Fireworks lit the skies of Johannesburg and the noise of 84,000 fans roared in the Soccer City Stadium as Spain downed Netherlands 1-0, through a dramatic extra time winner by Adreas Iniesta, to claim their first ever World Cup title and slam the Dutch to a third finals defeat.  

The stage for the 19th final and the first on African soil was set in style with a marvellous World Cup Closing Celebration which included performances by Colombian pop star Shakira and three time Grammy award winner Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The stands contained a host of prominent figures led by Former South African President; Nelson Mandela, current President; Jacob Zuma, the Dutch Royal Family and Queen Sofia of Spain.   

The game itself, however, fell short of most people’s expectations. It was not a cracking final that will be long remembered for exciting goals but rather will be regarded as a bad-tempered match in which a record high of 14 yellow cards and one red card were shown.

The rhythm of the match was set in the early minutes and spectators knew what to expect as English referee, Howard Webb, brandished five yellow cards after just 28 minutes. The tackling was clumsy and the players were playing with a lot of nerves but, in fairness to the teams, it is always hard to be calm with three billion viewers are focussed on you.

None of the teams seriously threatened and as the halftime whistle went, the game was still tied at 0-0. In the second half, nothing really changed as both teams struggled to settle on the ball though Spain was arguably the better side.

Perhaps the most brilliant moment of the half came when Spanish goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, used the tip of his boot to stop Arjen Robben from putting Netherlands ahead. A defence splitting through ball from Wesley Sniejder played Robben clean through on goal. With only, the keeper to beat, Robben did everything right but was unfortunate as his attempt to slide the ball to the bottom right corner of the net met the trailing boot of Casillas.

The 90 minutes of normal time elapsed and neither side was able to break the deadlock. The game went into extra time. The first 15 minutes went silently with both teams playing conservatively, opting to play it safe rather than risk giving away a goal.

But it was the second half of extra time that had kept all the drama. The story began to unfold in the 108th minute; Netherlands defender, John Heitinga, was sent off for picking a second yellow card after a cynical foul on Iniesta. With ten men, the Dutch had a daunting challenge of keeping Spain out for 12 minutes.

Eventually, the moment every Spaniard had been waiting for came. The jiffy of glory that had eluded them for their entire history arrived in the 116th minute. Cesc Fabregas delivered a superb through ball to Iniesta who made no mistake but savagely fired an unstoppable shot into the Dutch goal from 14 yards out. It proved to be the winning goal and after 120 agonising minutes Spain became the new World Cup Champions.

Then the cerebrations began. Queen Sofia was captured jumping up and down as the Spanish players went wild on the field. A few minutes later, Spanish skipper, Cassilas, lifted the 18 karat golden trophy into the air as everybody, including the defeated Dutch, clapped their hands in admiration of what the Spaniards had achieved. Immediately after the match, over one hundred thousand Spanish supporters stormed the city of Madrid cerebrating their team’s unprecedented World Cup victory and the partying is expected to continue until the Spanish team arrives home.

Spain are now the world as well as the European champions; having won Euro 2008. France is the only other team that has ever achieved this when they won the World Cup in 98 and the European championship in 2000. Eyes will now turn to Brazil where the next World Cup shall be held. For now though, all congratulations head to Spain for winning it and South Africa for successfully hosting the 2010 FIFA World cup.