The Netherlands v Spain
Ontspanje. That's a Dutch word meaning, essentially, 'relax.' But also, more literally, it means 'De Spain.' Significant! And, with that linguistic example of rank cleverness, welcome to the end of the world. Gary Lineker, in the thoroughly tasteful suit and tie, kicked-off the BBC coverage with lovely little montage of the tournament's memorable moments with an Alabama Three soundtrack. Tasty..jpg)
Lee Dixon then claimed that when he met Nelson Mandela and shook his hand sme years ago, 'shivers went down my spine.' I'd get that checked out by a doctor if I were, mate, it could be polio. The two Alans and Dicko were also, like Gary, besuited. And looked very nice. Clarence Seedorf, meanwhile, was wearing a bright orange replica kit and making no bones about whom he was supporting (he added a nice scarf at half time when it was clearly getting a bit chilly up on the gantry). I couldn't tell you what the shower on ITV were up to. I'd made my choice. In fact, they made it for me.
Early highlights of the BBC coverage included a brief bit of the opening ceremony with Nelson looking a bit bewildered but smiling in all the right places, at least. And then, one of the great meeting-of-mind moments of the World Cup, Garth Crooks interviewing Howard Webb. The Beeb picked out an England flag in the crowd with 'can't Play, can't Ref' on it. By the end, a lot of Dutchmen would be agreeing with that. Shearer - never Howard Webb's biggest fan - said 'Team spirit and organisation has taken the Dutch to this final.
Take Wesley Sneijder out of their team and they don't have any other really great players.' I think Arjen Robben might have something to say about that, pal. But, you kind of knew what he meant. Garth did a superb interview with Rudi Krol who seemed terrifically confident. Jonathan Pearce produced a rather thoughtful little piece on changing Dutch attitudes to winning with, or without, style. But still the panel seemed to sniff at any vague suggestion that anyone other than Spain was going to walk this. 'I'm trying to build a case for the Netherlands to win the game and it's very difficult,' said Dixon. 'Spain are in such good form and their ability on the ball is unmatched. The Dutch do have match-winners in Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie, though - they'll need all three to turn it on for them to have a chance tonight.'
And so to the match. The BBC had gone for Guy Mowbray as their commentator, a bit of a surprise, perhaps, as Pearce had been widely expected to get it. He gave a poetic little flourish to begin with about destiny that brought something of a disgruntled 'humpf' from Mark Lawrenson beside him. What followed was a desperately disappointing first half. Spain were pretty on the ball - and had loads of it - but had no final pass and no penetration. The Dutch, on the other hand, just never got going at all. In the first fifteen minutes, they were all over the place but, then they seemed to buck their ideas up and go for Plan B.
Kick the Spanish up a-height. And boy did they do that with some gusto. As for goals, they seemed to be waiting for Robben to have a moment of inspiration. One which never came. The game was niggly and littered with fouls. Howard Webb produced five yellow cards including two - for Van Bommel and De Jong - which might easily have been another colour. The latter's throat-high kung-fu-kick on Xabi Alonso had Lawrso producing the finest moment of the first half. 'I hope none of you are having your tea at home!' Guy Mowbray summed up the half thus: 'The game has lost its edge, lost its pace. The Netherlands have stopped Spain from dominating but they haven't taken control themselves. For me, the match is at a very iffy stage.' Two hopelessly missed chances just before the break at either end - from Mathijsen and Pedro - summed the half up even better.
Horrorshow.
Half-time was a succession of rants from Hansen ('total football? Total thuggery more like!') calmed down somewhat by more sensible comments from Shearer and Dixon. The Dutch, they noted, had realised that they couldn't, possibly, play Spain at the their own game so they'd gone for Plan B (or, is it C?). Stop them playing, by any means possible. And it was working. 'If this had been a group game, the Netherlands would probably already be down to nine men - at least,' noted Shearer.
The second half was better although only marginally - not that you'd believe it if you listened to miserable old Hansen at the climax. I was very disappointed with Hansen tonight I must say - and I normally like him a lot. I thought his attitude was a fucking disgrace. He's whinged all the way through the match and made his favouritism crystal clear and I hate one-sided whingers more than I hate the Nazis. The other three, at least, made a token gesture of a bit of balance, which was far more inclusive and more fitting with the occasion. Anyway, there were more yellow cards, Spain tried to pass the sodding ball to death and the Dutch had a great chance when Robben got through one-on-one with Casillas but the Dutchie's arse fell out. David Villa had an even better chance but his shot from six yards was charged down by Heitinga. Into injury time, with other options available, Sneijder - who had a total nightmare of a game throughout - tried an ambitious shot from near the half-way line. And almost - almost but not quite - hit the corner flag. Desperate. Truly desperate. But, nowhere near the worst World cup final ever. I mean, not even in the same league as 1990 or 94!
Extra time: Suddenly, we had an open, end-to-end classic on our hands. Well, it got a bit better, anyway. Chances at both ends, last ditch tackles, outrageous dives. And that was just in the first five minutes! 'The first signs here that this is starting to open up' noted Mowbray. Fabregas had a great opportunity at one end, Robben a carbon copy of his earlier miss at the other.
Still no goals. Lawrenson said he though this was the best period of the whole game and he was probably right. Iniesta missed. Time ticked onwards. Inevitably, with the number of cards that had been issued, you knew it wasn't going to end eleven-a-side and, sure enough, five minutes into the second half of extra time, Johnny Heitinga pulled back Iniesta on the edge of the box and took the long walk. Replays suggested the Spaniard had made a bit of a meal of it. A bit of a meal and desert and port and brandy afterwards. Then in the space of a couple of minutes, everything went wrong for the Dutch. A corner they should have had for a huge deflection, wasn't given, a foul against Elia wasn't given and, up at the other end immediately, the ball broke to Iniesta, who scored. Chaos ensued. Spain won - the better, more inventive side, undoubtedly. But, it was a rather downbeat and unfortunate end to a decent, but hardly vintage, tournament of some highs but more than a few lows.
Goals: 145
Red Cards: 16
Ontspanje. That's a Dutch word meaning, essentially, 'relax.' But also, more literally, it means 'De Spain.' Significant! And, with that linguistic example of rank cleverness, welcome to the end of the world. Gary Lineker, in the thoroughly tasteful suit and tie, kicked-off the BBC coverage with lovely little montage of the tournament's memorable moments with an Alabama Three soundtrack. Tasty.
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Lee Dixon then claimed that when he met Nelson Mandela and shook his hand sme years ago, 'shivers went down my spine.' I'd get that checked out by a doctor if I were, mate, it could be polio. The two Alans and Dicko were also, like Gary, besuited. And looked very nice. Clarence Seedorf, meanwhile, was wearing a bright orange replica kit and making no bones about whom he was supporting (he added a nice scarf at half time when it was clearly getting a bit chilly up on the gantry). I couldn't tell you what the shower on ITV were up to. I'd made my choice. In fact, they made it for me.Early highlights of the BBC coverage included a brief bit of the opening ceremony with Nelson looking a bit bewildered but smiling in all the right places, at least. And then, one of the great meeting-of-mind moments of the World Cup, Garth Crooks interviewing Howard Webb. The Beeb picked out an England flag in the crowd with 'can't Play, can't Ref' on it. By the end, a lot of Dutchmen would be agreeing with that. Shearer - never Howard Webb's biggest fan - said 'Team spirit and organisation has taken the Dutch to this final.
Take Wesley Sneijder out of their team and they don't have any other really great players.' I think Arjen Robben might have something to say about that, pal. But, you kind of knew what he meant. Garth did a superb interview with Rudi Krol who seemed terrifically confident. Jonathan Pearce produced a rather thoughtful little piece on changing Dutch attitudes to winning with, or without, style. But still the panel seemed to sniff at any vague suggestion that anyone other than Spain was going to walk this. 'I'm trying to build a case for the Netherlands to win the game and it's very difficult,' said Dixon. 'Spain are in such good form and their ability on the ball is unmatched. The Dutch do have match-winners in Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie, though - they'll need all three to turn it on for them to have a chance tonight.'And so to the match. The BBC had gone for Guy Mowbray as their commentator, a bit of a surprise, perhaps, as Pearce had been widely expected to get it. He gave a poetic little flourish to begin with about destiny that brought something of a disgruntled 'humpf' from Mark Lawrenson beside him. What followed was a desperately disappointing first half. Spain were pretty on the ball - and had loads of it - but had no final pass and no penetration. The Dutch, on the other hand, just never got going at all. In the first fifteen minutes, they were all over the place but, then they seemed to buck their ideas up and go for Plan B.
Kick the Spanish up a-height. And boy did they do that with some gusto. As for goals, they seemed to be waiting for Robben to have a moment of inspiration. One which never came. The game was niggly and littered with fouls. Howard Webb produced five yellow cards including two - for Van Bommel and De Jong - which might easily have been another colour. The latter's throat-high kung-fu-kick on Xabi Alonso had Lawrso producing the finest moment of the first half. 'I hope none of you are having your tea at home!' Guy Mowbray summed up the half thus: 'The game has lost its edge, lost its pace. The Netherlands have stopped Spain from dominating but they haven't taken control themselves. For me, the match is at a very iffy stage.' Two hopelessly missed chances just before the break at either end - from Mathijsen and Pedro - summed the half up even better.Horrorshow.
Half-time was a succession of rants from Hansen ('total football? Total thuggery more like!') calmed down somewhat by more sensible comments from Shearer and Dixon. The Dutch, they noted, had realised that they couldn't, possibly, play Spain at the their own game so they'd gone for Plan B (or, is it C?). Stop them playing, by any means possible. And it was working. 'If this had been a group game, the Netherlands would probably already be down to nine men - at least,' noted Shearer.
The second half was better although only marginally - not that you'd believe it if you listened to miserable old Hansen at the climax. I was very disappointed with Hansen tonight I must say - and I normally like him a lot. I thought his attitude was a fucking disgrace. He's whinged all the way through the match and made his favouritism crystal clear and I hate one-sided whingers more than I hate the Nazis. The other three, at least, made a token gesture of a bit of balance, which was far more inclusive and more fitting with the occasion. Anyway, there were more yellow cards, Spain tried to pass the sodding ball to death and the Dutch had a great chance when Robben got through one-on-one with Casillas but the Dutchie's arse fell out. David Villa had an even better chance but his shot from six yards was charged down by Heitinga. Into injury time, with other options available, Sneijder - who had a total nightmare of a game throughout - tried an ambitious shot from near the half-way line. And almost - almost but not quite - hit the corner flag. Desperate. Truly desperate. But, nowhere near the worst World cup final ever. I mean, not even in the same league as 1990 or 94!Extra time: Suddenly, we had an open, end-to-end classic on our hands. Well, it got a bit better, anyway. Chances at both ends, last ditch tackles, outrageous dives. And that was just in the first five minutes! 'The first signs here that this is starting to open up' noted Mowbray. Fabregas had a great opportunity at one end, Robben a carbon copy of his earlier miss at the other.
Still no goals. Lawrenson said he though this was the best period of the whole game and he was probably right. Iniesta missed. Time ticked onwards. Inevitably, with the number of cards that had been issued, you knew it wasn't going to end eleven-a-side and, sure enough, five minutes into the second half of extra time, Johnny Heitinga pulled back Iniesta on the edge of the box and took the long walk. Replays suggested the Spaniard had made a bit of a meal of it. A bit of a meal and desert and port and brandy afterwards. Then in the space of a couple of minutes, everything went wrong for the Dutch. A corner they should have had for a huge deflection, wasn't given, a foul against Elia wasn't given and, up at the other end immediately, the ball broke to Iniesta, who scored. Chaos ensued. Spain won - the better, more inventive side, undoubtedly. But, it was a rather downbeat and unfortunate end to a decent, but hardly vintage, tournament of some highs but more than a few lows.Goals: 145
Red Cards: 16
