The Netherlands and Spain, the two of Europe's great footballing nations, are vying for the World Cup with the winner to be engraved onto the trophy for the first time.

While the Netherlands have become a pragmatic force who are difficult to defeat, Spain have been sneaking through games by the tightest of margins for the duration of the competition.

Of the two nations, the Oranje, widely known as "the best without winning the World Cup", have the greater World Cup pedigree. During the 1970s, they caught the world's imagination, yet twice they came up short in the final.

Favouring the Netherlands is the fact that they've had a full 24 hours more than Spain to rest prior to the final. Wesley Sneijder has been superb in the playmaking role, Arjen Robben looks sharp after injury, while Mark van Bommel has dictated things in the centre of the field.

For Spain, they have been walking along the tight rope throughout. After losing their opener 1-0 to Switzerland, Spain have scored five successive wins. Apart from the 2-0 win over Honduras, the first of the five, Spain won over Chile 2-1 in the last group match, and tiptoed through the knockout rounds by winning 1-0 in each of their three games, which have come against Portugal, Paraguay and Germany.

Yet, at no stage, they looked truly threatened. In all of their fixtures, the Spaniards have been on the front foot and found the decisive strike in the second half.

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