With the World Cup coming to an end, the prediction is become an A and B game. A for Spain or B for Netherlands.

With high expection or favourite on Spain, it's given odd 1.53 to lift the World Cup while the Netherlands is going at 2.50, almost 2X of Spain.

Both teams have no crowned World Champion in the past but the Spanish has the absolute better chance when they are the European Champion for 2008. Bookmakers are seeing the Spanish to crown world level of football title again. Meanwhile the Oranje is always stand a chance to outplay any opponent when their players are brilliant.

2.50 seems to be too much for a good deal when bookmaker has done their calculation before setting the odds. I'll go for Spain at 1.50 for the final bet of this world cup.

Bet on Spain to win World Cup @ Bet365

The Oranje army are within touching distance of their first ever World Cup title, and rightly so after winning six out of six games at the World Cup. In fact the stats are even more impressive with the Dutch unbeaten in their last 25 matches - a run stretching back to September 2008.

Nevertheless, many will be wondering how the Dutch have got this far.

Arriving at the competition, while the standard dark-horse label was hung like a noose around the Dutch necks, few would have predicted that Bert van Marwijk’s side would be in the final at Soccer City on Sunday. In fact, few outside the Netherlands would have been able to pick out Bert van Marwijk in a line-up; the silver-haired, ambitious no-nonsense coach who had only a sliver of past success after winning the 2002 UEFA Cup and 2008 Dutch Cup with Feyenoord.

Van Marwijk, whose stock will definitely rise in the immediate future, has however succeeded where a long list of his predecessors have failed. Team unity. A common purpose. Harmony. Self belief. These values, which had been sorely missing from arguably more talented Dutch teams in the past few decades, are now commonplace in the Oranje squad.

Yet, it will do the Dutch no favours to paper over their cracks which have been evident in the World Cup, despite their winning run.

The Dutch negotiated their way out their group against Denmark, Cameroon and Japan without too much bother, but without too much flair either. They needed an own goal from Danish defender Simon Poulsen to kick-start their tournament in their opener, only awful goalkeeping from Japanese keeper Kawashima allowed Wesley Sniejder to bag the winner in game two, while their 2-1 victory over Cameroon was also far from fluid or convincing.

Against Slovakia in the last 16, the smallest nation at the games, the Dutch coasted for large periods before seeing off the central Europeans as most forecasted. And, while the 2-1 comeback victory against the Brazilians was undoubtedly a major shock of historic World Cup proportions, the Dutch failed to shoot down the Samba Boys through waves of classy football and controlled play. Rather, Julio Cesar and Felipe Melo’s mix-up and awful defending from a corner saw Dunga’s men implode.

Even against Uruguay in the semi-finals, again a match which the Dutch were supposed to win, they failed to win with style. Goalie Maarten Stekelenburg looked dodgy as he allowed Diego Forlan’s long-ranger to swerve past him, enforcer Mark van Bommel was amazingly able to foul his way through the match without being cautioned until the dying seconds, while Arjen Robben (10.00 to score first, 4.00 anytime), Wesley Sneijer (9.00 to score first, 3.50 anytime) and Robin van Persie only showed flashes of quality while never really grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

All this leaves us with a confused picture. The Dutch, who usually play swashbuckling football at major tournaments only before they spectacularly crash-and-burn, this time appear to have sneaked their way into the showpiece final without playing too convincingly. Is this a sign that this is their time?

Spain will be out to prove that that isn’t the case.

La Furia Roja have also experienced a mixed summer in South Africa. Pre-tournament, everybody, the bookies included, had Spain as the favourites for the World Cup title. But the initial hype around the team was famously torpedoed by a stunning 1-nil defeat to the Swiss. Spain rallied with a 2-nil defeat of Honduras before edging Chile 2-1 to confirm their spot in the last 16.

Slightly more by chance than design, since reaching the knock-out stages Spain then turned into a no-nonsense 1-nil machine. In the tight Iberian derby with Portugal, David Villa’s late strike saw Spain progress in the quarters. Similar was to follow against Paraguay as a well-organised South American backline finally succumbed to yet another Villa goal.

Continuing to morph their character from stylish to workmanlike in their semi-final with Germany, 1-nil again proved the magic scoreline to set up a Dutch final for Del Bosque’s side. However, unlike the previous matches, Spain looked excellent against Ze Germans for the majority of the contest and arguably should have won by a greater margin.

Of particular note was the manner in which Spain pressed in the centre of the park. Xavi (6.00 to score) was the star as he completed more passes than any other player, running a greater distance than any other player, and provided the assist for Carles Puyol’s (13.00 to score) winning header from a corner. Yet Xavi was aided by his midfield cohorts, Andres Iniesta always dangerous as his partner in crime while Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso (7.00 to score) refused to let Germany dictate the tempo.

Also of interest was the Spanish decision to play Pedro Rodriguez, rather than Fernando Torres, as Villa’s starting strike-partner. Torres has underperformed in South Africa, while Pedro had previously sparkled in his cameo performances. And, going on form rather than reputation, Del Bosque’s decision to rotate his forwards paid off with Pedro almost teeing up Villa early on, while the Barca youngster should have netted a Spanish second late in the game.

Spain, after their initial competition hiccup, have proven themselves as the nation with the best squad in world football. Casillas remains a brilliant goalie, while Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique (10.00 to score) have translated their Barcelona form onto the international stage to form one the best defences on the planet. Moreover, Iniesta, Alonso and Xavi are in their prime, while David Villa is a striker of the highest, highest quality. (David Villa is 4.50 to score first, 2.10 anytime.)

If Spain play to their potential the reigning European Champions should also scoop the World Champions title too. But as Portugal, Paraguay and Germany showed, Spain, for all their glitz and pomp, are still not watertight and Holland should get a fair few chances - which they’ll obviously need to capitalise on to cause a final upset.

And then there are the sub-plots. Total football takes on tici-taca. Xavi versus Wesley Sneijder will be billed as the battle of the best passing midfielders. While Van Marwijk is the newbee against the been-there, done-that Del Bosque.

The world will be praying for an end-to-end goal fest in which sexy, beautiful football dominates. While our fingers are crossed for that too, with the stakes so high, a cagey affair is more likely to permeate. (Spain are 3.40 to win by a 1-goal margin, Holland are 5.00.)

Although Spain have lost in the competition while Holland, against Brazil, proved their ability to come from behind to win, one gets the feeling that the Dutch need to score first on Sunday to have a realistic chance of winning the World Cup. Even if that happens, the likes of Villa, Torres, Pedro and Llorente will fancy themselves against defenders John Heitinga, Joris Mathijsen, Gregory van der Wiel and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

The second World Cup semi-final is a rerun of the Euro 2008 final won by a Fernando Torres goal for Spain. Much has changed in the intervening two years; in fact the whole complexity of this match has been turned on its head over the last few weeks. (Fernando Torres is 6.50 to score the first goal.)

Spain dominated the match two years ago but are now managed by Vicente Del Bosque who has appeared much more conservative compared to Luis Aragones. Torres has struggled for fitness in South Africa and playing with two defensive midfielders seems to have stifled some of their play.

Germany will field a fairly different team against Spain than they did two years ago. The likes of youngsters Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil are key components of the current side and Bastian Schweinsteiger is a different player in the centre of the park to the one who played on the wing.

After consecutive demolitions of England and Argentina, scoring four goals in both games, Jogi Low’s German side are being hailed across the world as the best team in the tournament. Their swashbuckling football has been a joy to behold and the youngsters in the side have come to the fore.

Spain meanwhile have rebounded from their shock opening game defeat to Switzerland and ended up topping Group H, following this with consecutive 1-0 victories over Portugal and Paraguay. Every team at this World Cup to have faced Vicente Del Bosuqe’s side, with the exception of Chile, have sat back against Spain and David Villa has been the difference.

The key personnel decision for Del Bosque is whether to retain Fernando Torres in his starting line-up. The Liverpool striker has not looked fit and has been substituted before the hour mark in the last two matches. If “El Nino” is dropped, David Silva or Cesc Fabregas will be drafted in, the latter impressed as a substitute against Paraguay.

La Furia Roja will keep the same defence and midfield. They will no doubt be acutely aware of the threat posed by Germany’s counter attacking game but they should be able to cope better than Australia, England and Argentina. Iker Casillas produced heroics against Paraguay, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol have brought their club form to South Africa and Xavi and Iniesta have proved they can beat anybody.

Jogi Low’s side will though be very high on confidence after the win over Argentina. It wasn’t just the counter attacking football that stood out but the Germany defence, long thought of as the weak link, coped admirably with the likes of Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez.

Thomas Muller’s suspension due to a poor yellow card decision in the last game strips Germany of one of their best players in the tournament so far. The Bayern Munich forward has scored four goals and has caused havoc down the right, profiting from the work done by Miroslav Klose, Luka Podolski and Mesut Ozil.

Piotr Throchowski or Toni Kroos have been tipped to come in. If the policy of throwing young players in at the deep end is continued then it will be Kroos who starts and he could well prove himself to be a star after a good season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen from Bayern Munich.

Miroslav Klose is Germany’s main danger man and his individual battle with David Villa will be crucial to the outcome. The Bayern Munich hitman, who scored just three goals in the Bundesliga in 2009/2010, needs one more to equal Brazilian Ronaldo’s 15, which is the current record. (Klose is 7.50 to score the first goal.)

Both teams pack the midfield so the game could stay tight for a long period. Spain will surely dominate the ball, as they almost always do, but Germany will counter attack at pace and with purpose.

Betting tip : Germany 1-1 Spain

It seems like there are getting more magic number for the world cup winner. We'd blog on the magic 24, showing that Argentina will crown the world champions but it proved to be wrong when Argentina has kicked out by the might German.

While everyone believes Germany is huge and stronge, there is another magic number circular the gaming forum saying the Germany will win the World Cup 2010. The magic number is calculate based on the year of last 3 winning. It has proven that it works on Brazil back in 2002 as below,

Brazil won world cup in 1962, 1970 and 1994.
Calculation : 1994 - 1962 + 1970 = 2002

Germany won world cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990
Calculation : 1990 - 1974 + 1954 = 2010

Believe it or not ?

Visa card is the official sponsor for World Cup 2010 and the commercial advertisement running non stop over the tournament.

But how does this world wide company related to world cup winner? It's from the advertisement.

look carefully on the first flag appear in the advert, the team has gone thru to the semi final and they could be the team to the lift the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

The 1/8 final will kick start in Soccer City, Johannesburg on this Friday. The only African team Ghana should receive most support from the local while Uruguay should play brilliant leads by Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez.

Ghana came into the World Cup as the youngest team, having the least experience but all African are counting on them to succeed in the tournament. Unfortunately Ghana is surrounding with injury and suspension problems. Talisman Asamoah Gyan picked up a knock during a training early the week, however he is expected to be fit for Uruguay. The suspended paid of Jonathan Mensah and Andre Ayew were definately a loss to Milovan Rajevac when both were impressed in previous games. Prince Boateng is set to missed the miss from hamstring injury who will be replaced by Sulley Muntari.

The 2 goals winner Diego Forlan is ready to take off for Ghana along side with the leading scorer Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. The three attacking three have been playing well and looking good to find their net again.

The main injury concern is defender Diego Godin who injured his left thigh during the 2-1 win over South Korea. Mauricio Victorino seems the likely man to replace Godin if he doesn’t make it.

Basically both teams have already achieved their goal for this World Cup for progressed to 1/8 final. The power of young Ghana and sharp attack of Uruguay could give life to this game and expect fast phase and goals.

Betting tip : Uruguay 3-1 Ghana