Congratulations to Spain, the 2010 World Cup champs. I was pulling mighty hard for Holland, but Spain was clearly the better side. They were the aggressors the entire match and really controlled play all day, especially at midfield. Even so, Holland had 2 golden opportunities to steal the game in the second half, but winger Arjen Robben, who had an otherwise magnificent tournament, couldn't quite finish on 2 glorious chances. Holland played aggressive defense that included a lot of physicality and fouls. Nigel de Jong planted a foot right into the chest of Spain's Xabi Alonso and by all rights should have been sent off with a red card.
Spain continued to press, even late in the game when many teams would have been content to try their luck in a penalty kick shootout. It turned out to be a very wise decision, as the late goal in extra time gave them their first World Cup. It also saved us the pain of seeing another World Cup decided by penalty kicks, so major kudos to Spain for that as well. By the time the winning goal came, Netherlands was playing shorthanded, having lost John Heitinga (deservedly) after he picked up his second yellow card. It was only a matter of time before Netherlands was going to have to play shorthanded; the way they attacked Spain physically was going to cost them in due time.
So congrats again to Spain, deserving World Cup champs!
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Well deserved by Spain. Had Robben converted his opportunity at 60 mins., we might have seen a different result. But the brilliant stop by Casilla ultimately won the day.
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