Spain defeats Netherlands, 1-0, in extra time to win first World Cup

Spain defeats Netherlands, 1-0, in extra time to win first World Cup | NJ.com

FULL TIME: The final whistle of the tournament sounds, and Spain, in its first World Cup final, claims its first World Cup title.

120th minute + 1: YELLOW CARD. Xavi is booked for wasting time.

120th minute: Two minutes of injury time have been added.

118th minute: YELLOW CARD. Iniesta is booked for taking off his shirt as he celebrated his go-ahead goal.

117th minute: YELLOW CARD. Mathijsen is booked for protesting with Webb.

116th minute: GOAL. Spain breaks the deadlock through Iniesta just four minutes from full time. The Netherlands players are clamoring for offsides but Iniesta was well withing the final defender. Torres lobbed the ball into the center of the box and the Netherlands headed it out. But the ball fell to Fabregas, who passed to Iniesta on the right. Iniesta volleyed the ball towards the far post. Stekelenberg got his hand on it but couldn’t stop the powerful volley.

115th minute: Sneijder takes a free kick from about 30 yards out. The ball skips off Fabregas at the end of the wall and floats just wide of the corner of the goal.

111th minute: Van Der Wiel is booked for the Netherlands. That’s eight cards for them tonight.

109th minute: RED CARD. Heitinga is shown a second yellow for dragging down Iniesta near the top of the penalty area. The Netherlands will almost surely now play for penalty kicks, if it wasn’t doing so already.

106th minute: Fernando Torres is on for Villa. Here come the game’s final 15 minutes.

END OF FIRST EXTRA TIME PERIOD: A lively first extra time period is over. The teams will switch sides and pick it up again.

105th minute: The Netherlands captain Van Bronckhorst is off. Edson Braafheid is on at left back.

99th minute: The Netherlands take off de Jong and replace him with Rafael Van der Vaart.

99th minute: Fabregas returns the favor from minutes earlier to Iniesta. He plays Iniesta through all alone in the middle of the field, but Van Bronckhorst recovers well to take the ball off Iniesta’s foot.

96th minute: The Netherlands fire right back up the field after Fabregas’ chance. The Dutch earn a corner, which is sent over the bar by Heitinga, who had beaten Ramos and had a wide open net in front of him after Casillas stumbled into his own man as he came off the line.

95th minute: Iniesta plays through Fabregas from just inside the halfway line. Fabregas, like Robben, earlier is one-on-one against the keeper. This time its Stekelenberg’s responsibility to come off his line and make a save.

91st minute: Extra time has begun. The teams will play two 15-minute sessions. If the game is still tied after that, a penalty shootout will come next.

FULL TIME: The second half is over. The score is still tied, 0-0. So, extra time is next.

87th minute: Xabi Alsonso has come off. Cesc Fabregas is on for Spain.

83rd minute: Robben flies down the center of the field, past the slower Puyol, who could only fling an arm at the Dutch winger. Casillas comes out to smother the ball, as Robben was impeded just slightly by Puyol’s lunging. Robben turns and sprints after Webb, seeking an explanation for why a foul wasn’t called. He is booked for what he had to say. The card shouldn’t overshadow that Robben looked to have accelerated into another gear on that run. He showed no signs of the hamstring injury he had been nursing coming into the tournament and at the start of group play.

77th minute: An unmarked Ramos sends a header well over the net from four feet away from the goal. Terrible miss for Ramos, who showed earlier that he can be threatening with his head. This off, off a corner, he couldn’t direct the ball onto the net for what have surely been the go-ahead goal.

71st minute: Eljero Elia has replaced Kuyt for the Netherlands.

69th minute: The substitute Navas lofts a cross from the right into the box. The Netherlands defense makes a mess of it and the ball falls, feet from the net, right in front of Villa but his shot is deflected and never reaches the goal.

67th minute: YELLOW CARD. Capdevila is booked for taking Van Persie’s legs out as the striker was about to turn past the defense and down the right sideline.

62nd minute: Sneijder plays Robben through all alone for a one-on-one chance with Casillas. Robben cut through the center of the Spanish defense and right down the middle of the field. Casillas came off his line and dove to his left as Robben approached and kicked the ball the other way. However, Robben’s shot clipped off the leg of Casillas and wide of the net.

60th minute: Jesus Navas has come on for Spain, the first substitution of the game. Pedro is off.

57th minute: YELLOW CARD. Another booking, the record seventh for a World Cup final. Heitinga is shown yellow for a late challenge on David Villa. It hasn’t made for the greatest soccer, but the Dutch have successfully been able to stifle the free-flowing Spanish possession game with some stubborn, physical play — and they have five cards to show for it.

54th minute: YELLOW CARD. Van Bronckhorst is booked for tripping Ramos 25 yards from goal, on the right.

48th minute: The Spanish earn an early corner. Puyol flicks the ball towards the far post where Capdevila has stationed himself. The fullback swings his right foot at the ball, but misses.

46th minute: The whistle blows, the second half has begun.

HALFTIME: It’s halftime and the score is 0-0. More cards than chances in the first half. Five yellow cards were shown, which is one short of the World Cup record for a final. The Netherlands put two shots on goal, Spain only one. However, that Spain chance was the best of the game, a flicked header from Ramos in the fifth minute that stretched Stekelenberg. We’re all hoping the teams are less cautious in the second half.