The match began slowly with Ramos having one of the only chances early on, his bullet-header pushed away by the ‘keeper. The game then descended into a brawl with fouls and yellow cards dominating the highlights. Van Bommel and De Jong were both lucky to still be on the pitch after the first half as the former received a yellow card and then continued to dive into reckless tackles, and the latter kung-fu kicked Xabi Alonso.
The second half was much of the same but just after the hour mark Robben was played through for a one-on-one with Casillas, the speedy winger waited and waited but when he eventually got his shot off the ‘keeper managed to get the better of him, saving the shot with a flailing leg.
Villa then had a good chance blocked for Spain whilst Ramos missed from a free-header, sending his close range shot over the bar. The ninety minutes petered out (with a total of 9 yellows shown) and we headed into Extra Time with the neutral fans desperate for some action worthy of a World Cup Final.
In Extra Time things finally picked up a bit and just five minutes in Fabregas missed a great chance to grab the opener when he missed a one-one-one, the Dutch saved by the left shin of Stekelenburg. Iniesta and Navas also came close to scoring in the first half of ET but for some last ditch Dutch defending.
In the second half of ET the inevitable came when Heitinga saw red for Holland. The defender pulled back Iniesta and was shown his second yellow card, giving Spain ten minutes to try to get something against ten men. It only took the Spaniards five minutes before Fabregas played in Iniesta who then smashed a half-volley into the bottom corner to give Spain the lead so late on. Ten man Holland had little left and Spain were crowned the new World Champions.
