The World Cup will end on Sunday with a first-time winner since neither the Netherlands nor Spain have ever won the trophy. Either country will become the 8th nation to ever win a World Cup. If you compare that to the number of countries who participate in the World Cup (including the qualifying rounds), it is probably one of the lowest ratios of any sport. It will also be the first time that a European team will win the World Cup outside of the European continent. Here is my analysis of the final in 7 points:
- Both teams are turned towards an offensive style. They both privilige attacking before defending.
- Spain is a master in keeping the ball with a high percentage of completed passes. It is very difficult to steal the ball from them. It is almost a clone of how the Barça plays since 7 players are from the Blaugrana team.
- The Netherlands have a key advantage in my mind since they have 4 mid-field/forwards that can all score: Kuyt, Van Persie, Robben, and Schneider. This is no longer the case with Spain who can only count on Villa since Torres is out of shape (until now at least).
- The Spanish team – like Barça – has become somewhat too systematic in its way of playing. The Netherlands on the other hand have more of an erratic behaviour on the pitch which could play to their advantage.
- Casillas is back on top form and can win a match to himself. That is not the case of Holland’s Stekelenburg.
- Spains’s defense is stronger than the Netherland’s which has shown weaknesses since the beginning of the World Cup.
- England’s Howard Web will referee the final. That is good news for both teams and for football in general since he was one the rare referees to perform during this tournament.
I am very uncertain about the outcome of the final in view of the points listed above. What do you think are the chances of each team? Don’t count on Paul the Octopus this time since I just heard that he will probably not be asked to guess the World Cup final winner!
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