Iniesta goal gives Spain World Cup glory (Second Lead)

JOHANNESBURG - Andres Iniesta became a legend Sunday by scoring in extra time to give Spain their first World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final Sunday.

Barcelona star Iniesta, who was named Man of the Match, scored the title-winning goal in the 116th minute front of 84,490 spectators at Soccer City Stadium here.

Netherlands defender John Heitinga was sent off in the 109th minute of a bad tempered game which saw English referee Howard Webb book another 12 players, a World Cup record.

Spanish captain Iker Casillas was handed the World Cup trophy jointly by FIFA President Joseph Blatter and South African President Jacob Zuma before raising it to the sky over Johannesburg and sending millions of Spaniards throughout the world into wild celebrations.

The World Cup-winning goal came on Cesc Fabregas’ pass through the Dutch defence to Iniesta, whose shot went off Netherlands keeper Maarten Stekelenburg into the far left corner for his second goal of the World Cup and his eighth of his Spanish international career.

“It’s unbelievable, incredible. It cost us so much energy but there are no words for what happened,” said Iniesta.

“We began this work a long time ago and now we want to celebrate - also with the people in Spain.”

All the Spanish players took turns kissing with trophy and carrying it around the stadium after having previously proudly displayed the first star on their jersey to mark Spain’s first world title.

Spain, whose best previous World Cup finish was fourth place in 1950, became the eighth world champion in World Cup history joining Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, England and France.

Spain also became the second nation to follow a European Championship title with the World Cup crown. West Germany accomplished the feat in 1974.

“It was a hard-fought game, but we have got great players. We could have scored another goal or two. It was a well-deserved victory and a very happy day for me,” said Spain coach Vicente del Bosque.

The Netherlands meanwhile lost their third World Cup final after dropping the finals in 1974 and 1978.

The Dutch squad often relied on robust tackling, picking up eight cautions to four for Spain.

“It’s very disappointing, we came so close. We really wanted to win it and could have won it,” said Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.

“It’s still our intention to play beautiful football but we were also facing a very good opponent. I had really thought that, even with 10 players we could make it to the penalty shootout and with a great goalkeeper in Maarten Stekelenburg.”

The coach also said the real Netherlands team did not show itself.

“That was regrettable for a final. That’s not our style but you do play a final to win. I would have loved to win the match even with not so beautiful football,” added van Marwijk.

Del Bosque trusted the same line-up that beat Germany 1-0, meaning that out-of-form striker Fernando Torres remained on the bench in favour of Pedro.

Van Marwijk once again had his full squad with Gregory van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong returning after suspension against Uruguay. Heading to the bench were Khalid Boulahrouz and Demy de Zeeuw.

Sergio Ramos (fifth) and David Villa both had chances in the first 15 minutes, and Casillas was first tested in the 18th minute, corralling Wesley Sneijder’s long free kick blast.

The Netherlands were lucky to have 11 men of the pitch in the 28th minute as de Jong kicked Xabi Alonso in the chest but referee Webb only warned de Jong with yellow.

The Netherlands missed a golden chance in the 62nd minute. Sneijder fed a through ball to Arjen Robben for a one-on-one against Casillas, but the Real Madrid keeper just barely got his foot on Robben’s attempt to deflect it wide left.

Spain somehow failed to hit the scoreboard in the 69th minute as Heitinga mis-hit a clearance attempt to Villa but the Everton defender blocked Villa’s attempt from near range.

Ramos missed from six yards out in the 77th minute and Robben was again stopped one-on-one against Casillas in the 83rd minute.

Five minutes into extra time Spain had a two-on-one but Fabregas was stopped by Stekelenburg despite Villa being open to his right.

Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst made two superb stops in the first half of extra time.

But the Netherlands went a man down in the 109th minute as Webb sent off the Netherlands defender Heitinga after a second booking for his tackle on Iniesta.