Holland have been one of the most exciting teams in Europe for years now, but due to the infighting in the team they have never been able to reach the lofty heights of success on the world stage.
On the other side of the equation were the "Golden Generation" of Spanish footballers who in the past 2-3 years had squashed every side in their path to the Euro-2008 championship.
The World Cup finals was as enthralling as any I have seen till date. It was more exciting since there were only 2 to 3 Dutch supporters in school against an army of Spanish renegades.
While viewing the finals in our small SSR t.v room, it seems like I was in a war zone, with the enemy waiting to slaughter me. Every action on the tele was accompanied by oohs and aahs from all around.
The game in itself was highly entertaining, with each team showcasing their strengths on the field. The Dutch midfield was resilient and organized and contained the Spanish mid field much better than the Germans.
The first half was punctuated with couple of easy scoring chances which were missed by Sergio Ramos, with 2 easy header.
The Dutch resorted to touch tackling and fouls in order to slow down the Spanish armada. They were successful to a large extend but had to offset the success with having more than half their team booked by the end of the 90 mins.
Robben and Sneider were the star performers for the Dutch in attack and the defence was well handled by Heintinga and Van De Weir.
The Spanish armada rolled as then had all through the tournament with Villa getting close to score on more than one occasion. the mid filed duo of Iniesta and Xavi kept creating sublime football in the middle of the park but the Dutch defence was at their their supreme best.
The 3 defining moments in the match for me were
1.] When Robben missed a simple chance to score in the 2nd half and his shot was well saved by Casillas. The ball by Sneider from mid field deserved a goal and Robben will be kicking himself for the rest of his life for the poor effort in front of goal.
2.] The save from Stekelenburg to keep out a Fabregas shot in the 2nd half of extra time was again a piece of brilliant keeping.
3.] The defining moment of the match was the red card to Dutch defender John Heitinga in the middle of the 2nd half of extra time which reduced Holland to 10 men.
Spain got the breathing place they wanted and as it seemed that the match would be heading for a repeat of World cup-2006 with the climax ending with penalties, in comes Iniesta with a goal in the 117th min of extra time. The man with the defining and all important cross being none other than "Fernando Torres" who till then had been a peripheral figure in the Spanish side in this WC.
It was a heart break to see Iniesta to score a goal so late in the game and the mad rush in the t.v room didn't help at all as all the Spanish supporters got together to hug each other as well as show their apathy towards the handful of Dutch supporters who were stunned to silence.
It was sheer joy to watch the final of the world cup with so many people and replicated the experience I had in 2006. However at that time I knew only a handful of the people around whereas this time, everyone present was known.
I still cannot believe that the Dutch lost the game and I can just imagine if I was feeling so bad after the game, how would the Dutch nations as well as the Dutch players feeling themselves.
I have been in the same situation myself when I was in engineering and lost the semis twice on penalties, but then I know that the experience just made me stronger. I guess the same goes with the Dutch squad.
I was the only one left in the T.V room after the final whistle and the presentation were done and I saw the last few minutes of the most magnificent world cup to date all on my own. The disappointment of defeat was balanced by a sumptuous breakfast at McDonald at 6 am in the morning and though I had class at 9.30 am, I chose to bury myself in the comfort of my bed.
Well for all my Spanish supporter friends...Congratulations...
You put your money on the right team...
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