Preview: Netherlands v. FC Barcelona, World Cup Final

Van Persie and Fabregas may share the World Cup Final pitch... for like 25 minutes at most.

Pics via 1000 Goals and Arsenal Spot.

Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg

Sunday, July 11

2:30 p.m. EDT, 19:45 BST

• Referee: Howard Webb (England)
• First World Cup meeting
• All-Time in All Competitions: 4 Netherlands wins, 4 Spain wins, 1 draw
• Netherlands Form: W-W-W / W-W-W
• Spain Form: L-W-W / W-W-W

Netherlands Predicted Line-Up

Stekelenburg

van der Wiel - Heitinga - Mathijsen - van Bronckhorst

van Bommel - de Jong

Robben - Sneijder - Kuyt

van Persie

Spain Predicted Line-Up

Casillas

Ramos - Pique - Puyol - Capdevila

Busquets - Xabi Alonso

Xavi - Iniesta

           Pedro

Villa

Historical Notes

• This is the first World Cup Final since 1978 to feature two nations that have never won the tournament before.
• It's the third appearance for the Dutch in the final; they lost to West Germany in 1974 and to Argentina in 1978.
• This is the first final appearance for Spain.
• This marks only the third final since 1954 not to feature Germany or Brazil. It's the second consecutive final to do so as well, the third was 1978.
• Spain and the Netherlands have never before met in the tournament stage of a major international competition (meaning the World Cup or the European Championship.)
• They did meet in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Spain won 3-1 to take the silver medal while the Netherlands took bronze.
• They met in qualifying for the 1984 Euro; Spain won 1-0 in Seville, Holland won 2-1 in Rotterdam. Spain advanced at Holland's expense on the third tie-breaker, goals scored, after famously defeating Malta 12-1 in the final qualifying match.
• Spain has not beaten the Netherlands since that 1-0 win in 1983, losing three and drawing one.

Match Notes

• In the FIFA rankings, Spain are #2 and the Netherlands are #4.
• With a win, Spain would become the first nation to win the World Cup after losing their first game of group play.
• This is the first World Cup final not to include one of either Brazil, Italy, Argentina, or (West) Germany.
• Paul the Octopus picked Spain.