Final comment on final match....

Three Ways Spain Can Beat The Netherlands:

1. Possession, Possession, Possession

The Netherlands are a side who love to have as much of the ball as the Spaniards, and they like to keep it on the ground and just keep the game moving at their pace. It’s when they’re not in possession of the ball that their weaknesses are exposed.

Against Brazil in the quarter-finals, the Oranje were chasing shadows for much of the first half before a few significant tweaks at the interval saw them return to their deadly best in the second period. And Spain have to make sure that they do not give Bert van Marwijk’s side a sniff of control.

2. Keep away Wesley Sneijder & Arjen Robben from The Ball

The Netherlands have admitted from day one that they are prepared to play ugly if necessary in order to win the World Cup. And winger Arjen Robben has come out pre-final to reiterate their point. This would suggest that they are ready to take a defensive stance against the Spaniards and hit their opponents on the break.

But Vicente del Bosque’s men are more than familiar with this kind of approach from the opposition, having been forced to cope with such tactics in each of their last six games in South Africa. And they passed the test with flying colours in the semi-final against the most fearsome of those counter-attacking threats, Germany, and they did so by neutralising Mesut Oezil and Bastian Schweinsteiger. That is what Sergio Busquets, Joan Capdevila and co. have to do with Sneijder and Robben in the final.

3. More n more in goal box

Spain have been criticised at this World Cup for not having the decisive penetration inside the opposition area, where all their lovely tiki-taka passing football goes to waste because there’s no one inside the box to finish off a free-flowing move. This has a lot to do with the fact that their opponents barricade the goal with multiple lines of defenders, forcing the Spanish forwards to either drop deep or drift out wide to look for the ball. But it also has a lot to do with the fact that when Fernando Torres is taken out of the equation – whether he’s being benched or he simply can’t perform when he’s out on the pitch – La Roja do not really have a target striker.

This is a Catch-22 for coach del Bosque. If he deploys David Villa as the lead front man, then the team will lose an attacking outlet wide left. If opts to start Fernando Llorente as a straight swap for Torres, then he will have to sacrifice one of his midfield pieces.

One way or the other, the coach has to find a remedy for this. Have the versatile Gerard Pique bombard into the area every now and again, or just get Sergio Busquets to dart into the 18-yard box to make a nuisance of himself. Whatever the case, Spain must get bodies into the danger zone so that the likes of Sergio Ramos, Xavi and Andres Iniesta will have targets to aim for with their crosses and through balls.