Spain wins World Cup the beautiful way

By Anthony Anglin

In a World Cup where the "Mourinho Tactic" was more than evident in the way most teams played, Spain stood true to playing the game the right way, the beautiful way that is. From the onset of their first game in the group stages, even though they lost, it was evident that Spain was not going to leave their playing style behind just for the sake of winning games. Many persons complained that they did not have the killer instinct and they were not shooting enough and that's why they always under achieve on the biggest stage, but one thing is for sure if you have the ball you will always have a chance to score. This is what limited opposing teams from scoring a lot against Spain and it always gave Spain a chance.

Throughout the group stages we saw Spain dominate possession in every single match they played in. Even though not scoring a glut of goals, it was surely evident maybe not to an average viewer of the game of football but to an ardent fan of the game that Spain had what it takes to win the World Cup.

Moving into the knockout stages this is where Spain midfield maestros really began to shine. Up stepped Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, the influence of these two players was just too much for opposing teams. Xavi and Iniesta was especially instrumental in the victory over the Germans, the Germans just could not get the ball. With these two players supplying David Villa upfront it was no wonder he had such a great World Cup scoring 5 goals just missing out on the Golden boot to Thomas Muller from Germany who also had 5 goals but had more assists. With La Liga and Champions League coming up, opposing club teams of Barcelona must be shaking at their knees with the prospect of facing those three players playing in one team.

We saw in this World Cup king pins such as Brazil under the influence of coach Dunga leaving behind the "Samba" football for a more defensive and counter attacking style of football. This eventually led to their downfall, and caused a lot of Brazilian fans who had high hopes for their team to do well a lot of heartache. But while the South Americans were switching up their style, Spain was staying true to theirs. We saw passing, movement, a bit of skill here and there and it was most times a joy to watch.

The finals though with the Netherlands threatened to be a disaster, with one team Spain trying to play the game the right way and the other trying to stop the game being played the right way. This led to the game being scrappy with a lot of fouls, but this was not going to deter the Spanish from keeping the ball on the ground, being patient and playing the game their way. When the final whistle in extra time blew, no one could say that Spain did not deserve it and Beautiful football won on the day and throughout the entire World Cup!

Congratulations to Spain, now champions of the world!!