Spain triumph as the Dutch agonize
Unbeaten until the big final, the Netherlands got a late defeat against Spain who lifted the trophy for the first time in history. It was both a very tense and intense match at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa with the best two teams at the tournament struggling each minute in order to make history. Unfortunately, the game didn’t provide any of the players as protagonist, but referee Howard Webb who was inclined to show 12 yellow cards and one red showed for the Netherlands in the 109th minute of extra time, when Alonso got a Heitinga’s foot in the chest.
With Holland downed to ten for the last ten minutes, Spain started to put pressure on van Marwijk’s side as the historic goal came from Barcelona’s superstar Iniesta who finished with a volley, while the team started already to celebrate not only the goal, but also the triumph.
The Spaniards had to wait for this World Cup title the entire football history, the team not having the chance to reach even the world cup finals, never-mind the trophy. Finally, it was a very tough night for all the Netherlands, Spain and Howard Webb referee that struggled on his own to keep players’ tense reactions even-tempered during the all 120 minutes. It was also the sixth final in history that needed extra time in order to provide the world winners.
