2010 FIFA World Cup final

2010 FIFA World Cup Final

Event	2010 FIFA World Cup
Netherlands Spain
Date	11 July 2010
Venue	Soccer City, Johannesburg
Referee	Howard Webb (England)

The 2010 FIFA World Cup Final is a football match that will take place on 11 July 2010 at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg to determine the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It will be contested between the Netherlands and Spain, with neither team having won the FIFA World Cup Trophy before. The Netherlands were beaten finalists in 1974 and 1978, while Spain reached fourth place in 1950, and the quarter finals in 1986, 1994 and 2002. It is the second consecutive all-European final, and will mark the first time a European team has won the trophy outside of Europe. The winner will defend their trophy at the next World Cup which will be held in Brazil in 2014, subject to qualification. This match will lead Europe to its tenth World Cup title, making it the most successful continent in terms of titles won. It apparently will have the attendance of Nelson Mandela.

Finalists

Prior to this game, the Netherlands and Spain had never met each other before in the main tournament stages of either a World Cup or a European Championships, the two major tournaments for European international teams. In all time head to head results, the teams have met 9 times previously since 1920, both winning four games each, in either friendlies, European Championship qualifying games, and once in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Neither team has ever won a World Cup final before. The Netherlands have been runners-up twice, losing 2-1 to West Germany in 1974, and 3-1 to Argentina in 1978. Reaching the 2010 final is Spain's best ever performance in the World Cup, having previously finished fourth in 1950 when the tournament had a round-robin final stage, and the quarter finals stage in 1986, 1994 and 2002, when single elimination knock-out stages featured. The winner will become just the eighth country to have ever won the World Cup, joining England and France as the nations who have won it just once.

World Cup firsts

It is the first time since the 1978 final, when Argentina beat the Netherlands, that the two finalists have never previously won the World Cup before. With two European finalists, it will be the first time a European team has won the World Cup when it has been hosted outside of Europe. It is the second consecutive all-European final since the 2006 final, meaning the trophy will remain in Europe for just the second time in World Cup history, the last time being when Italy won back to back in 1934 and 1938. It will be the seventh time a team that has never won the World Cup will be awarded it, and the first since France won it in 1998. It will also be the third time a team has won their first World Cup while not hosting it, the other two being West Germany who won their first in 1954 in Switzerland, and Brazil who won it in 1958 in Sweden.

In another first for the World Cup, neither team that contested the previous final in 2006 reached the knock-out stages of the tournament. Defending champions Italy and Runners-Up France both finished last in Group F and Group A respectively. It is the second consecutive final which will not feature Germany or Brazil, and the third time overall since 1954, the other being 1978.

Route to the final

Spain entered the 2010 World Cup as the reigning UEFA European Football Champions having won UEFA Euro 2008, and as the holders of the international football record of consecutive unbeaten games for a national team, spanning 35 matches from 2007 to 2009. The Netherlands entered the World Cup having not lost a single match in their UEFA Group 9 qualifying campaign, winning eight matches out of eight.

Once at the finals in South Africa, the Netherlands reached the knock-out stages having finished top of Group E with a perfect record of three wins, against Denmark, Japan and Cameroon, conceding only one goal. In the knock-out stages, they beat World Cup débutantes Slovakia, five-time champions Brazil and two-time champions Uruguay.

Spain reached the knock-out stages having finished top of Group H, recovering from an initial loss to Switzerland to beat Honduras and then Chile, tying with Chile on points but qualifying top of the group on goal difference. In the knock-out stages, they then beat their Iberian neighbours Portugal, quarter final débutantes Paraguay and three time winners Germany. The semi-final was a repeat of the match up for the UEFA Euro 2008 Final, and again saw Spain beat Germany, who were the top scorers of the 2010 tournament up to that point.

In the six games both teams played in South Africa to reach the final, the Netherlands scored a total of twelve goals and conceded five, while Spain scored seven and conceded two. Going into the final both Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands and David Villa of Spain were tied as the top scorers, while Arjen Robben of the Netherlands is the only other player in the finalists squads with more than one goal in the tournament.

Netherlands		Round	Spain
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup: Group E Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Netherlands 3 3 0 0 5 1 +4 9 Japan 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 Denmark 3 1 0 2 3 6 −3 3 Cameroon 3 0 0 3 2 5 −3 0		Group stage	Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup: Group H Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Spain 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 Chile 3 2 0 1 3 2 +1 6 Switzerland 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4 Honduras 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Slovakia	2–1	Round of 16	Portugal	1–0
Brazil	2–1	Quarter-finals	Paraguay	1–0
Uruguay	3–2	Semifinals	Germany	1–0

Squads

The Spanish squad contains players entirely from clubs playing in Spain, with the exception of three players based in England. The Netherlands squad contains players from a variety of clubs covering 5 European countries, with 8 players based in the Netherlands, 6 in Germany, 5 in England and 2 in Italy and 1 in Spain.

Match details

11 July 2010

20:30

Netherlands	v	Spain

Soccer City, Johannesburg