Spain shed their underachievers tag (and there may be more to come)

The final was as dull and niggly as the third place play-off was exciting, but we should hardly be surprised. You have to go back to 1986, where Argentina defeated West Germany 3-2 in a see-saw encounter to remember the last truly good final act of a World Cup. But that will not worry Spain - in just two years, they have gone from international football's biggest underachievers, to king's of the world. Holland, on the other hand, should be ashamed with how they approached the game, and got exactly what they deserved - a runners-up medal. The match started in bright fashion under the watchful eye of former South African president Nelson Mandela, as Sergio Ramos brought an excellent save out of Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg after four minutes with a header, but that was about as good as it got. The match descended into a series of crude fouls and free-kicks, which saw English referee Howard Webb book five players in the first 28 minutes. To be fair to Webb, he didn't have much choice in most of his decisions, and Holland were lucky to still have their full compliment by half-time. Mark van Bommel committed at least two bookable offences, while his partner-in-crime Nigel de Jong was fortunate to only see yellow after planting his studs into the chest of Xabi Alonso. The best Holland could muster in an attacking sense was a shot from Arjen Robben which was easily saved by Iker Casillas. The second half could only get better, and so it proved. Joan Capdevilla narrowly failed to make contact with a Carles Puyol flick-on from a corner, but there were still too many stoppages for either team to find any real rhythm. But just before the hour mark, Holland had a brilliant chance to take the lead. The largely anonymous Wesley Sneijder played a lovely through ball to put Robben clean on goal, but his former Real Madrid teammate Casillas made a brilliant save with his boot. But Holland had a couple of reprieves of their own, as Ramos headed wastefully over the crossbar from a Xavi corner and Johnny Heitinga made a miraculous block from a close range David Villa shot. The match was becoming increasingly stretched, and the pace of Robben was troubling the Spanish defence, and Puyol in particular. Spain's semi-final winner had no match for his pace, and on one such occasion, the Bayern Munich winger appeared to be impeded by the defender, but chose to stay on his feet to his credit, and Casillas denied him again. Having given his credit, he then berated Webb for not giving him at least a free-kick. As the second half wore on, Spain were increasingly in the ascendency, with Xavi and Andres Iniesta to the fore, and Arsenal playmaker Cesc Fabregas made a real impact when he replaced Alonso in the 87th minute. Almost immediately, he was played in by Iniesta, but Stekelenburg copied his counterpart Casillas and made an excellent save with his foot. Just before the 90 minutes were up, the compliment was returned, but Iniesta was hustled off the ball by Dutch right back Gregory van der Wiel, who looks like he will be a real prospect. As the match seemed to be heading towards a third World Cup final penalty shoot out, Holland finally got the red card their unsavoury tactics deserved. In the 110th minute, Everton defender Heitinga received a second yellow card for hauling down the supreme Iniesta, but in all fainess it could have been a straight red. Heitinga became the fourth man to be sent off in a World Cup final, following in the footsteps of Pedro Monzon, Marcel Desailly and Zinedine Zidane. Joris Mathijsen headed over for Holland in a rare attack, and the decisive breakthrough came with four minutes remaining. Decades of tension for Spain was lifted as Fabregas found Iniesta in the penalty area, and the little genius made no mistake with a right foot half vollet into the corner. What followed were scenes of absolute jubilation, while Holland were incensed that Webb and his linesman had awarded a goal kick to Spain after Wesley Sneijder's free-kick clearly deflected behind off Fabregas. But on the balance of play the better team won. Fernando Torres, who had come on for the second period of extra-time, picked up another injury in the final seconds, but nothing could tarnish Spain's ascent to the pinnacle of world football. Few would care to argue with their coach Vicente del Bosque's description, and it is fitting that he gets the final word: 'the World Cup draws from what we did in 2008 and it is the continuity and continuation of a very good legacy.' He may well be right.