FIFA World Cup 2010: Robin Van Persie and Holland Through To Final

Good morning to you. The first order of business this morning is a congratulations to Robin Van Persie and his colleagues in the Holland team, who last night secured their country's progress to the World Cup Final after an entertaining clash with Uruguay. The South Americans gave the Dutch a good run for their money, despite their obvious deficit in quality to the men in orange.

Robin was at the centre of some minor controversy with Holland's second goal. Questions being raised as to whether he should have been flagged offside. In my opinion, despite the commentator's attempts to make an issue of it, I thought Robin was just about onside. It was certainly tight enough for the linesman to give him the benefit of the doubt, as officials are supposed to do for attackers in that situation.

So, Holland through go for a chance to capture a long overdue World Cup title. They could be joined in the final by Cesc Fabregas and Spain if they can overcome a Germany team that has certainly turned some heads at this tournament.

I know Spain haven't quite lived up to the hype so far in this tournament, and Germany have looked very impressive in the knockout phases, but I still fancy the Spanish to go through in this one. I just feel that they have the edge in quality and experience and I think that may tell in the end. Of course, I could be completely wrong (not for the first time!) and Germany could deal out another pasting, but something tells me this may be the proverbial "bridge too far" for the Germans.

Plenty to look forward to in tonight's game at any rate, and hopefully we might see a clash of big teams live up to the hype, which is something that hasn't really happened thus far in the tournament. We are running out of opportunities to see a top class clash of top class players. Here's hoping the two sides can deliver tonight.

Turning our attention to Arsenal news, there's not a great deal about this morning. We have the nine millionth Barcelona statement about not paying over the odds for Cesc Fabregas , but we all know the score by now. Barcelona don't want to pay lots of money, but lots of money is what they'll have to offer to have any chance of signing Cesc. Until such time as they offer the big money, there's unlikely to be any progress.

I am slightly amused by Barcelona president Sandro Rosell saying, "It's a topic that has become so public and that's the worst thing you can do with a transfer, because it makes the selling club raise their expectations and you end up paying over the odds."

And whose fault is that do you suppose? I'm sure Rosell might try to shift some blame to the previous administration at Barcelona, but Rosell himself did plenty of the talking before he became Barcelona president, so really, he only has himself to blame.

In the ongoing situation with the departure of most of our defence, and the speculated arrival of a brand new one, the latest development is the Sun linking us with Stuttgart defender Serdar Tasci . The player's agent is quoted as saying Tasci is a big fan of Arsene Wenger, for what that's worth. I suppose this is a "wait and see" job. We may never hear the player's name again, or the rumour could gather some pace. At the moment I'm really not sure whether to pay it any attention or not.

On that note, that would appear to be that for this morning. Enjoy the game later, hopefully Cesc can shake his knock off to play a part, and we'll be savouring the prospect of him taking on Robin in the final this time tomorrow. Until then.