Netherlands vs Spain Review | FIFA World Cup 2010 Final – Tactics or Tackles ?

Yeah, Viva la Easpana! . Spain are the World Champions after beating Netherlands 1-0 in the final of FIFA world Cup 2010. They deserve it and they played the beautiful game in the dirty final.

The starting lineups are as expected in the preview. Which means, there is no place for Torres and Pedro takes his place. For Netherlands, they welcomed back van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong from suspension.

We must start the game review with this incident because thats the inspiration for Netherlands players in the first half. I gave the name dirty in the first paragraph because of the way Netherlands played.  See below, the security guy punching the intruder who tried to put his hands on the trophy before the teams gear up for the national anthems.

Once the game kicks off, the first 4mins are horrible. there are 3 fouls by Holland and are lucky to have Howard Webb as referee. We can understand this tactic for Holland as they looked to simulate the tactics of Chile to press and disturb the spains passing game. Also the Netherlands had maintained a high defense line in the first 30mins.  At the same time when Spain is not in position., they too pressed hard, inturn that didn’t allowed Netherlands to do any proper attack in the first half.

As you can see in above pic, Dutch maintained higher defensive line and the midfielders are not as tight as it expected or as they played in previous games. Because, they need to follow the Spain midfielders [Alonso and Busquets] when they have the ball. This two factors allowed spain to play some long balls to Villa who stayed up front. Almost few time he was through with those passes.

For Netherlands, the tactic is to disturb the spains passing game. So everyone is busy with that and Robben was the best player in that half as he tried to cut in and shoot but he always ran into the traffic. When spain found the Robben’s runs, one of them started covering the space between Capdevila and Iniesta [playing central]. Nigel de Jong should have gotten a red card from referee Howard Webb for his karate kick of Xabi Alonso, and Mark van Bommel could have drawn red as well for a challenge on Iniesta.

Second half:

The start of the second half is better than the first half but it looked overall the same. Netherlands are not able to press as high as they did in the first half. It is understandable that, after 5 booking, they can not simply press and get the red cards. But the turning point of this dirty game is Substitutions.

Width for Spain

first change is from Spain, they replaced Perdo who is playing inside and central with Navas. This gave spain what they have been missing. The width and opportunity to stretch the game. This gave more space for the Spain midfielders to play. Once this substitution was made, Iniesta started playing brilliantly as he has more space up front now. And he got 2 opportunities to seal the deal but Dutch keeper denied him.

Robben Chances

At 71’ min, Dutch replaced Kuyt with Elia…an attacking minded substitution and now they have a winger on the left. Now, Van Persie started to play towards left means the central defenders of the Spain need to move a bit towards left and track him. This allowed Robben to move freely from left to inside. We can see that effect of it, He missed a glarious change and was denied by Casillas twice. I still didn’t understand why didn’t Robben tried to Chip the ball first time and why didn’t he dive, the second time.

Introduction of Fabregas

now at 87’ min, Alonso was replaced by Fabregas for Spain. This is not a straight swap. Xavi moved to more deeper role infront of Busquets and Fabregas played in Xavi’s position.  Fabregas started running straight at goal from the midfield and his passing was also very good. He has a good chance in the first extra time to score in one-on-one situation but his shot doesn’t have power. Now spain has its midfielders in their best position and the positions where they play for their clubs. Result is Spain are back to their best passing game. And Iniesta was brilliant in the extra time.

Then Netherlands made an attacking minded substution by replacing De Jong with Van der Vaart but just after 10mins of that, they found themselves with 10men. A Deserving red card shown by referee considering the Dutch’s physical game. Heitinga’s second yellow came when he brought down Iniesta. Once he left the field, Iniesta has more space to exploit.

Golden Goal:

Finally, the goals came after the red card and Dutch were reduced to 10members. As indicated above, Iniesta was found in space. The passing started from Navas’s run, who gave the ball to Fabregas who is in advanced position and found Iniesta in space. This time there is not mistake from Iniesta….he found the net, and thats all.

A disappointing final…it had 47fouls, 13 yellow [8NED+5ESP] and 1 Red card. Spain had kept the position as expected but they failed to create chances and Netherlands preferred to disturb the Spain passing flow by adopting the physical game but they ended up with many yellow cards and 1 man down. Spain needed Netherlands to go down to 10 men to score the goal and win the Final.

Again the substutions made all the deference in the game, in terms of quality. The Euro champs are crowned as World Champions in an all European Final surely this is the Golden generation of Spain’s Football and will be termed as the greatest team.

Netherlands vs Spain Preview and Key battles | FIFA Worldcup 2010 Final

it is time for one of the two greatest footballing nations never to have won the World Cup to make the history. The potential is there with five-goal scorers David Villa and Wesley Sneijder lining up on opposite sides of the field with the Golden Boot in their sights .

Learning from Germany for Holland:

With how dangerous the Spanish are in possession, the Dutch are certain to focus on maintaining a defensive shape, but the mistake would be to sit back too much like the Germans. Instead, the Netherlands will take an aggressive approach and try to rattle Spain with crunching tackles in the midfield.

Expected Lineups:

Interesting battles:

Obviously it is to stop Xavi and Iniesta enjoying the space and passing in the middle, for Netherlands and to stop Sneijder moving freely and Bommel getting forward for spain… are the key factors.

Van Persie vs Puyol-Pique

Up front and infront of the spains goal, this is the one of the battles. Persie didn’t had a good tournament after spending most of the time with injury this season. But he looked like getting into form last match and more importantly he should form a better partnership with Sneijder

Robben vs Capedevila

Ya all know about robben. It would be some deciding moments how well Capadevila will deal with Robben getting forward and cutting inside. Capdevila has had attacking duties in his past games, but he really cannot afford to do that now. If he can stay back and outwit Robben, his team will benefit from it

Kuyt vs Ramos

Ramos likes to get forward.. and Kuyt stays in this position. Will this give an upper hand for Dutch forward to attack on the left? Can Pique give covering to Ramos when he makes forward runs and keep the Spanish defense in shape ?

Unlike the other teams spain faced, They should be alert with the dutch forward combination [kuyt/Sneijder/Robben] and must maintain their defensive share always.

Sneijder vs Busqests

One of the best players in the spain side and most important person in the midfield for spain is Busquets. He holds the ball infront of the defense and then combines with Xavi or Alonso to initiate the attacks. In this match, he needs to take extra responsibility to stop the Dutch play maker Sneijder. If Sneijder stays up on the pitch behind Persie, that would me Busquets into much deeper position.

Bommel vs Xavi:

Xavi drops deep and collect the ball, knows fact. Bommel likes to get forward. Van Bommel’s physical game will deteriorate the movement of Xavi. Spain’s game is slow-paced, and it depends a lot on possession. They like to keep the ball at the helm and move around the pitch. Xavi is the initiator in most of Spain’s moves, as he wins the ball more often than anyone else. If Van Bommel can stop that, Spain will suffer.

Bronckhorst vs Iniesta

Bronckhorst has held some great challenges. In the quarterfinals against, he held off Kaka and Dani Alves, and he was impressive against Forlan in the semifinals. but Iniesta is going to outwit him time and again. Netherlands should try to stop Iniesta’s crosses into the box, and van Bronckhorst will play a major role in doing that.

Heitnga-Mathijsen vs Villa:

Villa, surely the man who carried Spain in most of the matches with his skill and goals. Heitinga has had a good tournament, but this will be his most important match to dispel those who claimed the Dutch central defence was the weak link.if Villa starts to link up with the midfield in quick passing moves on the edge of the area, the central defenders will come to pressure and Spain are sure to have spells of pressure in this match and during those, this pair will have to keep a close eye on Villa.

Stekelenburg vs Casillas

Both goalkeepers will have to be at their very best throughout 90 minutes, but the possibility of extra-time and a penalty shoot-out will heap more pressure on the pair. When it comes to penalties, Casillas has the upper hand. He made two saves against Italy in Euro 2008. Stekelenburg has no penalty shoot-out experience but has, so far, enjoyed a fine tournament.

Tactically, these teams have very similar formations, but while Del Bosque’s Spain have relied on possession and three 1-0 wins in the knock-out rounds, Van Marwijk side has more determination and is less flashy but fluid. So this will be Rigidity vs Fluidity.

Uruguay vs Germany Review [2-3]| Octopus gets it right again!

Germany took third place for the fourth time at the FIFA World Cup after beating Uruguay 3-2. Khedira got the winning goal with eight minutes remaining which eventually won the match but Uruguay must be feeling unlucky to see the Floran’s last minute free kick hitting the goal post on the left corner. Muller and Cavani traded first half efforts before Forlan and Jansen did likewise within ten minutes of the second half.

Lineups and positions:

Germany played without Miro Klose and Lukas Podolski were sidelined alongside captain Philipp Lahm. Dennis Aogo, Marcell Jansen, and Cacau took over. Manuel Neuer finally got some much-needed rest as Hans-Joerg Butt stepped in. Germany looked like they hadn’t properly recovered from their footballing lesson by the hands of the Spain. As for Uruguay, they welcomed back captain Lugano from injury together with Fucile and Suarez, both suspended for last match.

First-half

Müller pounced when Fernando Muslera failed to hold a long-range drive by Bastian Schweinsteiger. Thomas Mueller’s fifth goal of the tournament puts him on top of the scorers’ chart because of his three assists. He has also played the least number of minutes due to his suspension against Spain. Schweinsteiger made an contribution to Uruguay’s equaliser 10 minutes later, losing the ball in an aggressive challenge by Diego Perez.

Second-Half

Marcell Jansen was good on the right side as a replacement for Podolski but his passes are not good today. Floran finished a flowing Uruguayan move six minutes into the second half with a sharp shot on the turn from Arevalo’s cross. Then Boateng lifted in a cross from the right for Marcell Jansen to head home with Muslera again at fault. Boateng’s crosses were good today. If Müller was chasing the Golden Boot as leading scorer, Diego Forlan was challenging him :-). Almost everyone at the back for Uruguay was at fault for the decisive goal by Khedira. Ozil swung in a corner from the right that generated some head tennis, ending with Khedira’a header into the far corner.

Interview comments:

Schweinsteiger told – “Luckily we won, and yet the disappointment of the semi-final was still there. All is not rosy.  It has been conducted, we came back, it shows the character of this team. I am very proud to play in this team. We must look to the future, we can still achieve a great deal.”

Floran told – “Obviously it’s something spectacular to be among the top four,” Forlan said afterwards. “If someone would’ve asked us at the beginning, we would’ve liked it. It’s something positive.”

Octopus Paul goes for Spain’s Victory in Finals and Germany for 3rd place

Paul the psychic octopus, which predicted all of Germany’s match results with 100% correct record now gave its verdict on the Final and 3rd&4th place match playoffs.

Paul the psychic octopus has predicted Spain will beat Holland and win World Cup 2010 while Germany shall be triumphant in the third and fourth place play-off.

It took Paul just a couple of minutes to decide Germany will beat Uruguay to take third place in the tournament. [may be feared for its life :-D]

Germany vs Spain Review [0-1] | Germans demand killing of octopus Paul after WC semi-final defeat

Is octopus Paul getting everything correct ? As it predicted Spain had won the match against Germany more convincingly than any other match they played until in the World Cup 2010. But it required a set-piece for Spain to force a breakthrough against opponents who echoed their system.

As expected Spain has preferred Pedro[18] over misfiring Torres for their starting line and made Villa[7] their main and lone striker. Spain played 4-2-3-1 formation. Germany had replaced the suspended Muller with Trochowski[15] and fielded the same 4-2-3-1 but they actually played 4-4-1-1 with Ozil[8] playing behind Klose.[11] [check position diagram below]

At the starting of the match Iniesta[6] started on the right wing and Pedro on the left. But soon they swapped their ends. Iniesta’s movement on the left restricted Lahm’s[16] forward runs. Also with Iniesta moving inside, Spain has now 4 man midfield with Pedro providing the width running the channels on the right. Clearly pedro is the start in the first 45mins with his excellent work and coordination with the midfield.

Observe the different color boxes in the above position diagram.

Yellow – David Villa was very well covered by the center backs of Germany to deny him the space. Look at the highlights for the pass that Pedro played to him and how the German center backs covered him.

Blue – Thats Xavi[8] and Schweinsteiger. Schweinsteiger[7] covered Xavi in the midfield but as Iniesta also playing in center midfield, he always got either Iniesta/Alonso/Busquets to pass the ball.

Red – Important one for Spain. Since germany are playing Ozil behind Klose up on the pitch… Busquets[16] followed him. Even when Ozil made runs forward also he followed him. That restricted Ozil and his passes to Klose. This means, There no linkup play that we have seen from Germany against England and Argentina in this match.

Green – This is for Klose and similar to what German center backs did for Villa. Klose found it tough to deal with them and also he didn’t enjoyed services from the forwards.

Spain Pressing and Control

As everyone is wondering, when Spain substituted Torres in the last 2 matches, the tempo of the game and passing is very good. Its is like watching barcelona playing with out Messi. So finally Spain made the decision to drop Torres and replace him with Pedro. Since pedro plays on the wing, Spain got the width and the chance to stretch the game. You can very clearly see this effect in the first half of the game. Actually spain started with Pedro on the left but then he swapped ends with Iniesta who likes to cut in and join the central midfield. Result… Now its 4v3 in the midfield and Spain had an extra man in the midfield. To these 4 [Xavi/Iniesta/Alonso/Busquets] pedro joined them up front. That means Xavi dropped deep and he passed the ball to the other midfielders. When Pedro received the ball…he was never shy to run and attack on the right.

If you see the passing statisticks, Xavi has exchanged the more passes in Spain team. he had 26+ passes to Iniesta and Pedro. Cleary playing deep is the position Xavi likes and he got it in this game. Also watch the highlights of the spains buildup play when they attacked, Xavi/Iniesta/Pedro formed a triangle. Xavi passes the ball to Iniesta, then it goes to Pedro and back to Xavi … meanwhile Iniesta/Pedro makes forward run and Xavi passes to them. The wonderful passing in the midfield which we all loves to see and enjoy. [of course this missing in earlier games as Xavi is playing high up on the pitch]

Since Iniesta moved to center and joined midfield… now Alonso will guard the left channel and when Xavi and Iniesta are exchanging the passes, Pedro joins them… this will leave Ramos free on right hand side. not to forgot the contibutions of Busquets infront of the defense. He stopped the movement of the Ozil and played the ball to Xavi very often.

Eventually the goal from a missile header form Puyol who ran from deep and headed into the goal. He missed a similar chance before. But as everyone knows… Spain needs just once chance and once they scored, its all over.

May be bit funny…but if you watch the first half again, Spain didn’t played any long ball also they didn’t took any corner. They preferred short corners and short passes. Reason….Spain players are shorter than Germany players :-).

Germany, pressing (s)pain:

Germany are not used to this quality of pressing. They played and thrashed England and Argentina but they were not as composed as Spain’s midfield. Now for the first time German team came against high pressing and fast passing team. They found it difficult but they defended very well. As we saw above, they played 4-4-1-1 and defended with two lines of defense. This is the reason, Spain have to wait a set-piece to score that goal. The credit is to Germany also for the way played against a quality team. Germany found it difficult to live with Spain’s high pressing

for the first 32mins, Germany didn’t have any shot on the goal and at the end of first half, Germany managed 1 shots on the target when Spain had 6or7. Germany were happy to let the Spain pass the ball in their half and then wait for a chance to counter attack. but when Spain scored in the 73rd min, they suddenly realized they need to attack but it was late.

The high tempo passing of the Spain’s midfield didn’t allowed the German holding midfielders to keep the ball. Also Podolski was always tracking Pedro who was seen almost everywhere on he pitch.

Missed Muller:

Muller’s replacement Trochowski was played well but he didn’t provided the linking what Muller had with Klose. Also Germany badly missed the attacks and straight runs at goal on the right from the right side. May this is the reason Germany played 4-4-1-1. Having Muller might have stopped some movement of Iniesta.

Germany seemed to have some bad luck as well. Towards end of the first half, there is a challenge on the edge of the penalty box which seems visible to Referee but didn’t gave any free kick. Almost the same thing happened in the second half also.

The germany coach said –  We found it difficult to live with Spain’s high pressing. We defended quite well today but didn’t have the right ‘transitional speed’ between defense and attack, we also lost the balls quite early. True sir, there is no link between your defense and attack.

Germany and Low can be proud of what they have achieved There’s no reason to feel sad. They played a wonderful tournament. German team is still young and  for all their brilliance, they weren’t quite there yet

This all sets up the Spains final date with Netherlands who also never won the World Cup before. So, who ever wins..we gonna have a new World Champion on Sunday. Netherlands made it to the finals 2 times before in the 70’s but lost both times. With the talents like Robben, Sneijder, Persie in the Oranje and Xavi, Iniesta, Villa in Spain…. that match will be interesting.