Spain defeated the Netherlands Sunday to win the FIFA World Cup 2010. Going into the tournament, Spain was ranked second in the world, having lost only two matches since November 2006.
The World Cup final was tied 0 – 0, and was drifting towards penalty kicks as Andres Iniesta found the net for Spain, and secured a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands. The World Cup win is the first for the Spanish, and marks only the third time a team has held both the Euro and World Cup titles simultaneously.
The final match also saw a record 14 yellow cards handed out, with the Dutch finishing with only 10 men on the pitch.
Several Dutch players wiped away tears as they received their runners-up medals. They had won every qualifying match and all six previous games in South Africa before their bitter defeat.
“We have all done an incredible job,” Iniesta said shortly after Spain’s victory, “I don’t think we even realize what we have done.”
Iniesta also took the time to salute Paul the Octopus, ESPN Soccer Net reports, who predicted Spain would beat the Netherlands leading up to Sunday’s match. “We won and I’m sure the octopus will be more popular in Spain,” he said.
Paul correctly picked the winner of eight matches in the world cup. The final match was the first time Paul made a prediction that did not involve his home country of Germany.
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