31 days have passed and the last two teams standing are Spain and Holland. The Infamous Perennial under-achievers in world football. The two teams have had the reputation of producing some of the most prolific footballers in the world game however they have no title to show for it. Well all their previous failures will be forgotten for 90 minutes today as they charge to ink their name among the privileged few who have won the World Cup title.
The odds going in should be even as none of these teams have a clear edge above the rest. Man for Man comparison, Spain should have the edge s they have the ability to fill every position with a player who is " Brand name footballer" who has been tested and proven in the club game. This gives the team greater strength as a unit. Holland has a less weathered 11 as even though the attacking half of the squad as for the most part seen and done it all on the Club stage, quite a few of their players still ply there trade in the Eredivisie and as such will not have been as seasoned and tried as the Spaniards. The man to man strenght of each team over will not be the what decides this final.
Todays game will be decided by the performance of respective midfields. The most probable starting midfield for spain will include S. Busquets, X. Alonso, A. Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro. While Holland's midfield should include M. van Bommel, N. de Jong, A. Robben, W. Sneijder.
Spain's midfield has 4 players from the Catalan Club FC Barcelona, they know each other and they communicate and compliment each other well; passing among themselves as been easy and most attractive to the spectators. The problem lays with the final pass to the striker.. in Barcelona's system, the midfielders would find a pass to wing for a Messi or a Henry or a Ibrahimovic or Bojan to run on to.. but they have none of these players. Who they have is David Villa and Fernando Torres who are More direct strikers and are usually fed by a channel passed that splits defence down the middle. This has beens Spain's trouble throughout the tournament and this has made goal scoring that much harder for them.
On the other hand, we have the dutch midfield, that has two attacking Midfielders in Robben and Sneijder or possibly Van Der Vart off the bench who support Van Persie and Kuyt up front. All five of these players play for seperate clubs and all five in essence play the same role for their clubs; they set the goal or they get the goal. Robben and Sneijder are coming off Superlative seasons both were in sizzling form all year round as been the Spark for their club all season, Vand Der Vaart has found a rebirth in form at Real Madrid and Kuyt might be the only person who has been playing football at liverpool all season. When these players come together the level of energy and attacking intent that they produce is overwhelming. Enough to break down any defence as they only have one objective and that is scoring.
If Spain are to beat the Netherlands Barcelona's midfield will have to be able to adjust to suit the striking regiment of Villa and Torres while keeping the Holland midfield at bay. If holland are to win their midfield has to be on-song to break down a dogged Spanish defence. This game wont be decided by a single goal and has the ability to be one for the History books so lets wait and see, will it be Clock work Oranje or Baile Flamenco..
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