It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Well the World Cup is almost over. 64 games, one month, comes to a close on Sunday with a pretty decent final awaiting us. As anybody having read my pre-tournament analysis will know, I rate Spain as the best team around right now. They started slow with a poor loss to the Swiss, and had some average performances along the way, but they seem to have peaked at just the right time with a truly world class performance against Germany in the semis.

I heard early in the tournament some interesting information about Spain’s preparations at altitude training and how it had all been timed so that they would peak in the knockout phase of the competition. All of which sounds pretty sensible, plausible and logical. I also heard that England had done the same, following a similar regime. Unfortunately, they were unable to get through to the stage when that work would pay off!

I fully expect Spain to win the final. The Dutch have done well and surprised me somewhat, particularly the game against Brazil. They have won all their games in the tournament and are unbeaten in something like 25 games which is pretty impressive. That all said, I do not think they have faced a team like Spain.

There are a number of key elements which strongly favour Spain and how I expect the game to play out. Spain’s midfield is the best in the world bar none. I would go as far to say that there is no other national team that comes close to rivalling them in that area. Having seen Van Bommel exposed frequently against Brazil and Uruguay – I have no idea how he did not receive at least three bookings in those two games combined – they will really struggle to keep hold of the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and co. Even more so than the Germans did. Schweinsteiger has been fantastic the whole tournament, one of the best central midfielders. He was completely nullified in that game, and I expect Wesley Sneijder to face the same difficulties.

The other area is defensively. Holland have been somewhat flattered I think in this area, and I think it is a weakness – particularly against teams and players with excellent movement. I like Heitinga and he is probably the best of the bunch, but he will find it hard to deal with David Villa. Likewise down the flanks, especially Gio’s side, Spain will profit here.

The main factor in Holland’s favour is Arjen Robben. I’ve rambled about this before but I think he would be considered as one of the top five players in the world had he not suffered injuries and changed clubs so often. He could cause Capdevila and Ramos all kinds of problems and he will have to be at his very best if the Dutch are to have a chance of winning this game.

Otherwise it is Spain all the way for me, and rest assured I will have a pound or two on them for this game.

As much as the final entices me, I have been severely disappointed with this World Cup. I have enjoyed many of the games, but the actually quality of the competition has been incredibly low. In fact, I would go as far in saying that it was only the game between Spain and Germany where we saw some of the highest quality football. Otherwise, the competition has been littered with average games, and even the entertaining ones were largely down to refereeing mistakes, or poor defending/goalkeeping. How many absolute moments of brilliance can you remember from this one? There are not many at all. So many of the best players in the world also massively underperformed. Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaka....I could go on. Once again, just strengthens my belief that the Champions League is the best football competition in the world. I take Spain out of the equation as I rate them as comfortably the best team in the world, but every other team has significant weaknesses in their team. While it has been a success for the first WC held in Africa, I think international football is at a pretty low point right now.