Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
However, Puyol and co. weren’t allowed to lift the trophy without, literally, a fight. From the outset, De Jong and Van Bommel set about the Spanish, foaming at the mouth and ravenous for dirty tackles. Spain played in blue, but if they had played in their usual red, they would most certainly have used the shirts as red flags, shouting “ole!” every time an orange bull flew past. The game finished 0-0, with a record number of cards, and a record lack of goalmouth action. Howard Webb, who spent the match running around looking like an angry Humpty Dumpty, sent off Johnny Heitinga late on.
The game stretched a bit more in extra time, as is normally the case, and eventually Andres Iniesta was allowed to score a deserved winner for Spain. Fernando Torres was involved in the winner, but another lacklustre performance from him finished with a fresh tweak of the hamstring. His World Cup appears to have been enough to put Chelsea off, but Man City are still interested. Figures..........
Can I make a brief defence of the Dutch? I don’t need permission, as this is my blog, but it seems like the world is out for those scandalous tulip-loving windmill-dwellers. Firstly, they lost the game, and so were not rewarded in any way for the manner in which they approached the game. Secondly, how else can you play Spain? I must admit, I’d have told them to do the same thing, and it was quite effective in separating tici from taca. Finally, this is not a new phenomenon. This Netherlands team was spawned years ago under Marco Van Basten. Remember THAT game against Portugal?
All in all, a well deserved win for the best footballing team in the tournament. Thomas Muller gets the Golden Boot (he got more assists than the others) and, pleasingly, Diego Forlan was today awarded the Golden Ball. As for the Golden Keyboard, (blogger of the tournament) well, it’s not for me to say...............
If I was the Dutch manager, I might have told them to try and stop Spain from playing, but I don't think I'd have asked anyone to Kung Fu kick Xabi Alonso...
Great article James 
A great end to the tournament.
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