Spain is on top of the world after a killer goal four minutes from the end of extra time from Barcelona midfield star Andres Iniesta earned Spain a dramatic 1-0 win in a nail biting World Cup final played at Soccer City last Sunday night.
The Dutch who were on the back foot for much of this final started to run out of luck in the 109th minute when defender John Heitinga was sent off by referee Howard Webb for a foul on Iniesta - his second caution of a fiercely contested 120 minutes.
It was European champions Spain's first World Cup triumph and now they will be able to lose the tag of underachievers.
The final got off to a flying start with Spain taking the initiative and the game to the Netherlands in a lively and entertaining opening 45 minutes.
To their credit both teams opted to play open attacking soccer, much to the delight of the capacity 84 490 crowd in which the Dutch fans far outnumbered their Spanish counterparts.
But English referee Webb had his hands full in the opening 29 minutes where he booked five players, three from Spain and two from the Netherlands as tackles were flying in fast and furious. By the end of the 90 minutes nine players were inside Webb's black book.
Extra time
Spain created a number of chances in the first half of extra time. They had a penalty claim turned down by Webb in the 93rd minute when Spanish players claimed Xavi was fouled by Heitinga.
Then a great piece of goalkeeping from Stekelenburg stopped substitute Cesc Fabregas getting their breakthrough two minutes later.
Giovanni van Bronkhorst blocked Andres Iniesta's shot in the 99th minute as Spain pushed hard for the opening goal. Van Bronkhorst, the veteran Dutch captain did well again in the 101st minute to boot Navas' goal bound shot for another corner.
Holland were reduced to 10 men in the 109th minute when Heitinga was shown the red card for a second bookable offence when he fouled Iniesta who was powering for goal.
Three minutes later Robben who had also been booked was lucky not to see red when he was caught offside and petulantly kicked the ball away.
Then came the killer blow when Iniesta rattled home the only goal of the match in the 116th minute after a defence-splitting pass from Fabregas to Iniesta, who gave Stekelenburg no chance with a clinical finish.
