Nothing beautiful about Holland's game

JOHANNESBURG

In football there isn't always a winner and loser, except in the World Cup knockout rounds.

Ninety minutes, 120 minutes, penalties -- it doesn't get more final than this.

So why did the Netherlands lose in the World Cup final?

THIS IS IT

No matter who you root for, you'll want to check out the best action from the World Cup final between Holland and Spain.

This may be a tough and bitter pill for romantics of the Beautiful Game to swallow, but the simple fact is that Holland, for all its glorious past, is a pale imitator masquerading in orange.

To be fair though, the Dutch came with a game plan and for 116 minutes it worked almost flawlessly. Its tactics were simple and easy to understand. In fact, someone with zero soccer knowledge would've have grasped their methods within the first 10 minutes of this, its third World Cup Final appearance.

It didn't require thought, grate, guile or technique — traits we would normally associate with the Clockwork Orange. The ploy was to kick hard, kick often and to get into the heads of the Spanish players.

With that pressure and physicality, Spain would in theory, be denied any opportunity to develop a rhythm or dictate the pace of the match. The middle of the park, the area where they do their best work, would be congested and thick with traffic.

The angles, triangles and pretty geometric patterns that we associate with Spain just weren't there and for that we must unfortunately give Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk all the credit. He knew that if the match became an open spectacle, his side would be swept away in a sea of red Spanish attacks.

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Spain certainly created chances, but as we've seen from Spain in the past it was guilty of not putting them and the game away. With this knowledge, the Dutch were always in with an opportunity of sneaking a goal and stealing the match, which is almost exactly how it played out.

With Holland unable to release Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben while shackled by three Spanish defenders, route one football became its only option, along with set pieces. Twice Robben had opportunities to win the match and the fact that he didn't take them is ultimately good for the game of football.

This was an ugly Holland, their only thought to 'stamp' its authority on the match. With an accumulated total of nine yellow cards along with one red, it won't be remembered for victories over Brazil or Uruguay, but instead for blighting the most important game we'll see in the next four years.

To Spain ultimately go the spoils and deservedly so. Yes, the Spaniards may overplay at times, but at the core its football has a beauty about it. It now joins Germany and France as holders of both the Euro and World Cup trophies, a double that goes a long way to solidifying it as one of the greatest teams ever.

We would all like to imagine the World Cup final as a match of beauty. Only one team came to Soccer City with beauty on its mind.

Congratulations, Spain, World Champions -- it has a nice ring doesn't it?

Nick Webster is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com.