World Cup 2010 Final, Netherlands Player Profile: Arjen Robben

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.

Robben missed the first two matches of the tournament recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in the Dutch’s last pre-World Cup warm-up. He made his return in the Netherlands’ third group stage match, setting-up a goal for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. In the team’s next match, Robben scored from 24-yards out, against the run-of-play, to put the Netherlands ahead of Slovakia. He headed-home the winning goal in the last round against Uruguay.

Robben will be on the right wing, but more than anything else, he is the Netherlands’ guaranteed offense. Even if everything else is going wrong for the Dutch, they have an instant attack the second they get the ball out to their right flank.

Spain left back Joan Capdevila, a figure that is at times criticized, is the first line of defense, but against a player like Robben, you don’t put all the responsibility on one man. Left-central defender Carles Puyol and defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets will be asked to help.