By Our Correspondent
Cape Town, 12/07/2010
Spain gloried in a first World Cup triumph that finally buried their decades-old tag of international underachievers, but it was more agony for the Netherlands after a third defeat in the final.Crowds in Madrid and elsewhere partied through the night long after the last "Ole" sounded inside Soccer City, Johannesburg, scene of Spain's greatest soccer moment."We still don't realise the full extent of this. It is something incredible," match-winner Andres Iniesta said while thousands of Spaniards left the stadium singing his name.In Amsterdam, there was utter dejection as the Dutch saw history repeat itself after defeats in 1974 and 1978 finals.Sadly for them, their reputation as the best team never to win the World Cup will stick -- for four more years at least.Both sides had deserved to be in the final, showing fantastic teamwork to drag themselves beyond 30 other teams through the month-long tournament of 64 games in total.
Yet their final encounter was a disappointing affair, spoiled by too many fouls and only just spared the agony of a penalty shootout when midfielder Iniesta stepped up in the dying minutes of extra time to make it 1-0 and game over.It was fitting that captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas should raise and kiss the trophy first after twice thwarting speedy Dutch winger Arjen Robben when through on goal.