FIFA World Cup Final 2010; Spain V Netherlands – Player Ratings for Netherlands
Last night Spain was crowned the World Champion of the FIFA World Cup 2010 which is a pulsating encounter that can by no means be called a classic. It was a clash of two similar footballing ethos, a clash of two sides that play the beautiful game even more beautifully but the Dutch employed some tactics that betrayed their footballing principles and were more intent on spoiling their opponent’s game rather than playing and creating their own opportunities and they were successful in that too but Spain passed them to death and eventually emerged as the deserved winners.
Here are the Player ratings for the Runners up from a bruising encounter at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
Maarten Stekelenburg – 8
The ajax goal keeping sensation shook off a hip injury to take his position between the posts and enjoyed his best outing of the tournament. He made a fantastic save to keep a Sergio Ramos header out early in the game and also denied Cesc Fabregas a certain goal in the dying moments of the game. He also got his hand to the Iniesta strike that settled the match but the shot was too powerful for him to keep out.
Gregory van der Wiel – 6
Van der Wiel has been one star right back in this tournament but last night he looked better in the attacking third rather than when he was defending. He had luck on his side at times when he failed to clear his lines and needed Van Bommel’s help when his opponent number Capdevila decided to venture forward.
John Heitinga 6
John went down in history as the only fifth player of the World Cup final to be sent off. His first booking came for a late lunge on David Villa while he received his second yellow for bringing down Andre Iniesta in extra time. He was his team’s saviour early in the match when after making a hash of Navas’s low cross into the box he recovered in time to stick a foot out to block out a David Villa effort that had goal written all over it.
Joris Mathijsen 6
Was clumsy at times but made some vital interception in the game to interrupt Spain’s superior passing. He got a few chances in the game to put his side ahead but lacked quality.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst 7
Despite ending on the losing side the Dutch skipper can be proud of his performance in his last game for his country after deciding to pull down a curtain on a glittering career. There have always been question marks over his defending but last night he stood his ground firm and repelled everything that was thrown at him.
Mark van Bommel 8
Perhaps he was lucky to be on the pitch at the end of the game but that should not take away the shine from an industrious performance in the centre of the pitch where he put a spanner in the works of pass masters like Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta. His typically no nonsense defending kept the Dutch in the game for as long as they did and while he was never going to be the most popular man on the pitch last night he by means that may be fair or foul, did his job wonderfully well.
Nigel de Jong 7
While both the holding midfielders were not the most disciplined on the pitch De Jong was the worse of the two and was definitely lucky to be on the pitch when his accidental karate kick had Xabi Alonso flat on the pitch but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Wesley Sneijder 8
Has been a class act throughout this tournament and also narrowly missed out on the golden ball award he was the kingpin of the Dutch attack last night and showed his class when he released Robben with a defence tearing pass that Robben unimaginable fluffed. He was instrumental in attack and disciple in defence and it was his superbly timed tackle that denied Iniesta a shot on goal late in the game.
Dirk Kuyt 6
His work rate was phenomenal as always for as long as he was on the pitch but could not contribute to the game as much as he was expected to as he had to deal with the menacing forward runs of Sergio Ramos.
Arjen Robben 7
Will surely be haunted for the rest of his life by his failure of converting a sublime Sneijder pass when all he had to do was to latch on the ball and slot it past Casillas, after successfully completing the first task he failed miserably with the second. Although the effort would rather go down as a brilliant save by the Spanish goalie rather than a bad miss on his part but it could have been the deciding goal in the match. He also had another chance to put the game to bed but he defied his reputation of a diver when he stayed on his feet after running clear of Pique and Puyol and while Puyol did all he could to bring the forward down he stayed on his feet but could not control the ball at the crucial moment as Casillas collected with ease.
Robin van Persie 5
RVP was like as he had been throughout the competition, a bitter disappointment. Although he was given a difficult role of the lone striker but he failed impose himself on the game. He only had scraps to feed on for almost the entirety of the game but his most telling contribution to the game was when he made some clattering tackles on Busquets and Capdevilla and was also the first of the 14 players to go down in the references books.
Subs:
Eljero Elia 5
Came on for Dirk Kuyt on 70 minutes but failed to live up to his reputation, speed and skill.
Rafael van der Vaart 5
Came on for Nigel De Jong and did not have the same impact on the game after he was asked to play the role of a defensive midfielder rather than his natural attacking role. He was also the one that played Iniesta onside for Spain’s winner.
Edson Braafeat 6
Came in for a tired Van Bronckorst deep into extra-time and was out of his position for Iniesta’s goal but so was the entire Dutch defence after Heitinga’s red card.
Tags: