Domination vs Efficiency

Besides the great goals, favorite teams, surprises, excitement, controversies, it is very interesting to analyze the playing style from different teams. There is a lot of tactical decisions behind every game and it is not just the good players who determine the outcome of the game. That's why whenever failure occurs, the coach is the first one to go home.

The World Cup final is between two historical big teams that have never won before. Netherlands went to two finals (74 and 78) but lost. Spain was only able to go to semifinals in one occasion.


Netherlands

The dutch were considered among the favorites. They sweep every team during the qualifiers and they have killer players in great shape like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. All of them are coming from a great season in their respective clubs. They are the only team able to win all of their games in this World Cup.

But the dutch are not playing that wonderfully considering the quality of their players. I was watching the semifinal (Uruguay vs Netherlands) and I saw that Van Persie barely gets any balls. Even though Sneijder has been scoring a lot, he is playing a bit disconnected from the rest of the team. Only the lightning-paced plays by Robben entertains me.

The goalkeeper surely showed some insecurity (especially in Forlan's goal) and the defenders seem slow. I personally think that they got lucky in the quarterfinals, because Brazil should have kill the game. Netherlands tied thanks to a free Brazilian meal (own goal + goalkeeper mistake), and then Brazil self-destructed, and Netherlands did what they have to, score. That is commendable about the dutch, that they are efficient in scoring. They might not played too wonderfully, but in simple ways they score and win the games.

In the game against Uruguay,  Netherlands converted the goals even though Uruguay was attacking more and getting more chances. I have to say that Uruguay played a very good game. Even though the "charruas" (Spanish slang word for Uruguayans) don't have that many world-class players like Netherlands, they played a man-to-man game without fear. I like that. Some of their key players were suspended or injured, but they managed to make this game challenging for the dutch. But that does not take out any merit from this dutch team.

Spain

Spain was considered the top favorite team to win because of the great shape of most of their players and for the recent success in the Eurocup. But they started shaky by losing their first game against Switzerland. Perhaps Spain was affected by the pressure of favoritism and the so famous "curse" that has been depriving them from a World Cup success. In many past world cups, Spain usually had a very strong team but they tend to fail in the key moments. But after the first game, Spain seems to be improving.

Spain is a fearsome team because like 70% of their players are from Barcelona. That means, these players have been playing together for a lot of years, and also Barcelona has been doing great in the recent seasons. Their midfield is really scary, and is commanded by Xavi who is the engine of this team. He pretty much dictates the pace and flow of how Spain plays. Adding to that, there is the great form of David Villa who has been scoring almost every game. Moreover, the goalkeeper and the two central defenders are high-hands (Chinese for high level).

Since there is so much quality in the midfield, Spain plays a lot with short passes, always retaining ball possession (they usually get 65-70%) and dominating the rival. They kind of "suffocate" the rival by passing the ball so much, that the rival might just get desperate or have no choice but to defend and wait. Through passing they can unlock the rival's defense, but I think Spain tend to "abuse" of passing too much that leads to predictability in their offense.

It is interested to note that Spain has been winning 1-0 in their last three games, and it shows that even though they can dominate the game, the percentage yield is low. The toughest game they had so far was against Paraguay (quarterfinals). Paraguay came so close to win the game if they didn't miss the penalty shot. They played a very courageous game against Spain to the point that the local press qualified the Paraguayans as "dying standing up".

During the semifinals, I was thinking that Spain would probably dominate the game, but Germany will win because they are more dangerous. But Spain didn't let Germany do much, at the same time Germany seems to have chosen to defend and wait instead of imposing their game and pace as they did against England and Argentina. It is interested to note that the Spanish goal didn't come from passing and passing, but it came from a corner kick (made in Barcelona from Xavi to Puyol).

Spain vs Netherlands

Definitely it is a clash of styles between domination and efficiency. I think Spain is better as a team. I historically like Netherlands because of their past team in 1998 (Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, Davids) played a beautiful soccer. I historically dislike Spain because I had this futbol-rivalry in elementary school with two Spanish friends, haha. I personally think Spain should win it. Spain needs to continue playing as they have been doing, but needs to be more assertive in the offense. Netherlands needs more collaborative play among Robben, Sneijer, and Van Persie, and needs to somehow stop Xavi as much as possible.

In the Uruguay vs Germany game for the 3rd place, it is more psychological because losing the semifinals can be very demoralizing. Germany seems a bit more affected because at some point they were considered the favorite to win the cup. While for Uruguay it is already a success getting to semifinals. This game can be attractive because usually there is less tension (since for some, 3rd and 4th place doesn't really matter) and more fun.

At the end of the day it is very hard to predict the outcome of a soccer game because there are so many unpredictable factors that make this game so beautiful and exciting. El futbol es bello.