Vote: World Cup Final Key Matchups

July 11th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

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In yesterday’s World Cup final preview, I picked out five key matchups for today’s World Cup final. Five obvious player vs player battles that could decide who goes home with the trophy. I know it’s cliché and I know it’s not an entirely accurate way to represent a football match. But it’s still a fun thing to do.

Below I’ve republished those five key matchups, with accompanying polls so you can vote for who you see coming out on top. So take a look at the five contests below and then vote for who you think wins the World Cup matchup:

David Villa (Spain) vs Johnny Heitinga/Joris Mathijsen (Netherlands)
Whether Villa has a strike partner or not, the World Cup final could very well turn on how well the Ducth defenders handle him.

Xavi & Iniesta (Spain) vs Nigel de Jong & Mark van Bommel (Netherlands)
Essentially Spain’s creators vs the Dutch destroyers. Will Xavi be able to dictate the game with MvB in his face? Iniesta may play wider with Xabi Alonso Xavi’s real partner. But you get the idea. It’s midfield vs midfield.

Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) vs Sergio Busquets (Spain)
The tactics obsessed website Zonal Marking did a good job explaining Busquet’s expertise in the defensive midfield role in terms of positioning and spatial awareness. Remains to be seen whether that’s enough to close down the threat posed by Sneijder.

Arjen Robben (Netherlands) vs Joan Capdevila (Spain)
Spanish leftback Capdevila is not a bad footballer. But if you had to pick a weak link in this team, then he’s probably the name you’d circle. Robben is arguably the Netherland’s most dangerous player and certainly the most explosive. Best of luck Joan.

Robin van Persie (Netherlands) vs Carles Puyol/Gerard Pique (Spain)
RvP has struggled to impose himself on World Cup 2010, but has contributed just enough in the lone striker role to help teammates like Sneijder take the glory. Puyol and Pique have been monsters at the back and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see one or both of them eat RvP alive. If we’re talking literally then my money would be on Puyol.

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http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Interesting balance so far with Netherlands winning two battles easily (Sneijder>Busquest, Robben>Capdevila) and Spain winning two battles easily (Villa>Dutch defenders, Spanish defenders>RvP)

Then the midfield battle is a little closer with Xavi/Iniesta being just about favored over de Jong and MvB.
TheoT

The thing is that although MvB is seemingly immune to bookings, I think that the referees will have been told to watch him because they know that they've been letting him get away with murder (in some cases, nearly literally) so I think they'll be watching him and he could get an early booking and then have to watch his tackles, which should Xavi/Iniesta time and space to work their magic. That's assuming that FIFA aren't being paid by the Dutch Federation, which would mean that they weren't corrupt so who knows?