World Cup 2010 Final, Spain Vs. Netherlands, Player Profiles

Andres Iniesta is the player Barcelona fans discuss as possibly being the equal to Xavi Hernandez, but this isn’t a Hall and Oates situation (no offense, Oates). This is much more like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Or Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. Nobody’s getting Garfunkel’d here, Trebek (except, after that array of comparisons, possibly your author).

As a midfielder, Iniesta possesses the same technical gifts as Hernandez but applies them in differently. If Xavi’s the first player written on the chalkboard when you’re diagramming a formation, Iniesta might be the last, as his ability to play anywhere across the width of the pitch, from midfield forward, allows him to offset your weakness while attacking your opponents’.

Nigel de Jong is a 25-year-old midfielder for the Netherlands who, in some ways, is responsible for a a controversial shift in the Dutch national team’s approach to soccer. His emergence into the national team has allowed the Netherlands’ coach Bert van Marwijk to switch to a system that uses two deep-sitting midfielders, a system far more conservative that the free-flowing Dutch style for which the nation became known.

When available, de Jong has been a controlling presence in midfield, disturbing opponent attacks as they move toward the Dutch goal. He is, however, coming off a one game suspension, incurred after accumulating too many yellow cards in preceding matches.

Iker Casillas is Spain’s captain, starting goalkeeper and is on the verge of setting the record for most appearances with the Spanish national team. At 29-years-old, he will play in his 111th international match on Sunday, 15 short of the nation’s record. Though he is coming off a year that saw his supremacy within the Spanish game debated for the first time in years, Casillas is still considered amongst the best players in the world at his position.

Although he has had his shakey moments, Casillas has only allowed two goals and has saved Spain a number of times, most noticably in the last two rounds, where hs made saves on German Toni Kroos and Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz that other good goalkeepers may have failed to keep out of their net.

Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder has had a remarkable year. At this time last summer, he was being shopped for sale by his club, Spain’s Real Madrid. He eventually landed in Italy with one of that country’s biggest teams, Internazionale Milano, where he proved the key addition in leading his team to league and European titles. Now, Sneijder is on the verge of winning the World Cup, all within the same calendar year.

Sniejder has been an analog for the Dutch’s entire tournament. At any given time, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything remarkable, but through timely play, he has five goals, almost all of them crucial to the Netherlands’ results. And although he deserves credit for being in position to take the goals, some of his tally involve more than a bit of good fortune. Regardless, sitting tied for the tournament lead in goals scored (with three other players), Sneijder is one of the few remaining contenders for the Golden Ball, awarded to the tournament’s best player.

Over the nine month, Arjen Robben’s been a magician, his left foot his wand - and when you look at his face, he does carry the appearance of a Harry Potter character. Even name, pronounced AR-yen RO-ben, sounds like one of Rowling’s characters.

Contributing to his wizardry feel, Arjen can craft goals out of nothing. He did so in leading his club team, German champions Bayern Munich, to Europe’s Champions League final and has continued doing so for his country in this tournament. He plays on the Netherlands’ right wing, allowing him to bring the ball onto his left to shoot, when he is a scoring threat anywhere within 35 yards of goal.

David Villa is the main attacker for Spain and should be their only true forward in the starting lineup. He is in the discussion for best forward in the world, a discussion which, when waged by people who follow Spain’s top league, typically settles on him.

David Villa’s been the most dangerous goal scorer in the tournament, currently tied for the competition’s high mark for goals: five. He has scored 72 percent of Spain’s goals including a goal-of-the-tournament caliber effort against Honduras where he split three defenders while coming-in from the left wing and, while cutting back across goal, put a shot into the right corner of goal, falling to the ground while stretching his right leg to shoot the ball from 12 yards out.

Xavi Hernandez, or just Xavi, is a central midfielder from Barcelona - the short, fast guy in the middle of the Spain team who will have the ball more than any other player on the pitch. One of his infrequently used is nicknames Humphrey Bogart. He is generally recognized as the best central midfielder in the world, with some (a name, I call myself) arguing he is the best player in the world. He is the man that Spain and Barcelona (the two-time reigning champions of the Spanish league) have build their teams around, so yeah - he’s alright.

He was named Man of the Match in Spain’s victories over Germany and Portugal and leads the tournament in passes completed. As always, he has been the steady, quarterback-like presence that’s kept Spain moving forward in the face of teams who’ve typically played very defensively against the talented Spanish attack.

The World Cup final is one of the few events in sport that garner the willing attention of people who know little-to-nothing about the participants, if not the sport. The Super Bowl is another example, as are the Olympics, but for almost any other major sporting event you won’t get a question like “What happens next?” At various places around the world today, a new soccer fan will be asking the person seated TV-center what the players will do if somebody happens to touch the ball with their hand. It’s the best day of the year to try and bring the Beautiful Game to a potential life-long addict. Go for it, enabler.

We here at SB Nation are neither qualified nor inclined to explain all the rules (being the evil kind people that would make-up stories about prison sentences for playing outside the lines), but where we can help you is with the main actors. Through the hours leading up to today’s 2:30 p.m. Eastern kick-off, we will be releasing brief player profiles, the hope being that we can give you at least one piece of information that you latch onto about each key player, providing you with some context for his performance.