Red Fury or Orange? City residents take sides for today’s final

But there are people like Bikramjit Singh,member of the senior Indian football team,who believes the final result will be an outcome of hard work and dedication and not based on predictions. “The journey has been amazing. All the tags of the favourites have been shred to pieces and many teams have showed their dominance in world football. Germany were favourites to win the World Cup after they recorded comprehensive wins over England and Argentina. It was surprising to see them play a subdued game in the semi-final. This World Cup has sprung up many surprises and the semi-final match was one of them. The best team on Sunday will win,” said Bikramjit,whose favourite team,England,failed to clear the group stages.

“On the page,both the teams look good. Spain definitely has the momentum with them after their morale-boosting victory over Germany. For the better part of the match,they were the team on top and that will definitely give them lots of confidence going into Sunday’s match. Before that,they hadn’t beaten any noteworthy opponent,apart from Portugal; but in the semi-final match,they showed glimpses of what they are capable of. Fernando Torres is a big-stage player and it is hightime he pays back the faith shown in him by the coach,” said Deepak Devrani,CFA trainee,who is preparing to join the squad for the Asian Games.

But the never-say-die attitude of the Dutch players — something that was on display in their match against Brazil where despite being down by one goal,they staged a tremendous comeback and humbled the five time world champions 2-1— will definitely come handy for that team. “If they play with the same vigour in the final,they can definitely win the title. They are not dependent on a single player to score goals and it could be a Sneijder,Robben or van Persie who might find the back of the net for them. The Dutch team has more individual talent than Spain,who play more like a team. If Sneijder and Robben get going,and Persie finds his form,then it would be all over for Spain,” said Sumit Passi,a member of the Chandigarh team that recently won the Dr B C Roy Trophy.

For Tejinder Kumar,coach,CFA,whoever wins the battle in the midfield will walk away with the trophy. “Both the teams are good and the final will be a 50-50 affair. It will be a battle between Xavi Hernandes and Sneijder and whoever succeeds in that area will help the team win the title,” he said.

However,for fans who like high-scoring matches,the final might cause some disappointment for them. “Spanish players like to keep possession of the ball and it would be very difficult for the Dutch players to keep them in control. However,Spain could lose the match on the grounds that they lack finishing touches,except for the likes of David Villa. On the other hand,Netherlands will try to make full use of whatever chances that come their way. But it will be a low scoring affair. Perhaps the winner will win the match by a solitary goal or may be by 2-1,but not more than that,” said Rajinder,who was Passi’s partner during their maiden title win in Kolkata.

The final question still remains to be answered: who will win the golden boot award- David Villa or Wesley Sneijder? “It’s a tough answer to answer as both the players have the ability to score goals out of almost nothing. But Villa is a proven customer and he just needs a goal to equal Raul Gonzalez’s record as Spain’s all time top scorer with 44 goals. I hope he wins the golden boot. I’d be happy even if he shares the title with Sneijder,” said Shehnaz,a CFA trainee. La Furia Roja (meaning the Red Fury for the Spanish team) or Oranje: one of the teams will write a new history and shed the under-achievers tag.