World Cup 2010–The final weekend

In previous blogs I went out on a limb and made some predictions.  While I picked Holland and Spain to win their groups I honestly didn’t think that the final would be contested by these two European teams.

I am pleased that whoever wins, there will not only be a new World Champion – but the champion will be a country that has never been champion before.

When the Quarter Finalists were determined and there were 4 South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), 3 European countries (Germany, Holland and Spain) and one African country (Ghana), I was thinking that it was looking like a Brazil v Argentina final.  European teams had never won the World Cup outside Europe, and while Brazil had failed to impress, they have a habit of success and Argentina seemed to be in good shape.

But Germany and Holland played great games to beat Argentina and Brazil respectively – the Germans being especially impressive.  Uruguay did get through to keep South American interest, but Spain beat Paraguay fairly comfortably for all three European teams to advance to the Semi-Finals.

The Dutch then beat Uruguay in a game where the final result of 3-2 didn’t really show how the Dutch dominated, and Germany ran out of steam allowing Spain to go though to the final.

So who will win this all European contest. 

Spain have played good solid football, but they really haven’t clicked yet.  Without Torres in the semi-final they dominated possession but didn’t really look like scoring for long periods of the game – and needing an excellent headed goal from a corner to win 1-0. 

Holland have managed to keep their egos in check and work effectively as a team.  They are not as good as the team of the 70’s (Cruyf Neeskens et al) which lost 2 World Cup finals or the Team of the 90s’ (Bergkamp, Kluivert, de Boers et al) which played beautiful football but failed at the semi-final level in many tournaments.

I think this is Holland’s year.  It would be really depressing for the Dutch to lose a third World Cup final, and their support is strong in South Africa.  Either way I am hoping for an entertaining game between Europe’s two top teams (based on Fifa’s current rankings).