WC Final: Holland vs Spain

[Gino Ginelli]

Final - Soccer City, Jo'burg - 7:30pm KO

So here it is, the culmination of the last 4 weeks of footy! A new winner, a new era, all that jazz.

Again, I can't call it. Spain have proved they can up their passing game to cope with dangerous attacking sides like Germany, but the Dutch have proved that their physical and pragmatic approach, coupled with the lethal forward players of Robben, Sneijder, Van Persie and the like, that they can match anyone.

Can't wait!

[Antilokhos]

Well, I'm rooting for the Dutch since I picked them in the beginning, but the octopus picked Spain so I'm not too hopeful.

[TURKISH]

Enthralling second half, not for total football but just for sheer drama and two competitive teams going to war.

[peterc]

The better football team won, Holland should have realised that it was a football game and not rugby. They were lucky to have had ten men left on the pitch, should have been nine. I thought that Webb controlled the game quite well.

[Shelfside]

I thought that it was rubbish.
The Dutch knew that they could kick Spain out of their stride within the first 15-20 mins and that Howard Webb would not send one of them off.They put Webb in a no win situation:if he sends one of them of in the first half,then he gets the blame for spoiling the occasion.If the Dutch would have won,then the Spanish would have complained about the fact that he didn't send one of the Dutch players off early.
I honestly stopped caring about this game by the end of the first half and to me it felt like the second division play off final rather than the World Cup Final.

[Gino Ginelli]

Extra time was by far the best 30 mins. Fabregas changed Spains game for me, brought a more direct and determined approach, with an ability to carry the ball a bit too. He should have scored too, as should Villa, Iniesta and Ramos on a few other occasions.

Having said that Robben should have buried that chance, but fair play to Casillas for the reflexes. That probably contributed more to the win than anything.

How shit is Torres? And if his hamstring went how come he was bouncing around at the end? Another flop.

[Ginola's Son]

Enjoyed the final, thought it was great the way it stayed at 0-0 with these teams going for their first world cup. Spain deserved it but I wasn't that impressed with their rather dull brand of football and 1-0 wins. Germany played the more attractive stuff for me.

Holland were a disgrace with their fouling...but for me, I found this entertaining, I wanted to see some red cards dished out, make it a fun game. De Jong should have got about 4 red cards for that boot into Alonso.

Webb did well, very hard game to control and he did the best he could with one of the teams not co-operating.

[Gino Ginelli]

Yeah I thought Webb did brilliant considering the amount of shit going on. Holland's protestations and complaints just show what an ungracious bunch of bad losers they are.

[choda]

I thought Webb handled it well and was relaxed, which he hasn't been in the premier league for some time and has been making very poor calls as a result and getting intimidated into bottling it for big teams.

However, I think he made one critical error that made his overall performance very poor: He played the occasion and not the game. Fact is he was far too lenient with the Dutch. He would have known all about them going into the game after viewing the Brazil game where they got away with murder also, but also played well.

In the final it was far worse and they played little football. They should have been down to 8 or nine men in the second half if Webb had been true to his warnings in the first half. Instead he just kept talking. Fair play first half he really let things go in the interests of getting a 11v11 game and getting the football going. He talked to people, which is good, he calmed, he let them know what the situation was. But then they kept doing it and he just kept letting it go.

And it shut the game down and it was because of foul play and lots of cynical fouls on the Spanairds. The Dutch could have easily nicked it from all the intimidation and turning it into a slug.

Anyway luckily the Spanairds eventually took over as the Dutch tired, then they got a man sent off, created even more and came through in the end.

How the Dutch can complain about Webb is beyond me, really disgracing themselves.

Great for football that Spain won.

[peterc]

Considering the way the Dutch played their so called footlball/rugby, Webb controlled the game quite well, maybe, Sneijder should have got a red for kicking Alonso in the chest. I think that the better team won.

[choda]

Considering the way the Dutch played their so called footlball/rugby, Webb controlled the game quite well, maybe, Sneijder should have got a red for kicking Alonso in the chest. I think that the better team won.

There were yellow cards all over the place he should have really given to guys already on yellows. Van Bommel stamped on Iniesta's ankle, De Jong late cynical tackle, Heitinga should have been off for a cynical foul early in the second half, just to name a few and already on yellows. Two or three tackles were possibly straight reds as well. De Jong kicked Alonso full pelt in the chest, you can't do that.

It would not have even been unreasonable for them to have had two guys sent off in the first half alone.

I don't believe in calling them thugs, man's game and all that, but I also believe that the ref has to do his job so there are consequences for bad tackles.

Holland could have won that game through mostly fouling, that would have been very wrong and it would have been Webb's fault.