2010 FIFA World Cup Final: Spain vs Netherlands Live Updates

Sports fans all over the world are less than 96 hours away from dealing with a painful withdrawal as World Cup 2010 wraps up. But there is one thing left to do – crown a champion!

All eyes will be on that championship game in Soccer City Stadium on Sunday, featuring the all European matchup between the Netherlands and Spain.

The Dutch earned a berth by defeating Uruguay in a 3-2 thriller in the semifinal, while the Spanish played their best game of the tourney in defeating the Germans 1-0.

Online sportsbooks have released odds for the title game. SPORTSBETTING.com have the Dutch at +198, while the Spaniards have been established as -111 favorites.

Over/Under bettors note that the Total has been set at 2.5.

Spain is no stranger to championship games recently, as they are the defending Euro champion, having taken the 2008 tournament in Vienna. In fact, looking at the World Cup odds heading into the 2010 tournament, Spain was the favorite to win it all at odds of +400.

The Spanish, however, have been slightly one-dimensional on their offensive attack.

The team has only netted seven goals through six games in South Africa, but five of them have come from forward David Villa.

On the other hand, goalkeeper Iker Casillas has been brilliant, allowing only two goals and making 12 saves thus far.

Spain has amassed 5 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss during its 2010 campaign and with that, 1 Over and 5 Unders as well.

Despite being listed as underdogs by sportsbooks, the Netherlands have come through to the final game boasting a nicely balanced attack.

The Dutch have scored 12 goals, which is good enough for second amongst all the teams in this World Cup (Germany currently is the highest scoring team with 13).

Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder leads the squad with five goals, like Villa, but has had more support.

Fellow midfielder Arjen Robben has a pair of goals followed by four players with a goal each.

But while the Netherlands has scored more goals than Spain, they have also allowed more as well – goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg has watched five balls go by him.

The Dutch have had the honor of going through South Africa 2010 without conceding a loss thus far (6-0-0 SU) but then the question is, will they finish with a perfect record or are they due for a loss?

They have 4 Overs and 2 Unders to go with the six wins.

SPORTSBETTING.com manager Brian Taylor gave us some insight into the World Cup betting for the final, “it’s been pretty even action so far, with 41% on Spain, 36% on the Netherland and 23% on the “Draw after regulation” option.”

Total bettors have 61% on the “Over” 2.5 goals heading into Friday betting action.

As a side note, Uruguay and Germany will play the third-place game on Saturday and sportsbooks have the Uruguayans listed as heavy +410 underdogs and the Germans as -188 faves with a Total of 2.5.

It’s been a fun month filled with great goals and some really bad officiating (we won’t dwell on the negative though).

Enjoy the World Cup final.

Germany vs. Spain World Cup Semifinals: Who Will meet Holland??

The Netherlands booked their spot in the World Cup final game with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay on Tuesday. Now we see who slots into the other spot when Germany faces Spain in the other Semi-Final game on Wednesday.

Spain began the tournament as the favorites, but the 2008 European Champions have failed to impress, despite finding themselves one game away from the final.

On the side, not much was expected of the German team, but their performance to this point has their fans reminiscing of 1990 when West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 to be crowned champs.

The Germans have been an offensive machine this tournament, netting 13 goals so far. Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller both have 4 goals apiece, Lukas Podolski has 2 goals and Cacau, Mesut Ozil and Arne Friedrich all have a goal.

Online sportsbooks have Germany listed at +108 going into the semifinal match with Spain.

The Spaniards are going into the semis with an identical 4-0-1 mark as the Germans. Unlike the Germans however, Spain has received a bulk of its scoring from David Villa, with the forward popping in five of the Spanish’s six goals.

The Spaniards are listed at +147 vs. Germany.

There has also been plenty of action on the World Cup prop betting options. One of the more popular is the “Man of the Match” prop bets.

SPORTSBETTING.com has are the favourites for those odds:

Man of the Match Odds and Betting

Fernando Torres 5/1
Mesut Ozil 9/2
Bastian Schweinsteiger 9/2
David Villa 11/4
Miroslav Klose 5/2

Manager Brian Taylor stated, “It’s all Klose and David Villa money so far, with those two making up about 80% of all the volume”

Also, Taylor said the “First Goal Scorer” has been popular with SPORTSBETTING.com’s players.

Here are the favorites for those odds:

First Goal Scorer
No Goalscorer 6/1
Fernando Torres 11/2
Miroslav Klose 5/1
David Villa 10/3

It should be a very entertaining Semi-Final, with the potential to be an epic battle.

Good luck.

Germany Vs Spain fight to decide the finalist

Beating the Germans in the Euro 2008 final did much to shed Spain's  reputation as an international underachiever, but Germany will be eager  to avenge that loss Wednesday night in Durban as it seeks a spot in a  record eighth World Cup final.

Spain's soccer history had, until  recently, been defined by its failures on the sport's biggest stages. It  hadn't advanced past the World Cup quarterfinals since the knockout  stage began in 1954, and it entered Euro 2008 without a continental  title since 1964.

Uruguay vs. Netherlands - World Cup Semi-Final Preview

And then there were four…the World Cup tournament is down to the last few games, with the big ones, the Semi-Finals, kicking off on Tuesday.

It has been a thrilling tournament thus far, with plenty of drama, upsets and controversy.

Uruguay is looking to score their second World Cup championship…a scant 80 years after booking their first. Uruguay actually won the first-ever World Cup when they hosted the inaugural tournament some eight decades ago, but they are longshots out of the four remaining teams. Online sportsbooks have them listed at +1100 to be crowned champs.

Their path to the 2010 World Cup title game wasn’t going to be easy no matter what happened in the quarter final between Brazil and the Netherlands. But the men in Orange pulled off an upset to send Brazil home and move through to play Uruguay.