Monday, July 12, 2010

Andrés Iniesta scores, Cesc Fabregas thinks it is a 'dream come true', and Spain to earn €23.7m

Was Andrés Iniesta's goal an offside? I sincerely don't think so!

Simply because; Torres' incisive long-pass was intercepted by Van der Vaart, who failed to deal properly with the spilt pass, Iniesta was clearly in an offside position at that particular time, but he cleverly drifted away from the ball, and used his experience to drop into the danger zone unmarked, just in time for Fabregas, to pick him out with another of his trademark passes, and the end product of that partnership is now officially kept in their trophy cabinet. I've seen some pretty terrible decisions at the just concluded Mundial, but this was undoubtedly a good call from the Yorkshire-born referee, and the linesman who had a clear view of the proceedings must be commended for judging wisely.

The Netherlands, lost yesterday, for the third time in the Finals of the FIFA World Cup. The equation was almost balanced, but Herbert Spencer's "survival of the fittest theory" came to the fore as both sides squandered a good number of open chances in their bid to grab the jugular.

The Gunners were ably represented on both sides, and as expected our loyalty was bound to be divided. Robin Van Persie's Oranje had a few chances, but Robben owes the Arsenal man an explanation for not punishing Barca/Madrid's laxity at the back. Spain proved too strong for the Dutch, although the final scoreline didn't reflect the trouble they went through, the Spaniards won noticeably because, they played more like an organised unit than their European counterparts - defensively speaking, Spain were horrible, but almost clinical whenever they launched a blistz into the Oranje half.

Sergeant Webb, had a field day, issuing out random yellow cards at the slightest of provocation in a bid to curb the rising level of foul-play. Our very own Webb, now has an impressive personal record of nine yellows and one red card in a FIFA organised Championship Final, way to go chap!

84 minutes of inaction encapsulated in glaring misses passed, and Del Bosque, was seemingly forced to swallow his pride sending our match-rusty skipper to join the fray, Cesc' impact was immediately felt, and for the first time in over half an hour the Spain manager could afford to heave a sigh of relief.

Cesc Fabregas got involved straight away, and helped Iniesta (who is currently tapping him up, as I write this post) score the only goal with a paltry four minutes of actual play-time left on the clock of the second period of extra-time, after both teams failed to break the deadlock in regular time.

Below is an excerpt of the Arsenal captain's words on FIFA.com:

This is a great moment for Spain and Spanish football, winning the Championship is not an ordinary event.

Today, I had an opportunity to step into the field, and I gave it my all, it is the best thing that could happen to the career of any player. We are World Champions. Our dream is now a reality, even though it seems like a fairy tale. This is the best thing that can happen to me.

And finally, lets move over to the World Cup top-earners. Highly respected France Newspaper L'equipe, understands that the Spanish Football Federation is set to rake into their coffers a whooping sum of €23.7m from the organisers (FIFA) of the mundial, for winning the Championship. While, runners up Netherlands, are set to pocket an equally impressive sum of €19m for their collective effort in South Africa.

Germany and Uruguay, who both duelled for an inconsolable third place finish, are set to be consoled by FIFA with a payment of €16m each, and the tournament's quarter finalists comprising of; Ghana, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil won't go home empty-handed either. They've successfully generated €14.2m for their respective FA's.