Friday, July 9, 2010

A Final for the Books

Once again, I'm starting my post with an apology. I've been a counselor at a sleepaway summer camp with limited connection to technology during this whole month or so, and most would notice that the blog has been suffering. I was able to watch the U.S. fall to Ghana(with a stroke of misfortune, I may add), and highlights for every other game, and I plan on watching every game when I get home. The good news for me is that I will be able to watch the Final tomorrow, and I assure you, it will be a Final for the history books.
Coming into the tournament, I knew that the Netherlands had a definite chance of maybe sneaking into the semifinals, maybe even the finals. Okay, I actually predicted them to win in the only bracket that I filled out (), but who's counting?(I am!)I knew that the Netherlands would come in with the attacking mindset, and attack they did, scoring at least 2 goals in every game except against the Japanese. Now critics would be quick to note that the teams they have played so far aren't exactly known for their defending. In my opinion, Brazil was the best defensive team they played and they still dropped 2 goals on the world's theoretically best team and confused them all game long. With an all-star cast featuring Van Persie, Van Bommel, Robben, Kuyt, Huntelaar, Sneijder, etc., the Dutch will try to control Spain through the midfield and feed the ball to its strikers using quick passing to throw the Spanish off guard like they did to Brazil. The only place I can see a problem arising for the Netherlands is in the back. Granted, they have allowed a total of 3 goals in 5 games, but goalie Sander Boschker is a replacement for highly acclaimed Edwin Van der Sar, and he may break down under such high pressure. If the Spanish can break the Dutch defense early, this game may be over quickly. But if the Netherlands can continue what they have been doing, which has led to a pretty impressive 25 game win streak, the Netherlands will win.
Speaking of the Spanish, it would be hard to say that the Spanish are going to lose this game. Every aspect of their game is impeccable, and as Miroslav Klose put it, "They have been playing together for several years, they are very cohesive, their moves come automatically,". The Spanish reflect the pace and fluidity of La Liga in their national team, and it shows. The world's #2 has been tearing through the World Cup, taking out Germany in the semi-finals. That's the same German team who dropped 4 goals on both England and Argentina. Spain not only managed to contain Germany's nasty attack, but they outclassed them through the midfield and generally made Germany look silly all game long. That's hard to do, and if anything, it shows just how good Spain is. I could go through the list of all of Spain's amazing players, Puyol, Villa, Xavi to name a few. Or, I could tell you that Fernando Torres, widely considered to be one of the best players in the EPL, didn't start for them against Germany. That's how you know that a team has class. Both teams are going to look to control the game through the midfield, only one of them will. It may come down to a lucky goal, or one team may dominate the other. It may come down to penalty kicks(I hope not), it may be a beauty in extra time that puts the game away. However, any way that the game ends, it should be a majestic thriller, every Final is a game for the ages, let's hope for excitement that doesn't involve making soccer look like MMA(headbutts, anyone?). Anyways, it will be a night of firsts, and one of those will be the first World Cup victory for either Spain or Netherlands. I'm defying the Octopus:
Netherlands 2- Spain 1(OT)

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