ARRIBA ESPAÑA!!!

So Paul the Octopus was right once again! In dramatic fashion, Spain won the World Cup Final in the 26th minute of extra time with a great goal from Andres Iniesta. The game started with a very slow first half, during which the flow of the match was interrupted by many fouls and some sloppy passing by both sides, which appeared to have a hard time controlling their nerves. The game saw a great 2nd half with both sides missing scoring opportunities, including two breakouts by Dutch forward Robben which Iker Casillas amazingly saved for Spain. Though the game could have easily gone either way, in the end it appears the best team did win. Spain had greater control of the ball and sought the goal more than the Dutch. The game was not with it's share of bad referee calls(one of the Halmarks of this World Cup), including what should have a been a red card early in the game for Nigel de Jong who kicked a Spanish player on the chest and was inexplicably given just a yellow card rather than the red. It was also clear that in the Robben's second breakout for goal he was illegally held by Puyol, who should have been red carded and Netherlands awarded a free kick outside the area. Lastly, both the referee and the linesman amazingly missed a deflection by the Spanish defense off a free kick by the Netherlands which should have been called a corner kick. In a wild twist of fate for Spain, the referee called for a goal kick instead and this play resulted in the Spanish winning goal only a few seconds later.

So were you happy with the World Cup Final and the outcome? Few would disagree that Spain played better and deserved to win, but would the result have been the same if it weren't for the referee's mistakes?