Spain beat stubborn Holland 1-0 to clinch World Cup

APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) Consistence and hard work paid off in the 116th minute of overtime for Spain as it overcame stubborn Holland 1-0 to win their FIFA World Cup for the first time in a final match of the month-long football festival played at Soccer City Stadium in the Johannesburg Sunday night.

Though the Spaniards dominated the proceedings from the start, the Dutch put up a strong fight and could have won the game – but as Paul the Octopus had predicted, it was not their day.

Just when fans thought the match would go into penalties, hero of the day, Andres Iniesta, received a pass at the edge of the goal area and blasted it into the net to clinch Spain's first ever trophy of the World Cup in extra time.

The loss was third in the World Cup final for the Dutch who first lost the World Cup finals to Germany in 1974, and in 1978 the Netherlands succumbed to Argentina – leaving intact the second place winners' reputation as the best World Cup team that has never won this trophy.

Spain also made history as the first team to lose their opening match in the tournament and proceed to win the trophy itself. No team had ever done this before in the history of the competition, according to records, until Spain did it here Sunday night.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and South African President Jacob Zuma jointly presented the trophy to Iker Cassillas, the goalkeeper-captain of the winners.