Andres Iniesta lifts the World Cup trophy for Spain, which came into the tournament as the second-ranked team in the world and the best country never to win the World Cup. Now, the Netherlands move on as the best to never win it.
Vicente del Bosque's Spain finally shed its underachiever tag by beating the Netherlands 1-0 at Soccer City Stadium.
Spain's defense, led by Carlos Puyol (pictured), didn't give up a goal in the knockout rounds. Puyol was the hero in the semifinals, scoring in the 73rd minute against Germany to send Spain to its first World Cup final.
Andres Iniesta gets set to fire his game-winning shot on goal in the 116th minute. Iniesta, 26, an attacking midfielder, scored twice in six matches for Spain.
Andres Iniesta celebrated his goal by ripping off his shirt (an automatic, yet well-worth-it yellow card) to show a message translated to "Dani Jarque is always with us," a tribute to a former teammate who died of a heart attack last year.
Spain keeper Iker Casillas didn't give up a goal in the knockout rounds. The captain earned the Golden Glove award as the best goalkeeper in the tournament, his third career World Cup.
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
Photos: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com
No comments:
Post a Comment