The Final

A lot of people seem to think that yesterday's final was marred by the fourteen yellow cards Howard Webb handed out in his awkward attempt to control the match. Moreover, the Dutch are generally accused for having played cynical anti-football against a Spanish team, which many commentators seem to consider some higher life form. Finals are seldom beautiful to watch because the stakes are simply to high and this one was no different.

But still, I enjoyed the final quite a bit. Bert van Marwijk's tactical plan was brilliant as he avoided the overly cautious German approach and clearly told his players to do everything they can to stop Spain from setting up their hypnotic passing game. Sure, Holland was extremely lucky to not have both their two midfield destroyers sent off but I can't help but admire their ruthlessness. They did what they had to do (and got away with it). Frankly, I find it very irritating that people seem to expect other teams to play into Spain's hands as if the Iberian brilliance had some natural right to proceed unhindered.

Also, it seems very disingenuous to only focus on those Webbian mistakes that favored the Dutch. After all, Iniesta's winning goal was the direct result of a goal kick that should have been a corner for Holland and Puyol was lucky that Robben decided to stay on his feet for once (while Shrek was bear-hugging him). Clearly, in doing so he tried to make up for just having badly missed the best chance of the match some minutes before (Casillas's save was, of course, brilliant in its own right).

Now, how about Spain? They have been the best team over the last three years or so and they deserve to call themselves champions of the world. Overall, they have probably also been the best team at the World Cup (although the games against Switzerland and Paraguay left much to be desired). I know, of course, that football is about more than scoring goals, but still: eight goals in seven games, really?

One has to admire their patience and confidence to score eventually, though. I was particularly impressed how they managed to shift into a higher gear after 70 minutes or so of last night's final. Needless to say, their defense and midfield (and Villa) are sheer class and remain unrivaled in today's international football. Also, del Bosque's gutsy decision to bench Torres may have given Spain the edge over van Marwijk's team (who inexplicably kept van Persie on the pitch throughout the tournament).

I guess I'm simply looking for something else in football than what Spain has to offer. Sure, I can find some pleasure in ball movement but I also prefer the vertical pass over the lateral. If a team is as good as Spain undoubtedly is other standards apply. Given that it is essentially Barcelona that just won the World Cup (which is, ironically, as close as one can probably come the ideal of Dutch football) I wondered why Barça is so much more fun to watch than Spain. The only answer(s) I could come up with were: Messi and Ronaldinho. It's that magical touch of these special players that Spain lacks and that prevents the best national side in the world from being truly spectacular. Barça and Spain have the same brain but only the Catalonians have an equally beautiful body to match their cerebral prowess.