Iniesta wins the World Cup (0-1)
Jesús Carrillo
FC Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta scored the only goal as Spain beat the Netherlands to win the World Cup in South Africa on Sunday evening.
The Blaugrana were dominant for La Selección with no less than eight players in Vicente del Bosque’s squad and seven of those starting the encounter with the Dutch in Johannesburg. Playing in the style of Barça the Spanish included Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Pedro and David Villa in the team and their technique and fluency drove the team to victory. The goalscoring was also dominated by the Catalan outfit as they netted all of Spain’s goals as Villa scored five, Iniesta two and Puyol one.
Bright start
Del Bosque’s team set out to win the final from the start and began brightly as the Dutch took their time finding their feet. Holland, meanwhile, were intent on preventing their opponents from implementing their quick passing game and attempted to stamp it out, almost literally.
Robin van Persie, Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel all received bookings and the Oranje could arguably have been down to ten men, but for the leniency of referee Howard Webb.
Breaking clear
Slowly but surely the Dutch began to play football and that also allowed Spain to also try and find a way through as both sides were keen to prevent the other from breaking clear and scoring the opener. The second half did not see a great change in the way the game flowed as fouls broke up the play and there was not as much fluency from either side. More yellow cards were the order of the day for the Dutch too as Webb had to dip into his pocket yet again.
Robben denied
Arjen Robben then had the best chance of the game until then as he raced clear just after the hour mark but was foiled by his former Real Madrid team-mate Iker Casillas in the Spanish goal.
Ramos could have given la Selección the lead when he met a corner, but he was unable to repeat Puyol’s semi-final effort as he headed over. Robben had a second good chance as he took on Puyol and Catalan Joan Capdevila once more, but again he was unable to beat Casillas.
Former Blaugrana youth starlet Cesc Fàbregas then entered the fray when he replaced Xabi Alonso in the Spain midfield and the Arenys del Mar playmaker quickly found his touch.
Extra time
With no goals in the opening 90 minutes the game went into extra time and Spain began to take advantage of some tiredness on both teams. Fàbregas could have been the first beneficiary when he found himself with only the Maarten Stekelenburg to beat but the keeper made a good save.
Iniesta was next to push forward, but he was blocked out in the area before Jesús Navas saw a drive deflected into the side netting. Spain were dominating possession, but the Dutch looked capable of holding on for penalties or maybe even grabbing a late winner.
Torres for Villa
That all changed with ten minutes remaining when Holland were reduced to ten men as Iniesta was pulled back by Joris Mathijsen and the defender was shown a second yellow card and then a red. Villa was denied the chance of becoming the top scorer in the competition when he was replaced by Torres, but he will not be concerned as with 116 minutes on the clock Iniesta scored the winner. Fàbregas found the Barça playmaker on the right of the area and he took one touch before driving the ball across the keeper and into the net to spark wild scenes of celebration.
Nguồn http://www.fcbarcelona.com
Six of the Barca players in Vicente del Bosque’s title winning team were regulars throughout the tournament-Puyol, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Villa, whilst Pedro made his mark starting in both the semi final and final. Victor Valdes was the only Spanish player from Barca who didn’t get a game. The Spanish players join the Brazilians Romário and Rivaldo in the list of World Cup winners who were playing for the club when they lifted the title. 
A lot was expected of both Argentina and Brazil, but both sides went out in the quarter finals, as they did in 2006, despite good performances from Messi and Alves. 
For his part, Dani Alves played in four of Brazil’s five games, but not in his preferred full back role, as Dunga preferred to use him as a wide midfielder. Alves started the last three games for Brazil, including the quarter final defeat to Holland. 
Éric Abidal and Thierry Henry didn’t have a happy tournament as the French team imploded and crashed out in the group stage. Henry failed to start a single game and Abidal started the first two playing at centre half. The Ivory Coast, with Toure Yaya still a Barca player, also failed to get through to the last 16, coming third in a tough group behind Brazil and Portugal. 
Summer signing David Villa, who ended the competition as leading scorer alongside Muller, Sneijder and Forlán on five goals, scored the winners in the last sixteen against Portugal and the quarter finals against Paraguay, whilst also bagging a couple in the group games against Honduras and Chile to give the Nou Camp fans a taste of what they can expect next season. 
Spain were hardly prolific in front of goal and in every game of the tournament they reached half time with the score at 0-0. In the semis against Germany, despite dominating possession and playing some great football, the team needed a Puyol goal from a corner - identical to the one scored in the 2-6 win at the Bernabeu –to seal their place in the Final. 
That’s not Andres’ first vital strike of course and his reaction on Sunday recalled the fantastic goal he scored in the 2009 Champions League semi final at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea to take Guardiola’s team through to the final that they went on to win against Manchester United. 
The final saw Iniesta back to his very best and the goal was a just reward after a season in which injuries restricted his appearances for Barca, as well as denying him the chance of helping the team lift the Spanish and European Super Cups in August as he struggled to overcome the injury he picked up after insisting on playing in the Champions League Final, despite not being 100% fit. 
Iniesta played in just 29 league games last season, as well as 9 in Europe and 3 in the Spanish Cup. His goal against Holland, his second of the World Cup, was only his third of the season after scoring just once for Barca, in the 4-0 win against Racing in week 23 of the League. 
As well as the injuries, Iniesta also suffered a terrible blow at the start of the season with the tragic death of his close friend, the Espanyol player Dani Jarque. It was only fitting that after his goal on Sunday he ripped off his shirt to reveal a message underneath –“Dani Jargue – you’ll always be with us”.