The 2010 FIFA World Cup will conclude on Sunday, when the Netherlands and Spain face each other to crown a new World Champion! Here are a few interesting facts about the finalists...
Teams - Top Goals
1. Germany - 13 Goals
2 Netherland - 12 Goals
...
5. Uruguay - 10 Goals
...
7. Spain - 6 Goals
Contenders for the Golden Boot Award
Following six players have the chance to clinch the Golden Boot Award...
Wesley Sneijder (NED) & David Villa (ESP) - 5 Goals
Thomas Mueller (GER), Miroslav Klose (GER) & Diego Forlan (URU) - 4 Goals
Luiz Suarez (URU) - 3 Goals
Bookings
Spain had the least number of bookings in the whole tournament! Only North Korea were "better" than Spain with just 2 yellow cards on their side.
• Spain - 3 yellow cards | 0 yellow-red cards | 0 red cards
• Netherlands - 15 yellow cards | 0 yellow-red cards | 0 red cards
The Netherlands collected more yellow cards than any other team in the competition!
Other Stats
• Netherlands - Most fouls in the competition - 98 fouls (Spain 62 fouls)
• Spain - Most shot attempts in the competion - 103 shots (Netherlands 80 shots)
• The Netherlands and Spain have previously met on nine occasions, with each team winning four times (one draw).
• The Netherlands go into the final on the back of six wins, and if they are victorious on Sunday, they will become only the fifth side to register a 100% record in WC finals so far.
• The Dutch also had a 100% record in qualification for South Africa and will become only the second nation ever to win all their qualifiers and finals games, after Brazil achieved this feat in 1970.
• This will be the Netherlands’ third World Cup final but the first where they haven’t had to play the hosts.
• Only four other sides have appeared in more World Cup finals than the Dutch (including 2010) – Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Italy.
• The Netherlands have lost just one of their last 10 games at the World Cup.
• Ther Netherlands are now unbeaten in 25 successive international matches.
• The Dutch have won just five of their last 12 World Cup finals meetings with fellow European sides.
• Spain could be the second reigning European champions to win the World Cup, after Germany in 1974.
• Spain have won 42 of their last 44 matches, losing the other two.
• Should Spain win, they will need to score at least four goals to avoid becoming the lowest-scoring winner of the World Cup.
• Sergio Ramos (ESP) has made 15 fouls at this World Cup, more than any other player without receiving a card.
• 10 of the 12 matches these two sides have played at this World Cup have been decided by a one-goal margin.
• Both teams are looking for their maidan World Cup title! It's the first WC final for the Spaniards, while the Dutch played the finals in 1974 and 1978.
• This will be the first World Cup final without Brazil, Argentina, Germany or Italy in it.
(Sources: FIFA, Wikipedia & Eurosport)
