Yes we Catalan: Spain reach World Cup final

Puyol's third international goal put Spain in their first ever World Cup Final.

The game wasn’t the spectacle supporters might have hoped for, with only one goal in it. And even that didn’t come until the 73rd minute. The only major talking point before Puyol headed Spain into the final was Vincent Del Bosque’s decision to finally drop an out-of-form Torres and replace him with young striker Pedro.

The surprise wasn’t leaving out Torres - who in South Africa has not looked like the man Liverpool are so overly reliant upon – but the call to swap him with the 22 year old from Barcelona. Llorente and Fabregas both changed the game when they replaced Torres against Portugal and Paraguay respectively, so they were the two names football fans worldwide were debating when discussing the prospect of leaving El Niño on the bench.

Pedro did not look threatening in front of goal, but in his defence no one in the Spanish side did. They were the better side, and deserved their victory, but they were lucky that the Germans didn’t make them pay for their profligacy. Germany never looked like scoring four in Durban, the way they had so mercilessly against England and Argentina. In fact, they only managed four shots on target throughout the game.

At half-time, the game had 0-0 written all over it. Germany’s game plan was focused around launching counter-attacks, and though they did well to frustrate Spain they offered little going forward. The best chance of the first half was Carles Puyol’s header in the 14th minute; the Barcelona captain dove onto a cross from Iniesta, but the header flew over the bar and Germany breathed a sigh of relief.

Puyol atoned for that miss 17 minutes from time, just as extra time and penalties seemed to be looming. Eight minutes later, Del Bosque seemed confident that one goal would be all his side needed; off game Villa, scorer of five goals in South Africa, and on came Torres, scorer of none. As I watched the bemused expressions of the Spain fans in Durban, I couldn’t help but think that if Germany equalised Del Bosque would get lynched.

Torres might have opened his scoring account a minute later when he was unmarked in the box, but strike partner Pedro hesitated and was tackled before he could make the pass. Torres couldn’t belief it, and Pedro will surely find himself back on the bench on Sunday.

Will Torres find himself on the bench too? Only time will tell, but right now all he and the other 22 members of Spain’s squad will care about is the fact that they have done what no other Spanish World Cup squad could manage – reach the World Cup final. They go into the game as favourites against the Netherlands, but they have been efficient rather than spectacular. Since losing to Switzerland, four of Spain’s five victories have been by a single goal margin. The 2-0 victory over Honduras was the exception.

Holland have a similar record – only their victory over Denmark was by more than one goal – but the manner of their victories over Brazil and Uruguay will surely have caught Spain’s attention. La Furia Roja are 90 minutes away from adding the golden trophy to their Euro 2008 glory, but it’s certainly not unthinkable that the world could be painted Oranje instead.

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