The above image is a common one in recent Spain games, but ask any Liverpool fan and you’ll be told Fernando is the best forward on the planet.  Ask any Premier League fan, and even the Evertonians will grudgingly agree that Torres is sublime.  But ask a Spaniard about his performances for the national team, and the response will probably be, “I prefer David Villa.”

He will be, at least for statistical reasons, correct in that judgement.  Torres, having played for La Furia Roja since the age of 19, has not made the same impression as David Villa has.  The latter became the country’s top goalscorer in an amazing 5 years since his debut at the age of 23.

No Spanish football fan cognizant in 2008 will ever forget the final of the European Championship in which Torres dinked the ball over Jens Lehmann after a long ball from Xavi, but Villa has simply done more in less time.  Or has he?

While it is true that Villa’s goal record is more impressive, Torres probably has an unfairly bad reputation as an international flop.  While he doesn’t score as often as he does for Liverpool, defenses are still terrified of his finishing, pace and movement.  When fit, he often draws defenders and creates the space into which Villa darts to claim the goals — and the reputation to go with it.

Now, this article isn’t meant to claim Torres isn’t underwhelming for Spain, but merely to show some reasons why he might be doing so.  Playing as David Villa’s foil is one of them.

Another reason might be that Spain’s style doesn’t suit Torres nearly as well as it does Villa.  Spain play like Barcelona: they possess and pass around the 18 yard box and wait until there is an opening.  This method suits quicker players, ones like Villa and Iniesta who can quickly change directions to be in tight space. (As an aside, this makes me wonder why the rumors are swirling that Barcelona are interested in Torres.  I doubt anything will come of it, but I digress.)

Shorter players like the aforementioned Blaugrana duo, the “culo bajo” types as they are inelegantly called in Spanish, have the ability to turn on a dime, essentially beating defenders with lateral movement.  Torres is a blindingly fast player — just ask Nemanja Vidic or any of the other Premier League defenders he has skinned in the past 3 seasons — but his movement is more direct, less lateral.

I’m not saying he can’t find space in a tight penalty box, but he is less likely to than someone like Villa.  And given the Spanish set up, the penalty box is often crowded as la Roja pass the ball around the outside, waiting for the right movement.

Now consider how Liverpool play.  It’s not quite the same approach; it relies less on lots of quick movement and more on fewer decisive balls.  This suits Torres far more, as he is physically more adept to scoring from these types of situations.  The decisive balls tend to be played from farther out, either as crosses from wide positions or longer direct passes from midfield (and no, I’m not accusing Liverpool of playing route one football, calm down).  I’m not sure if this style has a catchy name, but it is not the tiki-taka of FC Barcelona/La Furia Roja.

Torres is a supremely skilled finisher, and scores from many crosses into the box, with his head and feet.  However, the full extent of his pace is best illustrated in those situations where a long ball is played behind the defense and in front of the keeper.  In these moments Torres shows just how fast he can run.  Not since the heyday of Thierry Henry  has the Premier League seen a striker so deadly when given space between the back four and the keeper.  At full speed no defender can match him, and then it is usually a matter of finishing from one on one.

But Spain don’t play this way.  I’m not blaming them for not doing so either.  Any coach restricting Xavi and Iniesta to playing exclusively medium and long range passing to their center forwards would be an idiot.  But put in simple terms,the Spanish team doesn’t play the sort of balls Torres is so skilled at finishing so often as they do at Liverpool, and Torres suffers as a result.  But when they do play a direct weighted pass behind the back line and Torres is lurking, defenses should still beware.  Just ask Jens Lehmann, a witness to such a ball from Xavi that ended up behind him in 2008.

Amid the sort-of joy and sort-of pain that comes with the wins and losses of international friendlies (barring of course, the big rivalries that were played out on Wednesday — Argentina/Brazil, Spain/Portugal, England/France, etc.), FIFA managed to slip in an innocuous report on their website, complete with a link to a 23-page PDF evaluating the candidates for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

And, shockingly early as it seems, “on 2 December 2010, the FIFA Executive Committee will announce its verdict and award the hosting rights to the two best candidates.”

Personally I’m still in a state of semi-exhaustion from the recent World Cup and the seemingly immediate uptake of the club season with all the drama of a suddenly competitive Premier League (do we have Manchester City’s money to thank?), a Real Madrid team that looks set to challenge Barcelona after two years of impossibly meek performances from Los Blancos, and the slide of Inter that coincided with the arrival of Rafa Benitez.  And now all of a sudden FIFA will make or break the hearts of hundreds of millions on Dec. 2.

So what does the longish report tell us?  What is buried in those 23-pages?

As it turns out, a whole lot of OK news for pretty much everybody.

The big question pertains to England and the reality TV worthy spat between the FA and the Russian Football union that resulted in some jingoistic nation bashing and not a whole lot else.  FIFA remained silent on the well publicized issue in this report, which isn’t terribly surprising given the ultra technical nature of the thing.  As an example from FIFA about Russia’s transportation issues:

“The country’s vastness and its remoteness from other countries, coupled with the fact that the high-speed railway network is limited and would only link six candidate Host Cities by 2018, would put pressure on the air traffic infrastructure, potentially causing transfer challenges in view of the lack of alternative means of long-distance transport. The current air traffic situation is to be improved throughmajor upgrades and capacity increases to the majority of the airports.”

If you braved that FIFA-always-attempting-to-be-neutral paragraph and are hoping for England for 2018, then you’re probably happy.  In short, the paragraph stated that transportation is an important feature of the World Cup and Russia’s infrastructure is currently inadequate.

But every nation was given a finger wag by FIFA.  It’s just hard to tell precisely which finger wag is a big deal.  For instance, FIFA raised concerns over legal issues regarding the United States’ bid, citing a lack of government guarantees.  This would seem to be a major issue, although FIFA noted that the USA has hosted a great deal of international events and the government has always complied in the past.

Similarly, the Iberian bid was questioned for not having a clear enough security plan, although again FIFA conceded that they would likely have solved such details in time to host the tournament.

In fact, the biggest criticisms that cannot be foreseeable altered to satisfaction in the next 8 or 12 years pertains to location and bid type.  For Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium, FIFA expressly notes that double bids are more challenging due to the “administrative, logistical and financial challenges” of two nations.

The other serious problem for FIFA seems  to be money.  In Australia, Korea and Japan, FIFA has noted that due to the time differences, “the income from Asia/Oceania would need to be increased substantially to offset the likelihood of loss of revenue in Europe.”

A last concern was the devastating heat of Qatar during June and July, which was essentially cited as a health risk to most people at the tournament, although such sentiment was phrased in far more polite language.

I would assume these three concerns would be FIFA’s greatest since they cannot be easily altered the way hotels, and even stadia and transport infrastructure can be, but FIFA’s history of making political decisions ahead of football ones suggest these obstacles aren’t insurmountable.

In conclusion, I sense England has come out of this evaluation slightly ahead of their rivals for 2018.  The criticisms against the bid seemed less severe than against the others, although again, in FIFA’s arid and conscientious tone, it is difficult to tell.

As for 2022, I feel the USA is an attractive option because of the very high potential for revenue (the highest ticketing revenue of all the bids) and its history in hosting.  Qatar has novelty but lacks the draw of all the other host countries in my lifetime.

With a UEFA winner guaranteed from 2018, the bids from Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium for 2022 have been rendered void due to consecutive hosting rules from FIFA.  With the remaining options, I feel that the winner will either be USA or Qatar (advantage US), based on the simple assumption that revenue loss will deter FIFA from the Asia/Oceania time zone.

Note 20/11/10: This article has been edited in light of an error regarding FIFA policy.

1. Croatia – Malta

Croatia beat Malta, no surprises there.  The only reason I start with this match is its status as a qualifier.  And to talk about Niko Kranjcar.  Harry Redknapp is unappreciative of the obviously gifted Croatian and the rumors are flying that he’s looking to leave.  I’d urge Mr. Redknapp to reconsider, especially after this performance.

While a brace against Malta is no brace against Spain, Kranjcar is the sort of player that Spurs should learn to manage in order to become more competitive.  He’s got the goods to play for a top team, and a sale to an EPL club would hurt their ambition.  With Lennon still not delivering, and over reliance  on Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart becoming problematic in the face of injuries, why not give Kranjcar a spot as a right sided attacking midfielder?

Next was Argentina against Brazil in Qatar…

2. Argentina – Brazil

Although Argentina won, I have more to say about Brazil, but first – Mr. Messi.  The real positive for Argentina is that Messi can have a so-so night and still decide to run half the length of the pitch before nutmegging his marker with a low shot that beats the keeper.  Sure it was only one goal and the defense didn’t seem to be moving at 100% pace, but a friendly of this nature is never a friendly.  Second, praise for Javier Pastore, who scored a hat trick this weekend but only partially showed why a big club will almost certainly splash out big money for him this summer.  If he gels with the Argentina front three Los Albiceleste will be a horrifying opponent for everyone.

That being said, Brazil to me looked better on the pitch.  If this were a league fixture I’d say a point a piece would be fair, but since only reputations (in a friendly) were at stake, I doubt many of the players, especially the veterans, will be beating themselves up too much about the loss.

A positive they can take from this is that Ronaldinho is not finished for them.  He was perhaps too much of a fantasia (an attempted back heel goal might have been buried by a swivel and hard shot) but it was his first performance for Brazil since Dunga had decided on the players he would take to the World Cup.

Lastly, Chelsea should take heart from Ramires’ wonderful performances at the center of the pitch.  He was a great marker but also wasn’t a bad when Brazil needed men forward.  If Carlo Ancelotti was watching, he might be considering how to tinker with the Chelsea lineup to get such efforts out of the Brazilian.

3. England – France

England lose and France win; an ancient rivalry marks another event; what else can we take from this?  It certainly seems that Laurent Blanc has go his players singing the national anthem; Fabio Capello doesn’t seem nearly as interested in making his England players display the same patriotic feelings.

As for football matters, the French deserved their victory.  They created more clear chances and looked the senior team, although they, like the Three Lions, had a fresher look about them than the teams of South Africa 2010.  While France’s new faces might be more a matter of long term plan than England’s (which may have been more injury related), the integration has been done more smoothly.

With players who have amassed plenty of club caps but fewer international caps (Adil Rami, Mathieu Valbuena), Les Blues played a more balanced game.  There were no Kieran Gibbs on the pitch for France, a player thrown into England with fewer than 35 Arsenal caps in all competitions, including those tough Carling Cup fixtures!  Instead, the youngsters for France (M’Vila and Sakho) has almost 50 caps in less than a season and a half for Rennes and over 100 for PSG, respectively. Both are considered integral parts of the set up; Gibbs is a fringe presence at Arsenal, especially this season.

Extras:

The Iberian Derby was a total rout.  Sergio Ramos apparently forgot what his teammate Ronaldo can do.  Mourinho seems to have held Ramos in check to great effect for Real Madrid.  Sure, he doesn’t bomb forward to terrorize the opponents as he used to, but Madrid is no longer left exposed to counter attacks.  Perhaps Spain should take a lesson.  Manchester United will be pleased to see Nani’s boast about being a top player wasn’t all talk, either.  As for Spain, the whole world knows how they play.  They seem unwilling to change the (very effective) philosophy.  Top teams with top coaches can exploit this.

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 2^nd 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 23^rd 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 87^th 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.

FIFA dodged a massive security threat Sunday night after the World Cup Final when a man ran across the pitch and attempted to put a hat on the World Cup trophy.

The pitch intruder was detained by security officers and whisked away. However, this raises questions about stadium security. Luckily the intruder seemed only intent on drawing attention to himself and the company he was promoting. But it could have easily been a dangerous incident if the intruder was intent on injuring someone.

More pictures after the jump:

It was a long and tense World Cup Final. Spain kept on creating chances up front and rifling shots after shots at the Netherlands, but the Dutch kept the Spaniards out of the game until late in extra time. It only seemed like a matter of time before Spain would score, and score they did with a well-taken goal by Andres Iniesta.

Here are photographs of Spain celebrating the 2010 World Cup win. Congratulations Espana and commiserations to Netherlands on a game well played. More pictures after the jump:

Soccer City on Sunday evening will see the showdown of two of the most in form teams in World Football over the past two years. The Netherlands boast the superior form record that stretches back to September 2008 and sees them unbeaten in 25 matches. The Spanish are not far behind, and all but for two losses against the United States at last years Confederations Cup and against Switzerland at this years World Cup respectively, they would be unbeaten like their Dutch counterparts.

Still Spain’s record cannot be lamented. Suffering two losses over a 31 games measures up to Holland’s record and makes it even harder to decide between these two sides on the form guide alone.

In the lead up to the final, and even the third place playoff between Uruguay and Germany, it was refreshing how the Golden Boot race has been kept alive so deep into the competition. Nearly a forgone conclusion in the 2006 World Cup after the quarter-final stage, this years tournament has four players vying for the title. Albeit Thomas Müller and Diego Forlán were only able to level with the forerunners David Villa and Wesley Sneijder after their goals in the third place playoff, but the general race for top goalscorer in South Africa has been a welcome addition to the overall plot of the World Cup.

Referring back to Villa and Sneijder, this duel between these two key players for their respective countries only highlights the significance of them both to their teams. Goals win matches, and the fact that they are in a showdown for not only the Golden Boot, Golden Ball and World Cup itself also speaks volumes for their individual abilities.

In the lead up to the final, Sneijder has come in for some criticism in relation to his performances and whether his goal scoring tally is merely casting a shadow over his true form. He has admittedly assisted few goals throughout the tournament, but positioning is a key asset for any footballer and his habit for being in the right place at the right time has rewarded him with goals.

There is, however, no question over the contributions of David Villa. In a misfiring Spanish frontline, he has been the standout performer and made passage to this stage of the competition that bit easier for Spain with his five goals.

Other key performers that have been an ever-present for their teams throughout the tournament will also be expected to carry on into the final. At right back for Spain, Sergio Ramos has been one of their most consistent players. He and Dutch left back Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be in a constant battle throughout regardless which team is attacking or defending.

Although he may not be everyone’s favourite player at the moment after being shown up for his particular style of play, but he and his holding midfield counterpart Nigel de Jong will be the chief instigators required to stifle the Spanish midfield out of the game, thus cutting their passing flow.

Meanwhile all this focus has been on players coming into this final with form on their side, focus has been principally taken away from those who are struggling. Two Premier League stars such as Robin van Persie and Fernando Torres could yet find their feet in this World Cup and surprise viewers by being the decisive factor between these two sides.

Repeating key players for each country could be endless when referencing these two teams. The main battle will be fought in the opening few minutes of play. This stage of the game will see the Spanish attempt to dictate the pace of the game and put in place their own game plan. If they manage to gain the initiative during this early part of the game, it will be the true mark of Holland as world champions to reverse the influence over the game in their favour.

Ben Shires and the Wrapped Up team are back to wrap up the round in which four teams became two – the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi finals. There’s a trippy recreation of the Van Bronckhorst goal with commentary from a couple of Dutch stoners, PLUS we see why nobody would refuse an offer from Fabio Capello, and more.

Enjoy!

If you live in South Florida and you’re looking for somewhere to watch the World Cup Final, Wowies Sports Grill in Boca Raton is the place to be. The modern sports bar will be televising the final between Spain and Netherlands live on Sunday at 2:30pm. Plus, Wowies will also be showing the Third Place Playoff Final between Uruguay and Germany on Saturday at 2:30pm.

Here are 7 reasons why South Florida residents should watch the final two World Cup games at Wowies:

1. During both games, we’ll be running free raffle drawings where you have a chance to win, courtesy of Nike, official replica jerseys from Brazil (home), Portugal (home), Slovenia (home), Croatia (away) or Slovenia (away); Plus, we have a US men’s national team training top and sweatshirt to give away,
2. We’re giving away in the raffle drawing, again courtesy of Nike, the following soccer cleats/boots: Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly 2, Nike Zoom and Nike Tiempo Legend Elite,
3. Thanks to EA Sports, we have five copies of the 2010 FIFA World Cup video game to give away (two for Sony PS3 and three for Xbox 360). 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa video game is in stores now and it enables you to take your favorite nation to World Cup glory. It is available on Wii, PS3, x360 and PSP,
4. Wowies features a 123″ projection TV and 31 big screen TVs so no matter where you sit, you can watch the World Cup Final in style; Wowies also has three big screen TVs in the outside covered patio if you want to watch the game and get some fresh air at the same time,
5. Wowies is the official World Cup Viewing Party headquarters for World Cup Buzz. I’ll be there for both games, so stop on by and say hello. I’ll also be taking pictures and video as well as interviewing some of the soccer fans there about the World Cup, so it’s your chance to be featured on World Cup Buzz,
6. Download the flyer from our sister site at www.worldcupbuzz.com/wowies and bring it in for a free Sierra Nevada or Red Stripe Lite during any of the World Cup games. Plus, Wowies features Happy Hour from 12-7pm everyday and has three full-liquor bars,
7. Last but not least, Wowies features the beautiful Wowies Girls who will be wearing the colors of Spain and Netherlands (red and orange) to celebrate the final and to serve you drinks and food throughout the games.

Based on how popular the World Cup games have been at Wowies this summer, I’d highly recommend that you get to the sports bar as early as possible to get a good seat. Come early for lunch and spend the afternoon there. Wowies is a family friendly establishment, and there is no cover to get in to watch the games.

Nothing beats watching the World Cup at a soccer-friendly bar with friends and strangers. If you live in South Florida, I look forward to seeing you at Wowies this weekend.