World Cup Final special: live on BBC World News television

Has anybody actually checked out whether the octopus has certain colour preferences - rather than team preferences?
"In octopuses, such color cells come in red, orange, yellow, brown or black. The combinations of these hues are endless, allowing the creature to match most natural backgrounds." So I would guess that given the choice an octopus would always choose a background which most closely matches one of these colour cells, i.e. not a flag with a lot of white or blue in it but rather as much yellow or red as poss. or one with red, yellow and black - which country was that anyway?

Irishman living in Spain. Whole country is going mental, Johan Cryuff says Spain are better. Great not having Italy or particularly France ha ha ha in the final

I have been listening to the BBC radio. I just hope the ref will keep his head up high and not make vivid misteks. As for FIFA they ought to have a review court which can decide on some vivid issues. e.g. Bogus bookings and clear disallowed goals. Refs are human beings they need help.

Ros,

Our dear host; I have to disagreed with you---

@ half time: 2 Holland (Netherlands) 0 for Spain....

(d)

It is very kind of Gary Lineker to show his support for Holland by painting himself orange.

The Dutch have come all the way to this final just to play dirty football? Rinus Michels must be turning over in his grave!

Ros:

It's Half time in World Cup final and, the score 0-0 on both sides; So, we are all wrong in theory...What is the newest scores for the 2nd half....

(d)

Overall the whole world cup has been good but I was disappointed by the performance of all those stars with multi million dollar/euro price tags. It has lacked the excitement and thrills I experienced in the 2002 cup. The star performer for me in this whole tournament has been Paul...

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After listening to Hanson on the BBC who talks rubbish most of the time,i have to go for Holland to win.
Fouls have been commited by both teams and if Mr Webb was doing his job to the letter both sides would be down to 9v9.

I can't believe as a 17 year old girl I seem to know the rules better than the ref and indeed the commentators. I haven't been impressed with the commentators at all this tournament. Why is it that the Britsh have something against remaining neutral?? As for the final, the Spainish fouled the Dutch equally as many times as the Dutch fouled the Spanish only the Dutch got on with it and the Spanish wriggled around on the floor. I originally didn't care who won but after that appalling refereeing then....

Yes Spain are a great team, but why to they have to dive so often. They ask for Yellow cards for every foul, so why does the referee not give them a card for waving their hand, as per the FIFA guidance. The most unsportsman like team that I have ever seen. Not worthy champions if they win. When will FIFA realise that the rules need to change similar to those implemented in rugby. Less cheating more foot ball please.

Awful match! Awful referee! Get Webb off! Spain were a bunch of fowlers and divers. Holland deserved to win. Totally rubbish! Will go as one of the worst world cup finals since 1990 Germany v Argentina.

Worst final I've ever seen, awful one-sided refereeing and a goal that shouldn't have been because the referee/linesman missed TWO deflections. Awful. To me the 3/4 place playoff should have been the final, and that's saying a lot as Suarez cheated to get them there...

I will disagree with the BBC's 3 pundits,as i dont think Spain where the best team in the competition,i think Germany where and where unlucky against Spain.
My man of the match tonight was Robben.

It will be cool when historians finally get to read this comments.

the result from this game was a pure outrage!! the spanish may have been better players skillful but the dutch faught for what they wanted - everyone put them down because they were the underdogs - and once the spainsh got a goal they pissed around and holland didnt get a chance to get a goal. the comments made during half time and before the match were all unfair - all of the spanish good points were brought up and all off hollands bad points were brought up. another thing when the spainsh got hurt they fell like kids were as the dutch got up and played on. pure usless!!!

Well done Spain, best team won. Despite what the so called experts say I thought Howard Webb had a really good game and I think he is an awful referee..

Once again a critical game is decided by a referee mistake. Spain scored with ~5 minutes left including extra time after referee awarded a goal kick despite a clear deflection. Result? Spain goal. Referees should be impartial and accurate mistakes happen but with the number of mistakes seen throughout the Worldcup its time to include more refs on the field or quick replay to limit the number of fouls given without contact and to give the right cards when contact does happen.

Congratulations to Spain. The French must be relieved that their negative reputation has been surpassed by the Dutch who have disgraced themselves more with their outrageous and foul tactics.

Well I'm utterly disgusted and hugely frustrated with the end result as usual with what has been a lack lustre tournament!!
With any other sport cheating just plainly IS NOT ALLOWED! Why is it that with such a huge sport as football human error is what ultimately decides whether a team wins or loses?? I was chuffed when an English referee was chosen to cover the final, up until he made a completely ridiculous decision at the end and gave a goal kick which should have been a corner!! Had that HUMAN ERROR not been made the goal probably wouldn't have happened and the Holland team would probably not feel that they had been robbed!! Football has the worst track record for violence and with human error causing so much frustration between players and fans alike its hardly surprising that violence often occurs which is most unfortunate as the whole idea of the sport is to bring entertainment. Its about time that the technology that is available was used to actually ensure that the game is played FAIRLY! This would also help to eradicate all the foul playing that happens on the pitch, whether its a player diving or someone doing a dirty tackle that doesn't get acted upon all of it would not just be down to a referee alone, an occasional check of cameras on the big screen would not make the game take that much longer but would ensure that football actually became a sport that was played FAIRLY is that so much to ask????

Absolutely shameful display, rather typical of that Spanish side during this tournament. They might have earned the win tonight, but they certainly haven't proven themselves worthy of the cup.

One can't help but feel Germany and Uruguay were the real winners this weekend.

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Disappointed as the most boring team in world football win the Word Cup. All he self-styled congoscenti go on about how supposedly wonderful Spain are with their possession football, but they've played the most attacking and entertaining teams in the competitions (Germany and Holland) and they've ground out 1-0 wins. How is that wonderful? It's not - and the commentators should wake up and place more value on what ordinary football fans like (adventure, energy and an attacking style) and less on the supposedly purist values of passing the ball around. Spain are the most tedious, boring World Cup winners ever. Very sad, and d0n't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hi. I dont understand how comes you english people dont like good football. I am saying this as you have the most exciting league from all the other countries with fast and simple football but you are keen in the boring slow meaningless, make someone yawn, passing game of Spain. Honestly if you have to remember 5 matches from this World cup, will you ever remember 1 match from Spain? Did Spain really entertain you? Which proves that Spain did play for the result, thing not bad, but treat all the teams the same then if they do so, e.g. Greece in 2004 or Bayern Munich every time for the champions league. Why is it that they are useless, playing defence and for the result and Spain is the best team? Was Spain pushed all the way through? Yes indeed. Was it because of the betting before the World cup even started? I dont know but definately was pushed. Check one by one the matches and you will understand; offside goal from Villa against Portugal, Mueller out with yellow so he couldnt play, ungiven foul to Oezil and red card to Ramos, ungiven foul to Netherlands and goal in counter attack. Even if you are not willing to accept those facts, like I said , will you ever remember a single game from Spain? From 90 minutes game ,take out 20 at least for delays, so we have 70 mins action. 50 for Spain and 20 for the other team. 49.5 mins pointless passes is the spanish game. And you are trying to convince me that this is entertaining and great football. Here in Switzerland , known for not liking the germans, we actually were for the germans as they played the best football and it was really entertaining. Everyone will remember the Germany vs England , propably the best match of this Cup. Since Germany didnt qualify , we were with the Netherlands, the second best team of this cup. Please be fair and show it by telling the truth. And another thing. Joseph was not present in the last Cup to give it to Italy but he was now for Spain.Coincidence? I dont think so! Plus that he arranged all the World Cups to be taken place in non european countries. China, S.Africa, Brasil. Coincidence? I dont think so. Does it have to do anything with the money? remaining president? I let you decide. Thank you very much indeed.

For once, two teams playing futbol got what they deserved.

The Dutch were filthy, and should have been down to 9 men PRIOR to extra time. They ould not equal the skill of the Spaniards, so they tried to kill them. Their reward: a loss.

Spain tried throughout the tournament to play beautiful futbol. Their reward: World Cup victory.

Even Ruud Gullit when interviewed after the game was embarrassed. The Dutch should be ashamed of that display.

If the Dutch pulled that on a team like Italy or Argentina, they would be repayed with broken bones and concussions.

Beauty won over filth.

Ros:

i have to admit that i was very much wrong with my previous predictions with the dutch team and the score.....but, congrats to the spanish national team at the 2010 world cup team in south africa...

~Dennis Junior~

even if the netherlands would have won, it would have been no victory to be proud of. i know the referee didn't want to decide that match and so didn't send off de jonge, but in hindsight he really should have. -dave in michigan

This has been the toughest World Cup final I've ever watched. Two teams that can play football yet that are well-drilled tactically. It wasn't the most attractive final ever, but it wasn't the most drab either.

It was very clever tactical football from both sides. On this score, the Dutch surprised me. They'd played very well to get to the final, but I didn't think they could handle a match of this magnitude without showing frailties.

Both managers must be the best in the business.

The referee did a sterling job in a match that many referees would have mishandled. It was a very difficult match to referee.

The worst tackle in the first half was Nigel de Jong's karate kick on a Spanish player, yet it could also be seen that this was entirely accidental. Many referees would have sent off de Jong, but I believe that the right decision was taken.

It is never good to send off players in a world cup final (particularly so in the first half, when players are still warming up to the occasion and would be nervous) unless the situation can't be helped.

On the whole, this was a magnificent World Cup. It started slowly as teams were scared of losing their first match. Then it picked up in the second and final group games.

It reached climax in the knock-out stages that had many brilliant matches, some with unexpected results. Even where the results were expected the losing teams put up unexpectedly brilliant performances (I can easily remember Paraguay's display against Spain in the quarter final).

Many managers were on top form in this World Cup and many teams played clever tactical football, allied with whatever skill they could muster.

Well done to Spain. They played an effective passing and diving game, against a hacking Netherlands side. This is one of the few finals where I've been neutral... or maybe that's indifferent to the result. I think the ref got a whole lot of things wrong, but he managed to keep the game respectable by not sending off everyone even though they deserved to be sent off.
The Dutch can blame the officials for missing the massive deflection on the freekick and goalkeeper pushing it out, and for missing the clobbering of Elia which led up to the goal, but really they only need to blame their tactics and Robben for missing 2 one-on-ones with the goalkeeper.

It was an awful final. I, as a Dutchman, admit Oranje played dirty but it has to be said that Spain barely scraped by with a 0-1 win for the fourth time in a row, both teams needed some luck to make the final, so I can't agree with the people who say Spain trashed the opposition with "beautiful football", they play very effective, but not beautiful. Even Italy scores more goals than Spain. So I believe this winning formula of Spain may well be a temporary fluke: by 2014 many of their current players will have retired and I am doubtful they will be replaced by equally talented players. In contrast the Netherlands and Brazil always have a steady stream of highly skilled young players waiting to take over, while Germany's young team will only get better. We Dutch will mourn this loss but this tournament has shown the team how far they can get if they believe in themselves and play as a team and I think that will resonate for years to come and will help the Dutch to go far again in 2012 and 2014.

My predictions for 2014: Brazil and Germany will dominate, with the Dutch being a dangerous outsider.

@27 Theo

I agree, if I have to choose a side who played the best football this tournament it would be the Germans, definitely not Spain. Spain just passes the ball around all the time with the idea "as long as we have the ball the opponent can't score". The best side in a tournament doesn't grind out continuous 1-0 wins.

BTW. Here's to hoping to a future world cup where the players decide more games than the referee! I don't blame the referees: players are getting better and better at walking the edge (sometimes literally) and feigning injuries and fouls, therefore referees should have electronic aides at their disposal. Without those it will be very hard for me to take future tournaments seriously and FIFA refusing electronic aides will only feed the conspiracy theories that FIFA "helps" certain teams.

Why didn't the BBC show the opening ceremony? This would have been far more entertaining than listening to Gary & Co. endlessly expounding their boring opinions about the two teams. I suppose the BBC could not afford to pay for it after throwing our licence money at Ross and similar rubbish from the USA. Or, is the BBC too snobbish to show African native shows?
My wife and I were both very disappointed to miss the opening show with Nelson Mandela and the elephants.
As to the match itself; Spain played the ball, Holland played the man, and the referee played the game. Not a great final but Spain deserved to win on skill, and Holland deserved to lose on fouls.