My 2010 World Cup Diary : My Thoughts about South Africa 2010 on Cup Final Day

Today is World Cup Final day, the final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be play at Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa. It will feature the Orange army of Holland, the country that invented Total Football back in the 1970s against the Red army of Spain, the most recent holder of the European football crown.

The widely percieved divine Octopus Paul , who has correctly predicted results of Germany matches, made its final prediction of this year tournament that it will be Spaniards that will be crowned World Champions in the football world tonight. From a statistical point of view, it would take a miracle for Holland to win going against the divine prediction of the octopus.

On the football pundits side, Singapore Pool is offering the following odds which makes Spain the favourite to lift the World Cup @ odds of 1.95. A Dutch victory is @ 3.15.

I have not place any bets for this World Cup Final as all my winnings has been exhausted by AVA. In addition, I've not won any bets on Spain matches so far. So its good that I learn to be contented with what I have already won.

On the football world, football experts or professionals like Johan Cryuff, himself , a Dutchman has say that it is Spain's title to lose. My Dutch friend called him a traitor. Maybe Mr Cryuff, who lives in Spain these days, is using psychological tactics to make Holland looks like underdog. Actually, there is no need to do that as the football world & the football pundits are already listing Holland as the underdog. Many has predicted Spain will dominate possession by keeping the ball with their passing. Once again, the team Barcelona has been taken reference with. My Dutch fan friend sms me that 7 out of 11 Spain players are from Barcelona. So what? Football is play on the football field with 11 men vs 11men. Don't have to think or pay respect to this Barcelona myth. Ok, it is not a myth but Barcelona is not invincible. They didn't make it to the European cup final.

In my home country Singapore, I can see many red shirt Spanish dressing fans this week. Read from papers that apart from England, Spain is the most popular team in Singapore for this world cup. The Dutch only has 2% of the Singapore fans. I think this is understated by the media. I know of a number of fans or neutral who prefer Holland.

So which side do I support? Easy question. If I were Harry Redknapp, there's not a single player that I would sign from the Spanish team for my beloved Spurs. While on the Dutch side, only Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben interests me. Honestly, both teams aren't my cup of tea for this World Cup final. I think they're way too boring, with exception to Brazil vs Holland game in the quarter-final.

If I can't really find many players that I like in the teams now, I have to look back to the past. This is where the Dutch has my heart. Players like the Milan trio of Marco Van Basten, Ruud Guillit, Frank Rijkaard, Philip Cocu, Dennis Bergkamp,Edgar Davids etc excites me when they play football. On the Spaniard side, there are two players over the past 20 years that I have interest. First is Fernando Hierro, their former captain and Nayim, once played for my beloved Spurs and make us happy by scoring in the last minute of Cup Winner Cup Final against the Gooners way back in 1995. That is victory for Real Zaragoza but make every Tottenham Hotspur fan super proud. Nayim from the half way line is the song that they use to sing.

Dutch or Spanish players? In the past and right now, I always prefer Dutch. I'm not the type that has the impression that the Spanish are the king of passing football. I think they're king of non-threatening passing football. A pretty boys team. "Ho Kua Boh Ho Jar" sums up my opinion of them. Before the 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup Final get underway, I declare my support for Holland just for one night. It is a very important night. A night where the world will witness a New World Champion in the game of football. I hope it will be Oranje.

My 2010 World Cup Diary : The Exciting Semi-Final stage

Sometimes when you expect something exciting to happen, the exact opposite pop up. This was what happen tonight. I often find World Cup semi-final matches to be more exciting than the World Cup final itself. That didn't happen today between Germany and Spain.

Prior to this semi-final, Germany was scoring lots of goals against Argentina & England. I never find German football to be attractive, just very well-organized and tactically sound with emphasis on teamwork. I like to call them efficient football. On Spaniard side, they like to pass the ball , often too much for my liking & without really threatening. I prefer football play at a quicker pace. Still, when these two are schedule to meet in the all important semi-final today, I was expecting a very good game of football between the two sides who are evenly matched. I predicted a draw for the game and expect it to go into extra-time.

As the game progress, it really looks like my prediction is going to be spot-on because both teams play a very tight game with very few openings. It was boredom at its best in the 1st half. The Spainards dominated possession without really threatening. Germany was hardworking as before with Bastian pulling the strings in midfield and nullifying any threat that the Spainards may pose. A stalemate looks on the card. It never came and Bastian in fact, was the German player that conceded the important corner kick of the game in the 70++ mins. When the corner was swing in, Spanish captain Puyol, one of the slowest defender in this world cup, came in and headed Spain into the lead. It was 1-0 Spain and around 15 more mins to go. The Germans didn't panic and continue to gradually up their pace in discrete steps like programming in order to achieve their equaliser goal. They didn't hit the big match tempo to create any excitement. By doing this, they weren't really exposed like what Argentina and England have done when going behind by a goal. Pedro do find a good chance towards the end to score a 2nd goal for Spain but his selfishness or fancy football mind got the better of him and the German defender cleared the danger. Finally, the whistle blown and my pain of watching a boring semi-final was over. Spain has made history by reaching the World Cup final for the very first time after playing one of the most dull semi-final. The German players was expressionless by the 1-0 defeat, consecutive defeat at the hands of Spain in a major tournament. The famous German Octopus Paul is spot-on again with his prediction of a Spain win over his country.

Spain will meet the Netherlands in this coming Sunday World Cup final. Yesterday, the Dutch has beaten Uruguay in a 3-2 victory. I watch the game by juggling between pockets of sleep and watching the TV. Only caught 2 of the 5 goals, which was the 2nd & 3rd goal of Holland scored by Wesley Sneijder (lucky defected shot) and Arjen Robben header. Earlier, fellow 1975 rabbit Giovanni Van Bronckhorst has given Holland the lead which Uruguay equalised through hotshot Diego Forlan. After holland lead 3-1, I dozed off again and miss the injury time Uruguay goal. I suppose this semi-final match was much interesting than the Spain vs Germany match.

So this is it. The stage is set for a new World Cup holder this Sunday. Will it be the boring boring Dutch or the looks good but not as good Spainards? Holland vs Spain in South Africa FIFA 2010 World Cup Final. Hope they do some good for the game of football by playing exciting football this weekend. Time to get to work. QBR con-call in 45 minutes time.