“?Somos los mejores del mundo!” se dicen la Espa?a, campeona del mundo

Esta noche, me gustar?a escribir un poco sobre la campeona del mundo, la Espa?a, antes de mis vacaciones en la Turqu?a. Por eso lamento los neerlandeses.

With sincerest of apologies to those readers for whom the above sentence seemed a little Double Dutch, but this author was firmly in the Spanish corner during tonight’s, well, controversial World Cup final.

Spain were highly tipped from the outset as the team to watch, having been on form for the past three years and being the incumbent European champions. Their campaign, however, started abysmally when they lost their opening game in the Rainbow Nation to the Swiss.

Not only did they turn their fortunes around and finish top of Group H, they fought off an impressive challenge from Portugal, Paraguay and even the Deutsche to face the Dutch in a historic final in Soccer City, Johannesburg.

Unfortunately, the quality of the football was overshadowed by the rather unsportsmanlike behaviour of both teams. The Spanish collected five yellow cards, whilst the Dutch received nine yellows in total, with one swiftly turning into a red and a walk of shame for Heitinga.

In the end, though, and in the 116th minute one can consider it was almost the very end, Spain finally capitalised on their outclassing of Holland, and 26 year-old Andres Iniesta was able to complete a superb winning goal.

At the end of the day, no es la calidad del f?tbol, as the Spanish might say, pero el n?mero de goles.

?Y con un gol, la Espa?a puede celebrar, como la se ha coronado campeona del mundo!

And with one goal, Spain can celebrate, as they have been crowned World Champions!