Dubai: It's only fitting that the Fifa World Cup is going to have a new champion today, for after all, it has been a Cup of many firsts.
If it's the first World Cup to be held in Africa, the month-long showpiece will be best remembered for its quota of upsets even though nobody will be grudging the two finalists, Spain and Netherlands, their place in the sun.
While Iker Casillas' men have already managed to exorcise their ghosts of being perennial underachievers in the World Cup, it's time for Holland to do one better than live with the tag of the ‘best team not to have won' the World Cup so far.
While football's serious students will debate the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams, the curious follower may want to go by Paul the Octopus's predictions which have hogged some serious limelight by correctly predicting all Germany's results in the knockout stages.
As it points towards a win for Furia Roja (Red Fury), Vicente Del Bosque's golden generation knows they cannot rest on such silly stories.
"The important thing is that we keep our calm and maintain our spirit," the taciturn Del Bosque told the media.
"We know that's the road to follow."
The Dutch, meanwhile, will be relieved not to be facing the host nation in their third final after losing to Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978.
