Viva España

"Today beautiful football has won."

As much as I try to remain cool about it, I am (was) emotionally vested in Spain. Seeing these tiny players fouled again and again by the butch Dutch giants was difficult to watch.

Vicente del Bosque's decisions to put in Jesus "sexyeyes" Navaz (mesmerizing - and not just his eyes, mind you) and Cesc Fabregas totally paid off, despite everyone (including the commentator) going "What??"

In fact, after watching the final for the 3rd time, I wonder why Vicente del Bosque didn't place Navas in the starting lineup for this final, and wonder why Iniesta and Xavi kept on trying to drill the ball down the centre line when they could have exploited Van Bronkhorst's lack of pace in the right wing. Jesus Navas ran the Dutch captain ragged down the line and forced the Dutch coach Watshisname to replace him. I think I just found my new schoolgirl crush.

But I can't deny that it was poetic justice that the Man of the Tournament, the low-profile, clean-playing, hardworking Andres Iniesta was the one who scored the winning goal for Espanyol, not any flamboyant David Villa or the selfish Pedro. And he chose to honour one of his fallen teammates when celebrating the goal. It was a joy to watch Spain persisting to play their intricate, attacking style and refusing to bow to the thuggishness of the Dutch, who seemed to think that they could foul and rough their way to the Cup.

Beautiful.

And I can't help it - Thomas Mueller scoring two against the Prima-Maradona's side after being snubbed by the fat idiot during a press conference not so long ago. Now THAT's rubbing it in your face! Germany did light the World Cup on fire with their young, vibrant team that was just a joy to watch (almost) all the time. Kudos.