Liston Daily

After watching 63 hard matches, we now come to the last match for FIFA World Cup 2010, the final match, which is between Netherlands and Spain. Who will bring home the World Cup? Many favor Spain, even Paul the octopus predicted that Spain will be World Cup 2010 champion, but being the favorite does not ensure a win. Netherlands may not be the favorite of many and they may be not be very good at defense (they have allowed five goals to get past their guard in the last five games they played) but they sure can carry good attacks. Spain on the other hand is very good at defending ther goal, but they are not really good at attack. The two teams are both first timers at World Cup finals. The two teams have met many time in the past:

Played 8: Holland 4 wins, Draws 1, Spain 3 wins

1957: (Madrid, Friendly): Spain 5 Holland 1
1973: (Amsterdam, Friendly): Holland 3 Spain 2
1980: (Vigo, Friendly): Spain 1 Holland 0
1983: (Seville, ECQ): Spain 1 Holland 0
1983: (Rotterdam, ECQ): Holland 2 Spain 1
1987: (Barcelona, Friendly): Spain 1 Holland 1
2000: (Sevilla, Friendly): Spain 1 Holland 2
2001: (Rotterdam, Friendly): Holland 1 Spain 0

And here are some interesting facts about the two teams:

Holland have won their last 14 games in the World Cup qualifiers and finals, an all-time record.

This will be Netherlands third appearance in a World Cup final, but it would be the first time that they aren’t facing the host nation in the final match. This will be the first time Spain have made it to the final game of the tournament.

David Villa has scored six of Spain’s last eight goals at World Cup finals. And he is on 43 goals, just one goal away from joining Raul as Spain’s top scorer of all time.

If Spain win the World Cup they will become the first team ever to be World champions after losing their opening game.

West Germany (1982) and Argentina (1990) both reached the World Cup final after losing the opening match, but lost their respective finals