CONTEST ENTRY BY @abu78: UNFORGETTABLE WORLD CUP MATCH - NETHERLANDS VERSUS SPAIN

I am very glad to write my entry post for this great contest, but before I commence I would like to say a very big thank you @njaywan for bringing out such a wonderful contest in this community.

BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT FIFA WORLD CUP

This is an international football competition featured by senior men’s national teams of the members of the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association). It was inaugurated in 1930 and since then it has been held to date with the exception of the years 1942 and 1946, where there was the Second World War.

France national team is currently the champion’s holders of the cup, which they won in the year 2018 in Russia.
There are two stages involved, that is the qualification stage and the tournament stage. During the qualification stage, all national teams compete to get into the next stage which is the tournament stage and in this stage, only 32 teams are involved.

So far, 21 World Cup tournaments have been played and it has been won by only eight national teams so far. The teams include Germany four titles, Italy four titles, Argentina 2 titles, France 2 titles, Uruguay 2 titles (first team to win the inauguration title), England and Spain one title each and lastly Brazil to have had the most titles, i.e. 8 World Cup Titles.

Frankly, to say if I am asked of an unforgettable world cup match, I would say all the matches in all competitions in the previous years are unforgettable but to select one of them, I would like to talk about the world cup final match played between Netherlands and Spain, which was played on 11th July 2010.

FIFA World Cup 2010 was the 19th FIFA World Cup held, which was hosted by South Africa. This tournament took place between 11th June and 11th July 2010. The 32 teams which qualified for the 2010 world cup tournament played a worldwide qualification tournament that started in August 2007.

THE MATCH PREVIEW (NETHERLANDS VERSUS SPAIN)

This match took place in Soccer City, Jo’burg Stadium at exactly 7:30 pm on dot. This was the final match of the tournament and both teams were eager to win the title for the first time in history.

NETHERLAND’S COACH	SPAIN’S COACH
Bert Van Marwijk	Del Bosque

LINE UPS

NETHERLANDS	SPAIN
Stekelenburg	Casillas
Van Der Wiel	Sergio Ramos
Heitinga	Pique
Mathijsen	Puyol
Van Bronckhorst	Capdevila
Van Bommel	Busquets
De Jong	Alonso
Sneijder	Xavi
Robben	Iniesta
Kuyt	Pedrp
Van Persie	Villa

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Players lined up on the Pitch

SUBSTITUTIONS

NETHERLANDS	SPAIN
Vorm	Valdes
Boulahrouz	Albiol
Ooijer	Marchena
De Zeeuw	Torres
Braafheid	Faregas
Elia	Mata
Schaars	Arbeola
Babel	Llorente
Afellay	Javi Martinez
Huntelaar	Silva
Van der Vaart	Jesus Navas
Boschker	Reina

It was very astonishing to people when they saw that Fernando Torres wasn’t among the first eleven but rather a substitute.
The referee that officiated the match was Howard Webb who is from Britains’s England.

The Netherlands was in their usual orange kit and Spain was in their blue kit.

FIRST HALF-TIME UNDERWAY

The Netherlands was the first to set the ball rolling when the whistle was blown to commence. In about 2 minutes played in the game, a foul was committed against Pedro’s shin by Van Persie, whereby the referee gave the first warning.

The match was on the side of Spain until, in the 5th minutes of the match, they had a very nice first chance where Sergio Ramos gave a powerful header towards the bottom left of the post from a free-kick chance. But unfortunately, Stekelenburg got down and gave a punch away left the post.

Spain continues to pressure the Netherlands as time still continues until Villa misses a long ball chance inside the left corner. Spain continues to play lovely ball in the 11 minutes where Villa and Busquets changed the play and Sergio Ramos took possession and speeds over Kuyt but was stolen by Heitinga of the Netherlands.

Spain missed a big chance again in the 12th minutes of the match where Villa lunched a volley into the side net from a corner kick. The stadium was all noisy as Spain is putting more pressure on the Netherlands in the first 15 minutes of the game.

Van Persie had the first yellow card of the game when he gave a late and high tackle against Capdevila in the first 15 minutes and also Puyol getting the Second Yellow card of the game from a bad tackle on Robben’s right foot and a free-kick was given in favor of Netherlands just 25 yards from the post.

Sneijder hits a straight shot at Casillas but was too easy for him. The Netherlands tried to also take over possession now. In 21 minutes played, Robben had a chance to dribble past Alonso and gets and Capdevila but unfortunately, Alonso quickly slides the ball off to corner kick.

There were consecutive yellow cards given in the 22, 24, and 28 minutes of the match. The third incident was a very dangerous one-off course where De Jong’s studs get into Alonso’s chest.
Spain took over possession again around the 30th minute thereabout. A very big chance was missed by Mathijsen in the 10 yards box.

There was more and more pressure from the Netherlands onto Spain in the last minute of the first half. The first half then ended draw (0-0).

SECOND HALF-TIME UNDERWAY

The second half has commenced with Spain possessing the ball within the first 3 minutes of the game. The match gets tougher and tougher as time elapses but there is no goal in the game. A free was won by Spain in the 55th minute, where Xavi curled the ball towards the right corner but unfortunately, it was too easy for Stekelenburg to handle.

The Netherlands started to take over possession within the 58th minutes. A substitution for Spain in the 60th minute where Pedro goes off for Nevas to come on. A great chance was missed by Robben in the 62nd minute where a lovely through pass was set for him by Sneijder where his kick was blocked over by Casillas and a corner was awarded to the Netherlands.

Over 70 minutes played, a second big chance was missed by the Spanish in a very good position around the 6 yards box of the Netherlands. This chance was a very terrible one of course and a great save from Stekelenburg to keep the score at 0:0. 7 minutes played after the 70th minute, another great chance missed by Ramos from a free header where he headed the ball over the bar. I think that should have been the first goal of the game.

The match was very hot within 80th to 90th minutes of the game but there were no changes in the score. After full 90 minutes played, additional 3 minutes were added and there was no goal till the time elapsed.

FIRST HALF OF EXTRA TIME

The match had no winner after full 90 minutes played, so the winner can be decided by either extra time or penalty shootouts. The Extra time began after some small rest. Spain was playing really nice game within the first 5 minutes of the game and had a big chance missed from Iniesta, but another great save from the Dutch’s keeper.

There was too much pressure on the Dutch players as a result of the high attacking game from Spain. A substitution was done by the Netherlands, where De Jong was substituted by Van de Vaart. Spain continues to keep on attacking until Webb whistles for half-time of the Extra time. Still, the score remains 0:0.

SECOND HALF OF EXTRA TIME

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Red Card Incident

The match continues in the second half of the extra time. The match was fully possessed by Spain in the second extra and after 19 minutes of the extra time played Heitinga was given a red card for poor attacking against Iniesta and a free kick for awarded.

The game remains 0:0 after 25 minutes played of the extra time leaving 5 minutes to decide the winner of the game. In the 116th minutes of the game, a big chance was created by Spain, where Fabregas gave a nice through pass towards Iniesta and he slightly gives it touch into the left bottom corner of the post. There it was, a nice and wonderful goal scored for Spain.

Massive Joy After Scoring Last-minute goal
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It was the winning goal of the match. Additional two minutes added after the extra time elapsed and no goal for the Dutch and that bring us to the end of the match and the end of the 2010 World Cup Tournaments.
The Netherlands have been beaten thrice in the World Cup finals. That was their first World Cup title won.

The Champions
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MATCH STATISTICS

NETHERLANDS	STATS	SPAIN
0	Goals	1
4	Shots on Target	4
8	Shots off Target	13
2	Blocked Shots	4
6	Corners	8
28	Fouls	19
6	Offsides	7
7	Yellow Cards	6
1	Red Cards	0
69%	Passing Success	84.2%
31	Tackles	28
67.7%	Tackles Success	89.3 %
37.1%	Possession	62.9
47.9%	Territorial Advantage	52.1%

Highlight of the game

This match is really unforgettable and I know I am not the only person that would recall how difficult the game was and the joy from the match.
Thanks to all for reading my post.