It was hardly a spectacle to behold and failed to embody what some of us call “the beautiful game”, but it was a finale to the World Cup nonetheless and happily served up talking points. The resounding feeling from football fans worldwide must be a sense of loss, regardless of the final outcome. Before a World Cup final, or any cup final for that matter, it is almost a curse to wish for an exciting match that will provide some attractive football. This game between Holland and Spain definitely had a cursed aspect to it, and was painful to watch at stages.
They may not have flown like Dutchmen, but they did fight like pirates, as the tone for the match was set as early as the 2nd minute when a rash challenge from Robin van Persie on Pedro saw the Dutch striker given a yellow card. A flurry of yellow cards ensued and by the 23rd minute, three other players had paved their way into the referee’s notebook for cynical fouls. During the opening stages, Spanish players were drawn into this back and forward sequence of cynical play, collecting two yellow cards for their actions. However, as the game wore on, they comfortably grew out of this and were outplayed in the area of tactical fouls by the Dutch.
It was disappointing to see the Dutch performance degenerate to this level on a collective basis. Before the final, certain players, namely Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong, had been principally charged with stifling opponents’ play through fouling, but on a whole, Holland seemed to happily adopt this responsibility as a team for the final.
Their intentions are commonplace in World football. Specific players on all teams are in charge of marking key opposing player out of the game or fouling opponents while counter attacks still brew a safe distance from their goal, and in Holland’s case they started off with understandable intentions. From the start, the Netherlands’ holding midfielders Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong pursued Xavi and Iniesta higher up the pitch so as to prevent any flow or momentum building in Spanish attacks. Their execution, however, was mostly distasteful, with execution being the appropriate word.
Van Bommel’s actions quickly got him a yellow card after a late challenge on the aforementioned Xavi. His midfield counterpart, de Jong, soon after got himself a yellow card to his name for a ridiculous, bordering on intentional, kick to the chest of Xabi Alonso. One would have hoped that being reprimanded for their individual offenses would have seen these two players back away from the borderline of the law, but the excessive tackles continued and ruined the spectacle.
Trying to focus on more positive aspects of the game, the Spanish continued their habitual dominance of the game from the off and were deserved winners in the end. The first tactical victory went to their way as great off the ball movement from right-winger Pedro to a more central position dragged Netherlands left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst infield and created space for attacking Spanish right-back Sergio Ramos. This move nearly led to the opening goal for Spain as Ramos was able to attack Dirk Kuyt and unleash a vicious cross across the face of goal that was luckily deflected away by Dutch defender John Heitinga.
The right wing offered a lot of joy for Spain as on the hour mark the introduction of touchline winger Jesús Navas gave Spain more width to their play, this time dragging van Bronckhorst right out to the touchline. Eventually the pace of Navas forced Holland coach Bert van Marwijk into changing his reliant captain for Edson Braafheid to deal with the this speed.
Another key battle on the field was fought out between Arjen Robben and Iker Casillas. Robben was talked of as a possible match winner for the Netherlands, and admittedly he could have been. On two seperate occasions, the flying Dutchman found himself one on one with Spanish goalkeeper Casillas. His first chance after latching onto Wesley Sneijder’s through ball was the clear cut opportunity, while the second nearly five minutes later which saw Robben fend off Puyol excellently was another great chance for Holland to take the lead.
Credit must be given to Casillas for the authority he showed over the two seperate situations. In the first incident, Casillas delayed his dive and forced Robben to take the initiative to shoot at goal, while for the second opportunity he prevented Robben from dribbling around him in what is usually second nature to the winger. The second chance for Robben also portrayed Casillas for the great keeper that he is as he anticipated the movement of Robben to calmly smother the ball.
After being so tactically astute in the first half with his application of Pedro, and then managing to change that system so effectively in the second half to wreak even more havoc, Vicente del Bosque made yet another inspired substitution in the 87th minute. His decision to bring on Fabregas for Alonso can be hailed as a match winning substitution that tipped the favour of the game towards the Spanish in extra time.
With Fabregas now on the pitch, Holland had an entirely new type of dynamic player to deal with. His late runs into the box and willingness to take the ball on around the penalty area offered something different to Alonso who stands off play. Having Fabregas higher up the pitch, he was able to pick up a stray clearance from van der Vaart to set up Iniesta for the winning goal.
It would be hard to end without lamenting Spain for being wasteful with their chances for the seventh game in a row. However, they are World champions now, and although they may leave a bit too much to chance, every champions goes through their fair share of luck.
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