World Cup Final Preview

(warning: may actually contain factual information)

The road so far

· Spain: Group stages; Loss 0-1 VS Switzerland, Win 2-0 VS Honduras, Win 2-1 VS Chile (finished top of group)

Round of 16; Win 1-0 VS Portugal

Quarter Final; Win 1-0 VS Honduras

Semi Final; Win 1-0 VS Germany

Analysis: Not an overly strong batch of opponents (apart from Germany & maybe Portugal), are probably the bigger wasters of good opportunities in this world cup yet somehow are in the final, apart from the 1st game they have never had to play from behind, no-one has really put that much pressure on their midfield through which everything revolves.

· The Netherlands: Group stages; Win 2-0 VS Denmark, Win 1-0 VS Japan, Win 2-1 VS Cameroon (finished top of group)

Round of 16; Win 2-1 VS Slovakia

Quarter Final; Win 2-1 VS Brazil

Semi Final; Win 3-2 VS Uruguay

Analysis: Again not the strongest tests, apart from Brazil, although the Brazilian implosion was mostly self-inflicted it seems. Has won every game, seemingly doing it with ease at times, very consistent squad of over-achievers.

Why they will win

· Spain:

1. Possess the best passing game of any team at this world cup

2. Greatest amount of individual stars

3. They have to eventually put it all together eventually and score a heap of goals

4. Won’t be overawed be occasion having won European championships 2 years ago and having players who have played in big European Cup competitions for their club sides.

· The Netherlands:

1. Play a style that will disrupt the Spanish passing game

2. Can score from anywhere (as seen against Uruguay)

3. Have a jersey that is can not be looked at for a long time as may cause blindness

4. Have ability to be able to play better as an underdog

Why they will lose

· Spain:

1. Can sometimes play very selfishly

2. May have already played their final against Germany

3. Waste too many goal scoring opportunities, this has to come back and bite them eventually

4. Little known fact; the Spanish are very patriotic about their individual regions (think NSW vs Vic vs Qld ´ 1000) but not so much about actual national teams, the players know this as well, if an individual makes a mistake that leads to Spain losing the game they will be not only letting the country down but also their region leading to scorn from the rest of the population.

· The Netherlands:

1. The shadow of history; the legendary Dutch teams of the 70’s made the final twice but didn’t win either, there may be believe that they are not good enough to win.

2. In big games great players stand up & the Dutch may not have enough quality players on the pitch to be able to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

3. Until making the final there has been very little focus on them, even when beating Brazil the post-match was all about the self-implosion of the South Americans, this may come to prove a significant factor now the whole world is watching them.

4. Will have to score early, if the Spanish are able to dominate possession and field position early, the Dutch may start to get frustrated and get away from their game plan.

This may mean nothing but…

· If Spain win, New Zealand will be the only team to go through the world cup undefeated. Whilst the last time the Netherlands lost was to the Socceroos in late 2008!

· This will be the 1^st world cup win for both The Netherlands (3^rd final) and Spain (1^st final)

· This will be the first time a team from Europe has won in the Southern Hemisphere and outside Europe.

· As both teams have locals as coach the streak of only local coaches winning world cups continues.

·Also I see that the Dutch are the “home team” and thus can wear their orange jerseys whilst the Spaniards will have to wear their navy clash strip, I think that that could make a difference, I have no idea why, I just remember the Australia-Germany game and think that navy is not a winning colour in this world cup, just look at France and Italy.

·

Final Verdit:

It looks pretty cut and dried on paper; the Spanish look flashier and have more high quality players to call on. Thus they should win right…

I actually think that all the missed chances that Spanish have wasted throughout the tournament has got to eventually bite them on the arse, it’s a big if but IF the Dutch can score a couple a couple of long-range goals like they have been doing, the Spanish may get very nervous knowing that the goals may never come for them.

Thus I am going against the octopus and am predicting The Netherlands will win 2-1.

The Sporting Tour of the World - Stage 2

Highs and lows from the 1^st week in UK/ Europe

Highs

· The weather; mid to high 20s every day, no rain to be seen. Who ever said that the weather in England was ever miserable?

· The long hours of daylight, sunset at 10 pm every night? Yes please, where do I sign?

· Stuff to see; walking around London is quite difficult as there are so many landmarks, you never seem to be able to get anywhere quickly as you keep bumping into monuments. For example; walking from Oxford Circus to Lord’s you can pass Madame Tusouds, The Sherlock Holmes Museum, the London Canal network, Regent’s Park and just round the corner from the ground is the Abby Road Recording Studios made famous by The Beatles.

· The Dutch; arriving late on Friday night into Utrecht, the Orange Army was in full celebration mode after their win earlier that night and the party continued the next day at the prologue stage of Le Tour De France.

· The tour itself; the prologue was cool to see all the guys riding off one after the other, with seemingly everyone in The Netherlands out to see them.

· English football fans and media; watching the game a week ago made me understand what it is like to be an English football fan; the media had spent the last 2 days talking the team up, despite the obvious fact they actually were crap. Then they lost, they had a scapegoat in the sideline official who missed the goal. Then they turned on the coach, the selectors, the players, the support staff, the injured players who hung around camp (Davis Beckham & Rio Ferdinand) and the length of the Premier League season. It still hasn’t occurred to the English media that the German side is actually very good.

· The German soccer team; the Socceroos now look pretty good after what the Germans have done to England and Argentina.

· Attending an Australia – England cricket match in England; OK so it was a dead rubber in a series that no one really cared about in the first place. But still, going to the Oval with a full house to see the two teams was still pretty cool, especially when Australia won. By the way I am now absolutely convinced that Steve Smith will be a 10 + year player in all forms of the game for the Aussies.

Lows

· The European train network; it may have been a one-off but getting to my hotel 6 hours late when only supposedly travelling for 4 ½ hours and thus missing two world cup quarter finals did not make me very happy…

· The northern hemisphere, went for a walk my first day in London; ended up taking a 3-hour long-cut because the sun is in the south in the middle of the day not north thus throwing me out completely.

· Missing sporting events; things I didn’t get a chance to watch -

1. Wimbledon finals

2. Any of the world cup quarter finals due to le tour on Saturday and train fiasco on Friday

3. I somehow missed le tour three times on Sunday; went through Rotterdam 1 hour before the start of stage, had lunch & walked through Antwerp but missed le tour passing through by an hour due to rail connections and finally my Eurostar train left Brussels 30 minutes before the riders where expected in for finish of stage.

Things seen so far:

- Greenwich

- Big Ben

- Regent’s Park

- Camden Town

- British Museum

- Westminster Abbey

- Buckingham Palace

- Lord’s Cricket Ground & The Oval Cricket Ground

- Churchill Museum

- Trafalgar Square

Things still to see:

- Tower of London

- Natural History Museum

- Windsor

- Wimbledon

- St Andrews

- Wembley Stadium