain the World Cup for the very first time. 2 minutes were added on at the end of the half hour and the Spanish were desperate to keep the ball.

Spain scored the latest goal ever in a world cup final, they also became the first team who lost their opening game to go on to win the competition. At times this seemed like a horrible game but it did pick up in terms of pace as time went on. At the end of the day a truely deserved victory for officially now the best footballing nation in the world.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.