World Cup 2010 Final In Pictures: How Spain Defeated The Netherlands To Conquer The World

Goal.com's Subhankar Mondal looks back at Sunday's final.....

By Subhankar Mondal

Spain have been the perennial underachievers in world football but on Sunday night la Furia Roja eventually woke up. Okay, they had woken up two years back when they walked their way to the European Championships triumph in Austria and Switzerland, but winning the World Cup is the eventual peak of football.

On Sunday night at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, Vicente Del Bosque's side conquered the world by defeating the Netherlands 1-0 in the final. It was the first time in their history that Spain were featuring in a World Cup final but they had Andres Iniesta to thank for as he scored a late extra-time goal to settle the affair.

Now, let's look back at the 120 minutes of minutes that Netherlands and Spain played out not in words but in pictures.


Dutch fans in Johannesburg ahead of the Grand Finale



Spanish fans ahead of the final



Tactic-Talk - Our experts explain how the two sides could play



Arjen Robben missed two one-on-ones against Spain but he did give them headache



Howard Webb dished out card after card as the players tumbled down like a pack of cards



Was that a foul from Carles Puyol? The 'Flying Dutchman' thought so



Mark Van Bommel was mean as ever in the midfield



Perfectly captured moment, isn't it?



Andres Iniesta scores the latter winner for Spain. The 'Floater' was sensational as ever.



Spain celebrate their historic maiden World Cup triumph
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2/15/12
And with that, we're going to call it a night, folks.

We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!

Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.

From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!

2/15/12
All this focus on the Arsenal and Milan game should not take away from another cracker earlier tonight between Zenit and Benfica. The Russians came from a goal down to lead 2-1 in the closing minutes before Oscar Cardozo levelled things for Benfica, but it wasn't over there as Roman Shirokov won the game for Zenit in the 88th minute.

Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
2/15/12
Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny bemoaned his side's luck tonight but refused to give up. Here's some of his quotes:

"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.

"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.

"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."

Full story HERE


2/15/12
Another Milan player who was willing to share his thoughts after the match was Mark van Bommel, who has urged caution ahead of the second leg in London.

“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.

(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)

“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.

“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.


Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.

“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.

“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”


2/15/12
Next up is the Milan maestro Clarence Seedorf. He only managed 12 minutes on the pitch, but watching from the sidelines he was delighted at how his team mates had dominated the game.

"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."

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