By DPA,
Cape Town : The Dutch 3-2 victory against Uruguay in the semi-final of the World Cup in Green Point Stadium Tuesday set up yet another all-European final as the Oranjes will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between Germany and Spain.
Next Sunday’s final at Soccer City in Johannesburg will be the seventh time that no South American team has made it through to the championship game and follows the 2006 final, which saw Italy beat France.
The only time that no European team was in the final was at the very first World Cup, in 1930, when Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.
In 1950, the deciding game was between Brazil and Uruguay, but as the final four played on a round-robin basis, the match was not considered a final.
Sunday’s final will, for the first time, see an all-European match in a non-European country, as all previous seven finals that saw only European teams contest it were played in Europe.
It could have been very different this time around, though. At the end of the round of 16, Europe had its worst-ever showing at the World Cup finals, with just three teams advancing to the quarter-finals, while four South American teams went through.
But when all three of them managed to go one round further, the writing was on the wall and the Dutch success Tuesday against the last remaining team from South America made sure of yet another European World Cup victory.