SEMI FINALS
06/07 Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands
07/07 Germany 0-1 Spain
SPAIN reached their first ever World Cup Final after outclassing Germany in a repeat of their Euro 2008 Final win in Durban.
Carles Puyol scored the only goal with a bullet header from a corner with just 16 minutes left to seal a momentous victory for the Spaniards.
Spain's win guarantees that there will be a first-time champion in the Final on Sunday and either Spain or Netherlands will become just the eighth country to lift the World Cup.
Vincente del Bosque's men came into the Semi Final having scored just six goals in five games as compared to Germany's tournament-high of 13 goals.
But it was the Spanish who started the tie much brighter, dominating possession as expected, while the Germans resorted to playing long balls towards Miroslav Klose who had little support all night.
Barcelona centre-back Puyol had the first big chance of the Semi Final, heading over the bar from no more than eight yards from Andres Iniesta's cross on 14 minutes.
Spain were seeing plenty of the ball but the organised Germans were preventing David Villa, scorer of five of Spain's six goals, from making a nuisance of himself in the box.
This led to the likes of Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso sending their long-rang efforts frustratingly wide.
Germany were finding it even harder to gain any rhythm without the suspended Thomas Mueller in midfield.
It took fully 32 minutes for the Germans to have a shot - another long-range effort from Mueller's replacement Piotr Trochowski which was tipped around the post by Iker Casillas.
But, as the half wore on, Joachim Loew's men began to make more of an impression, denting the Spanish possession statistics.
And on the stroke of half time, Germany finally caught Spain on the break, a tactic that worked so well against the shaky defences of England and Argentina.
Mehut Oezil briefly got away from Ramos, forcing the Spanish full-back to bring him down. Oezil claimed a penalty but got nothing; it should have been a free-kick right on the edge of the box.
Despite a more encouraging finish to the first period for Germany, again it was Spain who started the second half in better shape as Alonso sent another two shots fizzing wide early on.
Then, a goal looked almost certain when Iniesta got around the back of the German defence and squared the ball across the six-yard box but Villa's stretched-out leg just failed to reach it.
Loew deserves credit for recognising that the match was getting away from Germany and he made two positive early substitutions in the second half in an attempt to swing the match in his team's favour.
On 52 minutes, Jerome Boateng was replaced at left full-back by Marcell Jansen, nominally a left midfielder; and ten minutes later, playmaker Toni Kroos was sent on for the disappointing Trochowski.
The changes seemed to be having some effect, though Jansen's cross for Klose left the striker with an awkward volley which he could only spoon over the bar.
Moments later, Kroos was presented with a great chance after Lukas Podolski's cross fell to him unmarked but Casillas produced a smart stop.
Just as it looked as if Germany had got back in the game, Spain went down the other end and won a corner.
Xavi sent over a brilliant ball into the ruck of players in the box and Puyol stole in just ahead of his fellow centre-back Gerard Pique to score Spain's most important goal in their World Cup history.
With just a quarter of an hour to go, Germany realised they were up against it but their long balls and a succession of corners by Kroos were easily dealt with by the towering presence of Puyol and Pique.
Indeed, the best chance of the final bit of the game fell again to the Spanish as, for once, the Germans fell victim to the break.
After another German attack broke down on the edge of the Spain box, the ball was cleared to Pedro with five minutes of the match left.
He found himself with substitute Fernando Torres in a two-on-one situation bearing down on the German goal.
But rather than shoot or, better still, square the pass to Torres to complete the victory, Pedro dwelt on the ball for so long, Arne Friedrich was able to get back and dispossess him.
It felt scripted that Germany would punish such profligacy but a brilliant spell of Spanish possession served to kill of their challenge without further threat on Casillas' goal.
Spain had done it at last and deservedly so - though few would have expected Puyol, and not Villa, would be the history man.
NETHERLANDS reached their first World Cup Final since 1978 after beating Uruguay 3-2 in the Semi Finals in Cape Town.
The Dutch dream of a first ever World Cup win lives on after a stunning first-half strike from Giovanni van Bronckhorst and second-half goals from Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.
Diego Forlan had briefly got Uruguay back in the game with his own blockbuster goal to level the scores at 1-1 and Maxi Pereira set up a frantic finish.
But, despite the five goals, this was at times a disappointing and lacklustre affair between two teams weakened by suspension. Certainly, it was no classic.
The Dutch started brighter and, in the first 10 minutes, Dirk Kuyt should have done better than blaze his shot over the bar after Arjen Robben's cross evaded Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
The pair combined again moments later with Kuyt the provider setting up a header for Robben which Muslera did well to palm away from the goal.
But Netherlands did not need to wait too much longer for the breakthrough.
On 18 minutes, Giovanni van Bronckhorst found a bit of space away from a congested midfield and let fly from 35 yards, arrowing the ball in the top corner.
It was a brilliant goal, a definite contender for goal of the tournament and no less than what the Dutch deserved.
The match then got scrappy with a couple of scuffles - first after Martin Caceres' attempted overhead kick instead hit Demi de Zeeuw in the face; then, after Edinson Cavani made the most of a van Bronckhorst challenge.
Slowly but surely, Uruguay worked their way back into the match but their first real chance produced another cracking goal.
This time, Forlan picked the ball up with little on about 35 yards out and, with a little space in front of him, he swerved a shot over Johnny Heitinga's head and through Maarten Stekelenburg in the Netherlands' goal.
At half time, it was 1-1 and the Dutch, with whom the favourites tag does not always rest easily, could barely believe it.
But, rather than feeling sorry for themselves, Bert van Marwijk's men imposed themselves on the game again at the start of the second period.
Uruguay - playing in their first World Cup Semi Final since 1970 - defended deeply but well, restricting the Dutch chances and using Forlan to relieve the pressure.
They could only hold out for so long and, on 70 minutes, the Dutch took the lead again with a scrappy goal by Wesley Sneijder, his fifth of the tournament as he became joint top scorer with Spain's David Villa.
The Uruguayans were not happy, feeling that Robin van Persie had interfered with play in an offside position by stepping over Sneijder's shot - but there was no doubting the validity of the third just three minutes later.
Robben effectively won the tie with a brilliant header which went in-off the post after he and Kuyt combined again, the Liverpool man having swung in the cross.
Uruguay looked spent and, when Forlan was withdrawn with six minutes left, it seemed as if the match was ambling its way to full time with only the Dutch likely to score another.
But the South Americans are nothing if a bunch of battlers and Maxi Pereira set up a frantic finish by curling a shot from a short corner past a ruck of players and Stekelenburg into the net.
As the stoppage time ticked past the alloted three minutes of injury time, Uruguay desperately tried to get another to produce possibly the greatest ever World Cup comeback but their play was not measured and it wasn't to be.
The Netherlands, runners-up in 1974 and 1978, are back in football's showpiece event.
No comments:
Post a Comment