Thoughts on the World Cup Final

World Cup 2010 ended in a flurry of yellow cards, kicks to the chest, Nelson Mandela attending a matcha and with Spain lifting the trophy for the first time as World Champion. An early prediction of mine was that the first African World Cup would end with a new champion, so I suppose I can take a little solace in that, but the team I picked to win finished a little short. The Dutch have been my pick since March, so from a personal perspective it was a little tough to watch them lose in the final, but at the same time I’m pleased in that this tournament did bring us a new champ, and a deserving one at that. The Spanish defense, which I’ve said since Euro 2008 has been their weakness, did not allow a goal in the knockout rounds. This is not because of the fantastic play of the Spanish defense but that of their midfield, who did a great job of possessing the ball and giving the defense very little to do all tournament. Xavi and Andres Iniesta did not have standout tournaments, but proved just how talented they were by playing plenty of games without their A game and still controlling the proceedings. Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso also proved their worth by being a solid wall in front of the defense, but the depth of their midfield is where one sees just how talented Spain are; players like Pedro, Cesc Fabregas Jesus Navas and David Silva (who didn’t feature in the final) did not start consistently throughout the tournament , and they are all world class players.
But the MVP for the Spanish in the final was goalkeeper Iker Casillas. He covered mightily for Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique, thwarting Dutch winger Arjen Robben twice after he had beaten both Spanish defenders to gain breakaways. Casillas was lucky on the first breakaway, where Robben got him to go the other way but his trailing foot deflected the ball. However, he did a great job of staying big, closing space quickly and making Robben have to wait until the final second to shoot, doing everything a goalkeeper should do on a breakaway. Without the great play of Casillas, Spain would not have won yesterday.

The two players I feel terrible for after the final though are Arjen Robben, and Dutch defender John Heitinga. Robben, who has been a standout player all year for Bayern Munich, will be the goat of the final for missing his two chances. A player of his caliber should’ve put his chances away, and Robben knows that, but his presence was vital to the Dutch making the final. No player has had an instant impact for his team in this tournament quite like Arjen Robben, and his being there made defenses have to pay attention to him and leave space for players like Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder to make plays. Robben also lost the Champions League Final with Bayern Munich this year; two tough losses in one season. In Heitinga’s case, I do not think he should’ve been sent off. It looked to me that Iniesta went down far too easily, making sure Heitinga got his second yellow card. What makes his sending off truly unfortunate is that up to that point, he had been my MVP for the Dutch in the final. Heitinga was all over the place, being forced to guard the dynamic David Villa and did a fantastic job. The biggest problem with Heitinga’s skill set is that he may be a little too versatile; he doesn’t have a true position along the backline. In this tournament, he featured mostly at center back, and in the biggest game of his life, he was asked to man mark the World’s best striker in Villa and did just that. It’s a pity he got sent off, because he had really kept the Dutch in the game, but his sending off ended up costing them a chance at penalty kicks. Had Heitinga been on the field, my bet is that he would’ve been able to clear the ball before it reached Iniesta, who scored the match’s only goal. In a way though, the red card was long overdue for the Netherlands, as Nigel de Jong definitely deserved to see red for his challenge on Xabi Alonso in the first half, it’s just unfortunate that it was Heitinga who got the red card.

Speaking of the referee, I think Howard Webb put on an atrocious display. Granted, he got no help from the players who seemed determined to turn the match into a contest to see who could injure more opposing players, but I thought he handed out far too many cards. He really shot himself in the foot with his early yellow on Robin van Persie, because it set a precedent for how he was going to referee the match; if he was going to be in any way consistent, he would have to card players for worse challenges, which he did to his credit, but I thought he set the bar too low. No final should have as many cards as it did, and the referee should’ve done a better job of controlling the proceedings. That said, the Dutch can blame nobody but themselves for losing; the Spanish played better on the night.

With the tournament being over, I’ve decided to start doing smaller write ups looking back on the cup. My first retrospective series will be top five lists for different categories; Favorite teams, Best Goals and Best Celebrations, which will be wrapped up with my ten favorite storylines from the entire tournament. There is a bit of a lull right now until more soccer gets played, but a better way of looking at it is the domestic season begins in just a little over a month in Europe; the beautiful game really never does stop, does it?