Spain defeats Netherlands 1-0 in extra time!

Goal by Iniesta in 116th minute

Spain's place among world football's all-time greatest teams was assured Sunday when Andres Iniesta scored with four minutes of extra time remaining to beat the Netherlands 1-0 and clinch his country's first World Cup.

With the teams facing a penalty shootout in a game of few clear chances, Iniesta collected a sliding pass into the area from substitute Cesc Fabregas and smashed the ball across goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and in at the far post.

The goal ended an often ill-tempered match and made Spain only the third team to be world and European champion at the same time.

At the final whistle, the Spanish players hurried to swap their blue shirts for their more familiar red colors in time to collect the trophy. They donned shirts decorated with a single gold star to mark their triumph, becoming the eighth nation to receive the honor.

The Dutch players trudged forlornly to collect their runners-up medals, the third squad from the Netherlands to finish second in football's biggest game.

Fox Sports

As one fan commented - the Orange ran out of juice...

quote:

The World Cup final on Sunday was watched by 24.3 million people in the U.S. In related news, there are at least 24.3 million immigrants living in the U.S.

Jimmy Fallon