Spain defeated Germany by 1-0 in the Moses Mabhida Stadium of Durban, and will now play against the Netherlands in the World Cup 2010 final this Sunday. Both Spain and the Netherlands will compete for a chance to win the first World Cup trophy in their history, with the Spanish team reaching the final game of the biggest football tournament for the very first time. The World Cup 2010 semi-final score was a repeat of the 2008 Euro competition when Spain had also beat Germany by 1-0 to win the trophy.
Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque decided to leave Fernando Torres outside the starting 11 this time, instead Pedro took his place on the field and David Villa was the only man in front. Spain was better than Germany during the entire game, and lost quite a few chances in the first half with Villa (6′), Puyol (14′), and Pedro (44′). Germany on the other hand was invisible after the first 45 minutes, and only had a chance with Piotr Trochowski in 32′ that forced a nice block by Iker Casillas.
The second half continued in the same motif, with Spain pressing hard, making chances and controlling the game. Pedro dribbled past Boateng and Friedrich in 48′, before passing the ball to Xabi Alonso that barely missed the target. Seven minutes later Xavi gave a nice pass to David Villa that sent a sloppy shot outside. In 58′ Manuel Neuer denied a powerful shot from Pedro, Iniesta took the rebound and sent a dangerous pass inside the goal area but Villa was unable to push it in. A minute later Pedro again missed a great opportunity to score a goal for Spain, that finally came in 73′: Xavi found Carles Puyol with a beautiful corner kick, that had no problem scoring with a close range header that left Neuer a statue. Germany tried to score an equalizer and sent the game into overtime, but the Spanish defense was always there to stop any attempts.
