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The bridesmaids became brides.  The kittens became cats.  The ugly caterpillar metamorphosised into a majestic brightly coloured butterfly.  The rebirth of an entire football culture was completed this morning in Johannesburg, after years of trying, finally, Spain won the World Cup.  It’d be hard to claim they don’t deserve the honour of world champions.  A 100% record in qualifying and only conceded two goals in the tournament.  True, they started their World Cup Finals campaign with a disappointing defeat to Switzerland but they dusted themselves down and rectified things…. in exactly the same way that England didn’t!  They are now the only team ever to win the World cup having lost their opening match. 

Unlike many people I thought the final was a good game.  It was an intense war of attrition.  It was Johan Cruyff, the man who has significantly influenced both these nations football cultures, who once declared that football is a game you play with your brain.  His analaysis has rarely been more appropriate.  It could be argued that by sitting deep Holland had ruined the game as a spectacle BUT what are they supposed to do? Play open and let Spain walk all over them? Like when Stoke City play a big team, we aren’t there to entertain we are there to try and get something. And despite Spain’s dominance of possession Robben squandered the best chance of the match.  That wasted opportunity will haunt Robben and his nation like Rensenbrink hitting the post in the dying seconds in Buenos Aires in 1978 did.  It could be another thirty years until the Dutch get so close to the biggest prize of all.  But Casillas was there to make the save, proving that in a successful team every player does their bit.  And Casillas is a chronically underrated bit!!

Howard Webb got some criticism much of it unfair in my opinion.  Had he played by the strict letter of the law yellow and red cards would have been handed out willy nilly and he’d have received as much criticism for ruining the game. He had to make allowances for the various factors and overall did OK.  The real glaring error was failing to give Holland that corner.  Van Marwijk was fuirious about Webb after the match.  Well he would be wouldn’t he. 

After all the speculation regarding Nelson Mandela’s appearance it was great to see him attend.  The word was that he would be presenting the trophy.  It must have been a downer for Casillas who must have been expecting Nelson Mandela’s stature and greatness receive the trophy off Blatter!!   They must have wondered why they bothered!

So, thats the end of that then.  In the end Dunga’s pragamtic approach didn’t work for Brazil.  Domenech really is as rubbish as has been implied for several years.  Maradona really does have little tactical knowledge… but it took a while for confirmation of that!!   Lippi’s ageing squad couldn’t hack it, despite it only being seven games and amzingly, New Zealand were the only unbeaten side in the competition.   BUT England were definitely  absolutely rubbish.

Brazil 2014 next.  1235 days to go.  Anyone coming?

In beating Germany 1-0, Spain secured not only the first ever competitive fixture between themselves and the Netherlands, but also reached their first ever World Cup Final. After indifferent Dutch showings throughout the tournament, Spain has been pretty quickly installed as the favourite for the final. The Germans should get over the disappointment pretty quickly, though, as the young side and style of play they unleashed upon the tournament will surely bring plenty of success in at least the next two World Cups, so long as they find a goalscorer to replace Miroslav Klose.

Like the other semi-final, this was a game where you could really gloss over the first half in a few words. Spain seemed to be attempted to bore the opposition into submission by keeping the ball in their own half for 10 minutes before attempting and messing up a forward pass. Germany, meanwhile, were happy to sit back and suck up as much pressure as necessary, as they did against England, before breaking or winning set pieces. However, neither team got enough players forwards and the ultimate effect was that most attacks were sucked up by the defences and very few chances were created until Germany pressed for a goal towards the end of the game.

It is probably therefore telling that my man of the match was, by some way, Puyol of Spain. This isn’t just because of his goal, but because of his dominant performance at the back. Indeed, it was actually after the goal when he really began to shine, as Germany pressed on and pumped balls into the box. Many defences would have panicked, but the Spanish backline just would not falter thanks to the calming presence of Puyol. There was one instance where a German swung a fantastic ball into the box that ordinarily one of the German forwards would have got on the end of and scored, but Puyol managed not only to get there, but to get the ball clear as well.

As for the other players on the pitch, none of them really stood out. Ozil struggled to make any real impact, while Villa was marked out of the game. Iniesta was fine passing the ball sideways, but his final ball was almost always lacking. Pedro seemed to have gotten ‘Playground Showpony Hero Syndrome’, often getting the ball in good positions and deciding to take on 3 players instead of just creating a chance by passing or having a shot. Both teams defended in great numbers, but the passing from both teams was surprisingly sloppy. As I’ve already mentioned, the final Spanish ball, often from Iniesta, was usually intercepted with ease by the German defence, but the Germans just seems to panic when they broke away. They just made clumsy, unforced errors as they tried to get it up the pitch, miscontrolling the ball or passing it behind the player’s run.

It’s hard to go much further without going to town on Spain’s style of play. It’s gotten them results so far, but so long as you don’t get taken in by the media hype as journalists queue up to extol the virtues of the ‘Spanish way’, you cannot deny that it is an incredibly boring spectacle. Anybody can pass the ball sideways in their own half for the majority of the game before attempting something daft that gives the opposition. The media seem to have missed the fact that Spain last night tried to play just as England did against Germany, albeit with a different formation, with the biggest difference being that Spain didn’t have three defenders who can’t actually defend. Indeed, if everybody played as Spain have played this tournament, something that certain figures in the media are clamouring for, the game will be dead within the decade. Does anybody on this planet, anybody at all, go to football so they can watch how well one team keeps the ball in their own half, and how well they can fall over and con the referee? It really is unbearable to watch. Spain’s progression through the tournament has not been due to their style of play, but more due to the fact that they have very clinical strikers who can score goals with very few chances in open play. They created little from open play against Paraguay and last night had to rely on a goal from a set piece to go through.

None of this really bodes well for the final. The Dutch have some good players in Sneijder and Robben, but Robben in particular is inconsistent as hell and they just haven’t really managed to turn on the style at any point in this tournament. I don’t have an awful lot of faith in their defence either, so I see the Spanish stifling the game and scraping another 1-0 win. Hopefully I’ll be wrong and both teams will turn up ready to put on an attacking performance with the likes of Sneijder and Iniesta really shining. Unfortunately, I foresee cagey, defensive football with both teams more concerned about not messing up the chance they’ve got to make history. That’s a shame.