VIVA LA ESPANA!

Uruguay were dished another 3-2 loss, this time at the hands of Germany. There have been some quick bookings throughout the tournament and Dennis Aogo is no exception; he received the first booking of the match in the 5th minute. Cacau was next in the book, receiving his yellow card for a handball two minutes later. Further bookings, both dished out in the second half, went to Diego Perez and Arne Friedrich. Thomas Muller, Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlan, Marcell Jansen, and Sami Khedira all scored one goal apiece. I think the third-place playoff should be for the third place in a three-team final where each team plays two of three 45-minute periods.

Then, it was time to catch that Tri-Nations test. Bakkies Botha, whose poor discipline record over the years has made him rugby’s answer to Zinedine Zidane, was lucky to escape punishment for headbutting the back of Jimmy Cowan’s head in the second minute, but was sin-binned in the 13th minute for a “professional foul”. Morne Steyn kicked four penalties for the Springboks (the second of which gave him his 200th point for the Boks), and for the All Blacks, in addition to three conversions and two penalties from Dan Carter, there were tries scored by Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Kieran Read, and Tony Woodcock. Final score was 32-12 to the All Blacks. A judiciary later reviewed Botha’s headbutt and now he is suspended for the rest of the Tri-Nations.

And then came the big moment – Netherlands and Spain took to the field for the first ever World Cup final between two monarchies. A record 13 players were booked, one of them (John Heitinga) was booked again and subsequently sent off. Andres Iniesta scored the only goal of the match in extra time, causing Spain to win 1-0.