World Cup 2010: Spain Wins Ugly, But Wins

The Spaniards huffed and puffed; and they puffed, and puffed, and …

Well it took 116 minutes of puffing, but Andres Iniesta scored the lone goal Sunday to give Spain their first FIFA World Cup title. And it came off a Dutch mistake in the backline, when they turned the ball over just outside the penalty box to an opportunistic Cesc Fabregas, who passed the ball out to a wide-open Iniesta.

The Dutch cried offsides and harassed the line official while Spain celebrated in the corner. Replays verified there was no offsides while Iniesta took off his jersey in celebration — which he was yellow-carded for. Didn’t matter, Spain won.

For their part, the Netherlands didn’t really deserve the win anyway.
Spain was the team pushing the tempo and creating the most offense
throughout the game. They controlled possession, while the Dutch
resulted to near hooliganism. This match ended with 14 cards, the Dutch
responsible for 9 of them. Many ugly challenges, most of them
unnecessary. Then there’s the foul — I mean karate kick — by the
orange-clad Nigel De Jung.

Dutch fans filled the majority of the
seats at Soccer City, as their trademark orange gear made Dynamo fans
look bush-league. They cheered loud and long for 116 minutes, but the
smaller Spanish contingent blew their vuvuzelas loudest at the end.

Among the 80,000+ in attendance were celebrities, royalty, and heads of
states. But none of them were as memorable as the brief appearance made
by Nelson Mandela before the match. The 91-year-old, iconic former
president of South Africa showed up before the match with his wife
alongside him in a golf cart to wave to the fans and greet FIFA
officials on the field.

What’s most important about Spain’s victory
is that Paul the oracle octopus was perfect in his predictions
throughout the World Cup. Maybe now he won’t be eaten.

Germany
wins third
In Saturday’s game for third place, Germany beat Uruguay
3-2 — a far more superior offensive game. It was a come-from-behind
victory for the Germans, who got the go-ahead goal from Sami Khedira in
the 82nd minute.

Diego Forlan — who was awarded the Golden Ball
(World Cup MVP) — scored for Uruguay in the 51st minute.

Remember the
Dynamo?
The local orange-clad team played this past Saturday to a
0-0 draw against the Columbus Crew at Robertson Stadium. Despite being
winless in their last six league matches, Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear
feels his club is “inches away from pulling off something good.”

They
better do it fast too; soccer has gained some momentum in this town,
and nothing brings in the fans better than winning. The Dynamo are in
the middle of the MLS regular season and Super Liga is about to begin.
Then there’s the MLS All-Star game on July 28, where the MLSers will
host global giant Manchester United FC.

Even though the World Cup is
over, there’s still plenty of soccer to go around.