Triumphant: Spain celebrate adding the World Cup to their European Championship crown.

Can anyone stop them becoming the first team to retain the European Championship in two years’ time? And looking at the relative youth of this squad, they have a strong chance of becoming the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.

Along the way, individual records will tumble. Iker Casillas is sure to become the most capped player in the history of Spanish football.The final was his 111th cap (Andoni Zubizarreta, the record holder, won 126) and, at 29 and a goalkeeper, Casillas could comfortably play for another seven years. David Villa is just one short of Raul’s total of 44 goals. That record will fall during Euro 2012 qualifying.

“We are making history,” said Xabi Alonso in the aftermath of victory on Sunday night. “Right now is not the time to think about the future, but of course the basics are there with this team. The style is there, the mentality is there, the team spirit is there, so if we keep working in this way many more big things may come.”

This is not the happy coincidence of one group of players of the same age all delivering on youthful promise. It is more than that. The ages range from Carles Puyol (32) and Xavi (30) down to Sergio Busquets (21). This squad is made up of several interlocking generations of outstanding players: in the 23 there were players born in every year from 1978 to 1988.

This is not a golden generation, it is a golden dynasty, the assembly of an international footballing superpower.

Being a superpower is all about excess. At the height of the Cold War, both the United States and Russia had enough nuclear warheads not only to destroy the world, but to do it several times over.

Spain’s excess of talent does not seem fair. How can you leave a player of such extraordinary talent as Cesc Fabregas on the bench? Or attacking players as exciting as Juan Mata, David Silva and Jesús Navas? Or a goalkeeper as good as Pepe Reina? Spain’s second XI would be one of the top five international teams in the world.

It is this level of internal competition that helps to drive Spain. When great teams achieve sustained success — and Spain have lost just twice in 55 games – the question always comes back to whether success brings with it a diminution in appetite. With so many players hungry to get into this squad, let alone the team, that is not a problem for the Spanish.

They look an imposing proposition for Euro 2012. If anything they should be stronger, with several players coming into their prime and Fernando Torres sure to recover form and fitness after his poor tournament.

With Italy, England and France having to rebuild, only the Dutch and the impressive Germans stand in their way.

Of this squad, only Puyol and Joan Capdevila are likely to retire from international football. Fernando Hierro, the technical director, has tried to persuade Puyol to stay on and win the 10 more caps he needs to reach his century but he will be 34 by the time Vicente del Bosque’s team head for Poland and Ukraine.

Raul Albiol, Real Madrid’s 24-year-old centre-back is his natural heir. Capdevila is also 32 and while left-back is the closest thing Spain have to a problem position, Alvaro Arbeloa is a more than capable successor.

Even more intimidating for the rest of the world is that the majority of this team will still be around for Brazil in 2014. The one major player who might be too old by then is Xavi but given that his style of play is based more around intelligence than physicality, you could well imagine him prompting and probing at the age of 34. Even if he has retired from international football by then, Fabregas is waiting to take over.

Then of course there are the ambitious young players trying to force their way into this team. Javi Martínez, 21, is developing into a classy holding midfielder while Mata’s skills on the wing were barely glimpsed at this World Cup.

Bojan Krkic is still just 19 and has made more than 100 appearances for Barcelona while the Venezuela-born winger Jeffrén Suárez is also coming through at the Nou Camp. Sergio Canales, 19, who joined Real Madrid this summer, adds to Spain’s ridiculous strength-in-depth in midfield. At this rate they will be well set up for 2018, too.

Three other golden generations

Brazil (1958-66): Having won in Sweden in 1958 — and introduced a 17-year-old Pele to the world — Brazil were successful in Chile four years later, this time inspired by the bandy-legged dribbling of Garrincha. They were bundled out of the 1966 tournament in England by an aggressive Portugal, with Pele vowing never again to play at a World Cup. He later relented, and inspired Brazil’s triumph in Mexico 1970.

West Germany (1972-76): Inspired by captain Franz Beckenbauer, the Germans won Euro 72 and the 1974 World Cup. They came close to winning three successive major trophies but lost to Czechoslovakia on penalties in the final of Euro 76. Their dominance came to an end at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, where they went out in the second round.

France (1998-2002): Having won the World Cup in 1998, their Euro 2000-winning team was arguably even better. They came into the 2002 World Cup with Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira still in their pomp but were amazingly eliminated without scoring a goal. Two years later they were dumped out of Euro 2004 by Greece.

Celebrates Victory

The Dutch have booked their place in the final of the 2010 World Cup and they will meet the winner of the match between Germany and Spain tomorrow night. Dutch have further confirmed they know where the goal is while Uruguay can go home with their heads held high.

The first goal was a fantastic strike from the Dutch captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst from 35 yards out, maybe even more considering it was from an angle and while the keeper got a finger tip to it, it was going too fast and the touch did nothing.

After that went in, I have to be honest and admit to thinking this was game over and that the Dutch were going to score for fun or sit back, but that isn't what happened.

Instead, Diego Forlan takes possession 30 yards out, makes a little space for himself directly in front of goal and shoots. The ball swerves quite a lot in the air and the keeper can only help it into the goal.

Now, at this stage, I thought anything was possible. All square at half time.

The second half started and it was clear as day the Dutch wanted this more but Uruguay have had fairly poor possession statistics since game one at this World Cup, so we were not writing them off.

We did write them off in the 73rd minute though after Wesley Sneijder got one in the 70th when his shot was deflected in and then three minutes later when Arjen Robben headed in a perfect Dirk Kuyt cross.

Uruguay got one back with 60 seconds of added on left but it was just a consolation.

So, we know who will be playing on Saturday and Sunday now and we have Germany v Spain tomorrow. We can't wait so we are going to jump in the Back to the Future car that has appeared again today and fast forward to tomorrow.

world cup 2010

In the 1970s, the Dutch idolised the elegant genius of Johan Cruyff, even though he never won a World Cup. This year, Dirk Kuyt's grit and determination might well take it to the title.

Gullit thanks good form
Kuyt closer to dream
Stekelenburg reverals cheeky taunt
Dutch wary of Uruguay

In a country where beauty has long trumped winning, the Netherlands team of 2010 is doing it the other way around, epitomised by the work ethic and persistence of the versatile Liverpool player.

"He always gives everyone a signal how it should be done. And his impact and enthusiasm is very infectious," coach Bert van Marwijk said. "He is incredibly important."

So much so that Van Marwijk benched one of his most gifted players, Rafael van der Vaart, to give Kuyt the opportunity to wear down Brazil and send Netherlands into a semi-final against Uruguay.

Whether in orange or the red of Liverpool, Kuyt plays the same way. Shooting off in various directions like a pinball, he chases players left, right and centre and doesn't give up until his team has won possession. Then he reverts into the utility forward he is, opens up play and gives decisive passes like the assist which earned the Dutch a 2-1 victory over Slovakia in the round of 16.

So much for the vaunted Big Dutch Four. Based on South Africa's wildlife Big Five, purists had wanted to see Oranje play the superbly gifted quartet of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Van der Vaart and Robin van Persie.

Van Persie even made a point of pushing for it himself, and pushing Kuyt onto the sidelines in the process.

The notion was too romantic for Van Marwijk, who has had to fight off unkind comparisons with Dutch 'Total Football' of the 1970s ever since his team started winning ugly in the group stage. However ugly it is, his side remains the only nation with a perfect record in the World Cup.

Credit Kuyt.

"The way he fights in this team, his work load rubs off on all the other players," captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst said.

Look at him move, even in training, and his value is plain to see.

At pre-match training on Monday, Kuyt took part with the rest of his team-mates in the usual set of passing, shooting and dribbling drills. But while some relaxed, the 29-year-old forward exuded determination.

Kuyt then took some extra shooting practice alongside Robben. Kuyt drilled his shots low from distance with his right foot, as straightforward as can be. Robben instead, practiced his trademark move, cutting in sideways, faking past a defender and curling left-footed shots inside the posts - poetry in motion.

On Monday though, Kuyt received the ultimate Dutch accolade when Cruyff embraced his play and work ethic.

"Without belittling anyone, it is still nice to see how Kuyt developed into one of the most valuable players. There were doubts, but he was ready as of the opening game," Cruyff wrote in De Telegraaf.

"Look at what he did. Started on the right, then at forward and against Brazil on the left, not only did he keep Maicon out of the game, he also set up the winner," referring to Kuyt flicking on the corner that was headed in by Sneijder.

"Someone like that is worth his weight in gold," Cruyff said.

The sterling endorsement came after a tough season at Liverpool, scoring only three goals in 31 Premier League appearances.

"Every player has a lesser spell in his career. But Liverpool also had a tough year," said Van Marwijk, who also knows one thing about outgoing Reds coach Rafa Benitez.

"When Benitez sets up his line-up, the first name he writes down is Kuyt. It says enough."

'No changes' for Capello

Upson to start alongside Terry in defence

Last updated: 27th June 2010 Subscribe to RSS Feed
'No changes' for Capello

Sky Sports sources understand that England manager Fabio Capello will name an unchanged side for the first time in his tenure when facing Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup.

Although official confirmation is not expected until an hour before kick-off in Bloemfontein, it is anticipated the England coach will stick with the team that defeated Slovenia on Wednesday.

That will mean Matthew Upson retaining his place alongside former skipper John Terry even though Jamie Carragher is now back from suspension.

Upson helped keep a clean sheet last week and Capello had already ruled out Ledley King from his starting line-up, so the Italian will go for continuity.

History

Capello confirmed on Saturday night that he intended to stick with the remainder of the team that overcame Slovenia.

Once again, James Milner will be deployed on the right of England's midfield, with Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry partnered together in the centre.

Goalscorer Jermain Defoe is set to retain his spot alongside Wayne Rooney, who is still looking for his first goal of the tournament, and has now gone eight matches since he last scored for his country.

England are trying to overturn recent tournament history, having lost on penalties in the semi-finals of Italia 90 and Euro 96, although they came out on top when they last met Germany, in Berlin in November 2008.

The prize for the winners is a meeting next Saturday in Cape Town with either Argentina or Mexico.

The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup or Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not contested because of World War II.

The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month – this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s).

During the 18 tournaments that have been held, seven nations have won the title. Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. Italy, the current champions, have won four titles, and Germany are next with three titles. The other former champions are Uruguay, winners of the inaugural tournament, and Argentina, with two titles each, and England and France, with one title each.

The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, where an estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.[1] The next World Cup will be held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010, and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil.

Previous international competitions

The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England,[2] with the first international tournament, the inaugural edition of the British Home Championship, taking place in 1884.[3] At this stage the sport was rarely played outside the United Kingdom. As football began to increase in popularity in other parts of the world at the turn of the century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the IOC has retroactively upgraded their status to official events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games.

After FIFA was founded in 1904, there was an attempt made by FIFA to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside of the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure.[4]

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association (FA), England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain (represented by the England national amateur football team) won the gold medals. They repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm, where the tournament was organised by the Swedish Football Association.

With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup,[5] and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invited West Auckland, an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, and were given the trophy to keep forever, as per the rules of the competition.

In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event.[6] This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and thirteen European teams, and won by Belgium.[7] Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928.

First World Cup
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay

Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship organised by FIFA.[8] With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions (as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era) and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.

The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total thirteen nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.

The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France.[9] In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and in doing so became the first nation to win the World Cup.[10]