Whatever happens tonight, there will be a new winner engraved on the World Cup trophy as European heavyweights Holland and Spain gohead to head with each other at the Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium Stadium in South Africa.The Dutch have never won the World Cup after coming so close back in 1974 and 1978 only to finish as second best. Meanwhile this will be Spain's first enounter in a Final.
Spain who are the reigning European Champions will be aiming to create a first that is to become the first team to lose their opening match and go on to win the World Cup. The Spanish side have also have claimed knockout victories over Portugal, Paraguay and Germany to reach the final, and have not conceded a goal in the process making them the favourites for the Final.
If Vicente del Bosque men do win tonight then they will end 80 years of waiting and reassert Spanish footballing dominance following their Euro 2008 triumph in Austria-Switzerland.
Their defence has conceded only twice to date in South Africa, Switzerland's Gelson Fernandes beating Iker Casillas in their tournament opener and Chile scoring in the final group game.
Instrumental to their success is the good form of David Villa in front of goal. His five goals at the moment has put him as the main candidate to win the Golden Boot Award. And Del Bosque is expected to keep the same starting line-up from the side which overcame Germany 1-0 in the semi-finals. Which means that defender Carlos Marchena is unlikely to start despite coming on in the last three matches and holding the record of 55 consecutive international appearances without losing.
Barcelona striker Pedro is likely to partner Villa at the fron meaning that out of form Liverpool striker Fernando Torress will have to sit on the bench.
For Holland, they will look upon midfielder and playmaker Wesley Sneijder to inspire them here. The 26-year-old shares the tournament scoring lead alongside Villa and will be eager to prove his worth here.
Sneijder could also become the first European player to win the World Cup in the same season as the UEFA Champions League and a domestic league and cup double in the same year. For the record, he won the European title, Serie A and Italian Cup with Inter Milan.
For Holland, coach Bert van Marwijk has guided his side to six successive wins in the competition, scoring 12 goals and playing some of the most attacking football.
The highlight of the games has to eb the comeback from 1-0 down to beat Brazil 2-1 at Port Elizabeth in the quarter-finals. For tonight, the Oranje are expected to make two changes from the starting eleven which overcame Uruguay 3-2 in the semi-finals.
The good news is that Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong and defender Gregory van der Wiel are available after suspension with Khalid Boulahrouz and Demy de Zeeuw likely to make way.
At the end of 90 minutes if the game is settled, we will find out who will be the new country to win the eight World Cup in the tournament's 80-year history and the first new name on the cup since France 12 years ago.
Octopus Pick
"Paul The Octopus" has picked Spain to win - by eating the mussels in the box closest to him when they went into the water, this might produce a bump of people who will jump on the "psychic squid" and support Spain and the odds will definitely go up for the Oranje.
Me? I just think that the Octopus was hungry.
Note that the Octopus has have only ever predicted games involving Germany and this is the first time it is predicting a game that does not feature Germany. Could that confuse the squid?
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