Spanish Delight!
Posted Jul 12, 2010 03:30:19 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Andres Iniesta scored with four minutes of extra time remaining Sunday to give Spain a deserved 1-0 win over the Netherlands and a first World Cup title.
With the teams facing a penalty shootout in a game of few clear chances, Iniesta collected a sliding pass into the area from substitute Cesc Fabregas and smashed the ball across goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and in at the far post.
The goal ended an often ill-tempered match and made Spain only the third team to be world and European champion at the same time.
The teams created few clear chances in normal time at Soccer City but the game opened up slightly after a cagey opening hour in which the Netherlands broke up Spain’s attempts to get its famous passing game going with physical play that brought the Dutch eight yellow cards.
Defender John Heitinga got a red card in the 19th minute of extra time to become only the fifth man to be sent off in a World Cup final.
With Spain also collecting five yellow cards, the final yellow card count beat the previous record of six in the 1986 final between Argentina and West Germany and made the final the dirtiest of all time.
Also with the World Cup,
Uruguay striker Diego Forlan has been awarded the Golden Ball as the World Cup’s best player, and Germany forward Thomas Mueller won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with five goals.
Forlan was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament by accredited media after leading his team to the semifinals.
The 20-year-old Mueller helped Germany take third place with his five goals and three assists, and also won the Best Young Player award. Forlan, Spain striker David Villa and Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder also scored five times but each had one assist. Villa and Sneijder both failed to score in Sunday’s final.
Spain’s Iker Casillas won the Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper.
