Having sat through the final between Spain and Netherlands, I got the impression that the Netherland players were concentrating more on hitting the shins of the Spanish players, rather than the ball !
Maybe I was expecting the level of football showcased in the semi finals between Spain and Germany; though Germany lost, but they won the hearts of the spectators. The match was a fine spectacle of grace, sportsmanship and football as it should be played.
ESP: superb tackling & dribbling skills, max possession, patience, superior pass quality, fair play, max no. of shots on target, highest tactical level, unmatched coordination, strong attacking, creative midfield, solid defence and the best GoalKeeper! - A team can't get better than this.
prior to match david villa openly challanged dutch to catch them. there was really no need for this . also dutch openly declared they shall be physical and shall not allow spain the possession . dutch wanted to win at any cost even if it was brutual . dutch insulted game of football.
That shows their strength of defence lead by Casillas (captain himself), Puyol, Pique, Ramos etc.. No question abt ability of other players.. Its a perfect team.. Best team won the worldcup...Cheers...
very early on, the WC had been shocked by the way the ball behaved. the mindset continued. there were almost no long shot goals i nthe tournament. speaks volumes about introducing a new ball in a world cup!
probably because4 Fernando Torres was not in form and missed quite a few...spain didn't play as bad as as number of goals suggest..specially in pathches they played quite well.... However the kind of team spain has they could have played more openly...long years of under achievement might have tied them down to be over-cautious.
