Only 90 minutes to be the World Champions!
WORLD CUP FINAL: PREVIEW AND ANALYSIS
The South African World Cup ride winds up this Sunday with the immensely tense match-up between the two European soccer powers, the undefeated Netherlands against the current European Champions Spain. La Roja, the favorites to win this WC gold seemed pretty confident before the Cup but suffered the stunning loss in their first game against Swiss and since then, they have not, even for once, looked back and have successfully earned their way to the first-ever final of any World Cup. However, on the opponents’ seat lies the team that had unarguably been the best football nation of the 70s. The Dutch Masters lost both the finals of 1974 and 1978 to the host nations i.e West Germany and Argentina. But now, the wait to clinch a WC trophy is finally over for them as the Dutch, who are looking more dangerous than ever, are back in the final of a World Cup. This time, they just cannot afford to get a loss! The two teams have played each other three times in World Cup play, with Netherlands holding a 2-1 edge.
From the Spanish side, David Villa, Iniesta and Pedro are definitely the players to look out for. With Casillas in the top-form, making the ball cover the journey across the goal line looks difficult for the men in orange. While Torres is struggling to get his form back, he, still, can not be ignored as he has every ability to get back to his previous striking self in this final. Puyol and Pique form the solid defense against the Dutch. However, Holland is also no short of World Class players. Wesley Sneijder has been the heart of the winning Dutch team.Robben has been a key player whereas Kuyt and Persie can never be backed down and the duo of Bommel and Jong can create an invincible wall for Spain.
After their first loss, The Red Fury has won all of the matches but it would not be wrong to say that the Spanish won most of the matches unconvincingly, beating the foemen by a mediocre score of 1-0 but the two major wins against Portugal and Germany really brought the classic technical play out of Spain and despite, the win was just a 1-0 victory, the possession kept by the Spainiards and their tireless efforts to keep the enemies under pressure were top-notch! This splendid substance exhibited by Spain, in their crucial matches gives them a fair chance to overcome the Dutch wall to reach the World Cup crown whereas on the Orange side, the hefty continuous chain of triumphs puts Netherlands on a much greater probability for the Gold!
Whatever happens, this clash is going to be one of the most prodigious encounters a World Cup Final has ever witnessed. History is going to be made, and the World Cup's engraver will have to break in a new stencil.