Dan Gaspar

Dan Gaspar will be blogging for sportsnet.ca during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa while serving as goalkeeper coach for Team Portugal.

Andres Iniesta was the hero for Spain on Sunday.

With their World Cup win Sunday, Spain has proven that they are the standard in world football.

While it took some time for Spain to establish their style of play against the Netherlands, their patient, surgical approach paid off once again.

The Dutch opened up very aggressively. They took the Spaniards out of their rhythm early on and I think it was quite clever. Most teams, including Portugal when we played Spain, fall back and challenge them to break down the defence in hopes of winning possession and counter-attacking. Most teams try to use that strategy against Spain, but the Netherlands decided to put pressure on them instead in the first half. There were a lot of orange shirts around the Spanish players when they had the ball and it was much more challenging for them to stay in their comfort zone and maintain possession.

In the second half, the entry of Jesus Navas and Cesc Fabregas made a difference for Spain. They had a positive impact on the speed of play and Spain began to dictate the tempo which is what they are brilliant at. Of course, one of the best midfield players in the world, Andres Iniesta, finished them off with a spectacular goal. And once again, it was another late goal for Spain!

There were some open chances throughout the game but both teams had a tough time finishing. The level of pressure is very high in a World Cup final so no matter how accustomed a player may be to handling pressure, it's still going to affect his game.

The goalkeepers should have worn gloves on their feet on Sunday because I think both made more saves with their feet than they did with their hands! On the open chances, the goalkeepers read the plays properly and managed to make themselves as long as possible in hopes of stopping the ball with any part of their body. Both Iker Casillas and Maarten Stekelenburg came up big at the right time to keep the game alive for their teams.

There were a lot of cards in this match which was surprising because Howard Webb has a reputation of not showing many cards. I think his strategy was to issue cards early on to establish that he was going to call the game tightly. I don't think the players got the clue and they continued to play aggressively throughout the entire match, in particular the Dutch. They wanted to impose their physicality on the Spaniards and the referee attempted to control it early, but the players really didn't adjust. As a result, we saw 13 different players booked.

In the end, I think this Spanish team will have to be considered one of the best teams in history as a result of the back-to-back European and World Cup titles. The frightening thing is they're not done! They still have a relatively young team in key positions and these players can potentially be just as strong at the next World Cup.

I think Spain's win is great for the future of soccer. I remember when the Dutch invented "Total Football" back in the 1970s and most of the world tried to gravitate to that style of play. Now you have Spain winning the World Cup through a possession-style game with high-level skill. What generally happens when you're crowned world champions is you become the model for so many to follow, from the grassroots level all the way up to international team play, and that is good for the future of the game.

With the tournament ending, Diego Forlan of Uruguay won the Golden Ball as the best player in South Africa and I think that's a good selection. He's a dynamic player and he stepped up when his team needed him. He met the expectations of a world class player and he delivered when many others didn't. He's a worthy winner of that recognition.

This World Cup tournament will be remembered for many things, including the vuvuzelas, Jabulani ball and the poor calls made by officials that sent some teams home. But it should also be remembered as a tremendous success for South Africa. As the first African nation to host a World Cup, there were some doubts on whether they could deliver a safe and strong tournament but they did. South Africa should be extremely proud.

Dan Gaspar is the head coach of the University of Hartford men's soccer team and founder of the Star Goalkeeper Academy. Watch for Gaspar's blogs throughout the World Cup as he provides a perspective of what it's like to be on the pitch and in the clubhouse as part of the coaching staff with Team Portugal in South Africa.