In South Africa, where Spain has won its first World Cup by narrowly defeating the Netherlands in extra time. Both teams had few clear chances in normal time. The Netherlands broke up Spain's attempts to get its famous passing game going with physical play that brought the Dutch eight yellow cards.

Spanish midfielder and man of the match Andres Iniesta scored with four minutes of extra time remaining to seal the 1-nil win over the Netherlands. Spain becomes only the third team to be world and European champion at the same time. The defeat was heartbreaking for the Dutch, who were down to 10 men after John Heitinga was sent off in extra time. It was their third World Cup final loss after 1974 and 1978.