World Cup Final Between Spain And Holland

Well Tuesday and Wednesday saw the two semi final games and we now have the results, and know who will contest the final of the 2010 World Cup Finals.

On Tuesday evening, Holland played Uruguay in a game which featured an energetic Uruguay desperate to reach the final, and making the running early on. In comparison Holland were fairly lack lustre, and despite early chances failed to capitalise. To their credit, the underdogs Uruguay defended well and kept Holland out, until 18 minutes in. Out of nowhere van Bronckhorst picked up the ball on the left and 30 yards out and unleashed a strike that found its way into the net. Uruguay were stunned. But within sight of half time Forlan worked a little piece of magic, again completely out of nothing, first selling his marker a dummy before turning and curling a left-footed blinder into the Dutch net, the ball picking up a deflection on the way through.

Uruguay were the team with momentum as the second half kicked off, and looked to add to their equaliser early on. As has been the story for woe for many a team in this World Cup, the Uruguaians were caught off guard in the middle of the second period, and on the counter the Dutch stung them with two goals in the 70th and 73rd minutes, the scorers Sneijder and Robben. Holland began playing to run down the clock somewhat, and Uruguay desperately tried to pull the game back within their reach, finally breaking thtough with an injury time time consolation goal, but they were unable, despite peppering the Dutch goal in the remaining seconds, to get the equaliser that would have heralded anotherbout of extra time. The game ended 3-2 to Holland, which means the World Cup will be contested in an all European final this time round.

The second semi final was fought out between Spain and Germany and promised to be a thriller with European champions Spain in their first ever semis, and hoping to progress to the first final and pick up the trophy. Germany were hoping to continue their clinical run, and presumably play their usual and very successful strategy of annihilating their opponents on the counterattack.

The problem with counterattack strategies is that they necessarily require the other team to continually attack, and more importantly, for those attacks to break down and give away possession. What Spain did for large sections of the game was simply to keep possession. This gave them the opportunities to shoot at will. Very close misses and great saves from the German keeper kept the Spaniards out. The Germans had few chances and were not getting decisions from the referee either, in the hopes of getting a chance to test Spain from set pieces.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first, with Spain retaining much of the possession and liberally pebbledashing the German goal with shots. The Spaniards looked hungrier and on occasion took advantage of sluggish defending, although they could not make their chances count. In the 73rd minute Puyol made space for himself from a corner to head a glorious goal that saw the German defenders fall to thier knees in disappointment. That’s another problem with a counterattack strategy; what if the other team scores first? Now Germany had to push forward to try and secure an equaliser and their continuation in the competition. Late in the half, they themselves got caught on the break, and Pedro could have put the game firmly out of reach, supported by Torres with only Friedrich in attendance. The Spaniard choked, and was dispossessed before he could either shoot or pass the through ball to torres.

On paper Germany could have been expected to win this one, but have lost out to Spain several times in recent meetings. Spain win 1-0 and progress further into unknown territory, to reach their first ever World Cup final. Their opponents, Holand are also new to this heady stage of this particular competition, so the one thing we all know right now is that a brand new name will be going onto the cup by the end of play next Sunday!