A self-confessed football buff, Viswanathan Anand, who lives near Madrid, says there is flair in everything the Spaniards do in life.
A self-confessed football buff, Viswanathan Anand, who lives near Madrid, says there is flair in everything the Spaniards do in life.
My money is on Spain. They have been really impressive. Germany scored four goals three times before their semifinal but could not create one realistic chance against Spain. At the same time, Spain managed it without pulling everybody back. And they played beautifully too. They have been fantastic in the World Cup, after starting off with jitters against Switzerland. Though they haven’t scored many, they have just got the job done very efficiently.
It seems Netherlands are allowing more opportunities than Spain but you have to say nobody gets to the final undeservedly. The Dutch have won every match in this tournament. So the final should be a fantastic match. I would put my money on Spain but I am not sure.
From the Netherlands’s point of view, Arjen Robben is just very impressive. It seems to me he is somewhat dangerous. You never know from which side he is going to kick and how. He is incredibly dangerous and he needs to break down a lot of defences. Then there is Wesley Sneijder. The Dutch defence has not impressed me as much as the Spanish defence did against Germany. As the Dutch are very good at scoring goals, may be they will try to be more offensive. It’s not a big secret that David Villa is the most dangerous in terms of goal-scoring ability. But that’s the thing about the Spanish team. I mean look at who won them the match for them against Germany… Carles Puyol.
So if a defender scores, then suddenly you have to watch every Spaniard. All of Spain’s players are so impressive but they will obviously try and mark Villa because he’s capable of scoring on his own.
The best thing about this World Cup final is that both teams have played beautiful football. I enjoy that kind of ‘fluid’ football and I think both teams are very lively. So this final will be fantastic either way.
Living in Spain, I know the Spaniards want to do everything with some flair and their football reflects that. They don’t play defensively for instance. I don’t think they ever have. That makes it fun to watch.
I have seen how the Dutch and Spanish celebrate and I’m sure the country which wins on Sunday will go completely nuts.
The World cup final has a special atmosphere. However, I think both teams will have to watch their nerves. I have never been to a World Cup final or a match but I have played quite a few World Championship matches myself. I know what it’s like!
—The world chess champion, currently holidaying in Chennai, spoke to Vijay Tagore
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