Well the World Cup has finished with Favourites Spain winning a bad tempered final against the Netherlands consigning the Dutch to their third World Cup Second Place, Personally I was supporting the Netherlands in this one as I had remained unconvinced by the Spanish throughout the tournament.
In the end it was again a single goal for Spain, and then only after the Netherlands had been taken down to ten men by Referee Howard Webb, to Give Spain their first world cup victory 1-0, as it had been in each game since the end of the group stage
The Netherlands on the other hand had over come Brazil 2-1 and won an interesting 3-2 encounter with Uruguay having won all of their group games.
This was definitely a world cup of firsts though;
The first time 2 brothers have competed against each other for opposing nations, Kevin Prince-Boating (Ghana) and Jonathon Boating (Germany)
Most Yellow Cards awarded in a final (14)
Fewest Goals Scored by the Winner (8) And fewest Conceded (2)
First Champions to have lost their Opening Game (1-0 to Switzerland)
First Time the Previous two finalists failed to qualify from the group stage (Italy and France)
First Time Host nation has not qualified from group stage
Spain also became just the second champions of Europe to win the World Cup (Germany 1974 were the first – France 1998 – 2000 did it the other way round.)
New Zealand were the only team to remain unbeaten at the tournament (Coming Third in Group Stage with three draws.)
Fewest UEFA and Most South American Teams in Round of 16 (6 and 5 respectively)
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