Netherlands vs Spain preview World Cup Final Mon 12 July

History awaits either the Netherlands or Spain when they square off in the 2010 World Cup Final on Monday 12th July for the right to be crowned champions of the world for the very first time in their history.

The match commences at 4:30am AEST Melbourne time at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa and will be televised live by SBS in Australia.

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Neither side has achieved World Cup success with the Netherlands coming closest when they finished runner-up twice in 1974 and 1978 while Spain finished fourth in 1950 but have had little joy since.

Australian bookmakers have Spain an overwhelming favourite to claim the World Cup trophy and leading betting agency Sportsbet has the Spaniards 2.10 favourite ahead of the Netherlands 3.75 with the draw paying 3.25 at time of writing.

The South Americans dominated the tournament early but it will be two European teams who fight out the Final in what should be a cracking match.

Netherlands vs Spain preview – Monday 12th July – Soccer City Stadium

Netherlands

$3.75

$3.25

$2.10

Spain

4:30am

Netherlands and Spain Head to Head record

Mar-02 Netherlands 1-0 Spain Friendly
Nov-00 Spain 1-2 Netherlands Friendly
Jan-87 Spain 1-1 Netherlands Friendly
Nov-83 Netherlands 2-1 Spain Euro Championship Qual.
Feb-83 Spain 1-0 Netherlands Euro Championship Qual.
Jan-80 Spain 1-0 Netherlands Friendly
May-73 Netherlands 3-2 Spain Friendly
Jan-57 Spain 5-1 Netherlands Friendly

These two teams have not met each other at the highest level and their most recent history is back in the early 2000′s where the Dutch had the upper hand.

Netherlands vs Spain prediction

A classic match looms as both sides are capable of delivering quality football although both have generally under performed at this tournament in the past, but come Monday morning we will be crowning one of these teams as champions for the very first time.

Fernando Torres has been down on form for this World Cup campaign but he is a handy wildcard for Spain if he were to find his best on the day, either starting on the ground or coming off the bench.

Wesley Sneidjer for the Dutch and David Villa for Spain have been outstanding finding the net this tournament and they both sit on 5 goals each along side Germany’s Thomas Mueller who scored in the third place play-off overnight.

If either Villa or Sneidjer can find the net more often than the other then they will take the Golden Boot trophy for most goals at the tournament.

Netherlands path to World Cup Final	Spain path to the World Cup Final
Netherlands 2-0 Denmark Netherlands 1-0 Japan Netherlands 2-1 Cameroon Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia Netherlands 2-1 Brazil Netherlands 3-2 Uruguay (WWWWWW)	Spain 0-1 Switzerland Spain 2-0 Honduras Spain 2-1 Chile Spain 1-0 Portugal Spain 1-0 Paraguay Spain 1-0 Germany (LWWWWW)

The Netherlands will welcome back defender Gregory van der Wiel and defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong for the Final after suspension ruled them out of the Semi-Final against Uruguay. Demy de Zeeuw appears to be a 50-50 chance and a decision will be made closer to the game.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has the big decision of what to do with the out of form Fernando Torres and whether to start with the Liverpool striker or stick with Pedro as he did last game. Cesc Fabregas is an outside chance to start but he seems out of favour with the coach and has been used sparingly for Spain in this tournament.

As to who will win the game, Spain appeared to find another gear against Germany and they never allowed the Germans to do much at all while dictating play themselves.

The fact Germany defeated Uruguay overnight franks the form and suggests Spain has the game to nullify most teams and that is evidenced by their amazing record over the last two or three years where defeats have been few and far between.

The Netherlands have been workmanlike in their wins and they have enough talent on the park to say they are very much over the odds here at their current price, especially when they have averaged 2 goals per game throughout the tournament.

Both sides could easily win this game and it would be no surprise if either side got up on the day.

If you like the Dutch then taking them at the +1.0 handicap is probably a good option, but for ours we expect Spain to claim their very first World Cup title come Monday morning.

Our tip: Spain

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