2010 World Cup Final Preview: Spanish or Dutch?
On Sunday, there will be a new winner of the World Cup.
The orange-clad (unless you support any orange-hating sporting factions, which are all over the world) battle the red army.
It's Spain versus Holland, and we can't wait.
SPAIN
How Did They Get There?
Lost their first name, didn't impress in the second or third, but qualified top of their group. Then sunk Portugal, Paraguay and Germany with three 1-0 victories, and have impressed nobody and everybody in the process.
Nobody and Everybody?
Nobody's been impressed by the play of Fernando Torres, who's struggled all tournament long. But everybody's been impressed by the midfield of Xavi and Iniesta, and the finishing talents of one David Villa—all three of them will team up for Barcelona in the 2010/11 season. Good luck, La Liga!
Where are They Strong?
Xavi and Iniesta are incredible in the midfield, pretty much owning every midfield battle they play. Alonso's pretty darned good too. We also love Villa, who's scored five goals in six games. Carles Puyol outlined his aerial threat by scoring from a corner, but....
He'll Be Worried by Arjen Robben
Come to think of it, anybody would be worried by the pace of Arjen Robben, who's one of the quickest men in football. And while Puyol's a great defender, he's not the quickest, and Holland could exploit that.
And There's Also the Goalkeeper
Iker Casillas has been talked about as being the best goalkeeper in the world, but we're not so sure. He hasn't been 100 percent brilliant in ANY of Spain's games—and he'll need to be against the Dutch.
HOLLAND
We're Not Fans of Bright Orange
Sorry to our Dutch cousins who once ruled Britain, but the shirts are an eyesore. Seriously, you could probably see them from space.
But They Do Suit the Football...
Because with bright shirts comes bright football, and the football is beautiful. Sure, it's not wonderful defensively (we still maintain that had Luis Suarez played in the semifinal, we might be writing a very different final preview), but it's beautiful going forward, combining the aforementioned Robben...
And the World Cup's Unlikely Top Scorer...
Wesley Schneijder. The Inter Milan player scored five goals in this tourney too, and always seems to pop up when needed—right like David Villa. England, Italy and France could all have used a sniper like that.
How Do You Solve Robin Van Persie?
"RVP," as he's known to the Arsenal faithful who have actually seen him play (he's injured a lot of the time, see), has one of the best left foots in the world.
We love watching him play. Unfortunately, when he's not getting the ball, he's a petulant little crap, and has been known to be a disruptive influence. Holland don't need that if they are going to break down the Spanish—or get the ball off that chap Iniesta!
And How Did They Get Here Again?
The Dutch won all of their group games in pretty convincing fashion, and then held off Slovakia 2-1, stunned Brazil 2-1, and managed to deal with Uruguay 3-2.
The latter stages of Holland games have been nothing if not exciting. What has made it more exciting is the fact that they haven't been able to put the game away—although they've been given pretty easy chances to do so.
Any chance to do the same against Spain would bite them in the behind.
So Who's Going To Win?
It's sad to say, but I can't see this going anywhere but penalties. Both sides are very easily matched, and this will be a not-particularly-thrilling 1-1 draw.
Oh, wait a minute? Who'll win on penalties? We'll call Holland, just for the sake of it.
