A great World Cup -- shame about the ball
Spain against Holland in Sunday's final will be a fitting end to what has been a great World Cup, spoiled only slightly by the decision to use a ball that took something away from the tournament in terms of skill.
Holland have played some very good football to make it this far whereas Spain have not yet reached the heights we know they can but my feeling is that Spain are going to be a bit too good for them.
Spain were technically much better than Germany in their semi-final and I think if the Dutch are to have a chance they're going to have to get wide and get their crosses in from dangerous areas. Arjen Robben now looks to be in form and he will be key to their hopes in that sense.
The Dutch have another eye-catching player in Wesley Sneijder, someone who has been in the thick of the action all the time, but Spain have quality throughout their team.
They also have a goalkeeper in Iker Casillas who has been improving as the tournament has gone on. He captains the side too and he is close now to emulating the feat of Dino Zoff. Casillas has shown once again that goalkeepers can make great captains.
I've got a feeling that coach Vicente del Bosque will stick with the team that got them through and that means there'll be no place for Fernando Torres, who I expect to be used as an impact sub on Sunday.
It just hasn't happened for Torres at this World Cup and it's been the same for the other big players we were all talking about ahead of the tournament -- Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It's hard to explain their lack of form but all I can put it down to is the weight of expectation. They all came here hoping to claim the mantle of the world's best player only to disappoint.
One player who certainly hasn't disappointed is David Villa, Spain's in-form forward. He's been outstanding, scored goals regularly and is perhaps the player most likely to come up with that moment of magic in the final.
Casting around for the other players of the tournament, you obviously have all that class from Spain and the Dutch, and further afield I was really impressed by Miroslav Klose, who looks a natural predator, and his striker partner Thomas Mueller. There was no goalkeeper that stood out massively. There were some great saves but some basic technical errors as well.
Of course, the goalkeepers were not helped by the use of the Jabulani ball, the real downside to this terrific World Cup.
The ball has simply been too unpredictable. We haven't seen players bending the ball around the wall on free kicks and not to have that sort of skill on show has been a real shame. We have seen some spectacular long-range goals but to me that's been down to the movement in the air rather than the skill in the World Cup. It's made life more difficult for goalkeepers and for strikers and for me it's detracted from the World Cup.
Otherwise, South Africa can be satisfied with staging a great event.
I've been in South Africa for the last few days and I've been very impressed with the atmosphere. Admittedly the vuvuzelas took a bit of getting used and must have made life very difficult for the goalkeepers but the people have been really friendly and you can sense the pride felt at hosting the first African World Cup. That pride has come across everywhere I've been and you have to hand it to South Africa for making the World Cup a tremendous success -- on the pitch and off it.
