En route to the final, the Netherlands finished first in Group E, with three wins, after which they defeated Slovakia in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-final and Uruguay in the semi-final.

Spain finished top of Group H with two wins and one loss, before defeating Portugal in the round of 16, Paraguay in the quarter-final and Germany in the semi-final.

Robben missed an opportunity in the 62nd minute when he was one-on-one with Casillas, with the goalkeeper able to intercept his attempted shot with the toe of his boot to prevent the goal.

John Heitinga received a second booking during extra time, which resulted in him being sent off, and four minutes before the end, Andrés Iniesta gave Spain the lead, and the title, with a powerful right footer onto a short pass from Fabregas, into the left corner of the goal to secure a 1–0 win.

[7][8] Spain were the reigning European champions, having won UEFA Euro 2008, a tournament in which the Netherlands reached the quarter-final before being eliminated by Russia.

[13] The Netherlands took the lead shortly after half-time when Denmark's Simon Poulsen cleared a cross from Robin van Persie, but it struck the back of Daniel Agger and deflected in for an own goal.

[14] Dirk Kuyt added a second five minutes before the end to complete a 2–0 win, scoring on the rebound after Thomas Sørensen, the Danish goalkeeper, had saved Eljero Elia's shot on to the goalpost.

[16] The win, alongside Denmark's victory over Cameroon, meant that the Netherlands had qualified for the next round before playing their final group game.

Arjen Robben started his first game of the tournament after recovering from an injury, and he gave the Netherlands the lead in the 18th minute when he received a long pass upfield by Sneijder and scored with a low shot past goalkeeper Ján Mucha.

[21] In the quarter-final, the Netherlands faced five-times world champions Brazil, on 2 July at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

[27] Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave the Netherlands the lead on 18 minutes with a shot which deflected in off the goalpost, before Diego Forlán equalised from long-range for Uruguay shortly before half-time.

In what The Daily Telegraph reporter Jeremy Wilson described as "among the bigger shocks in the competition's entire history", Switzerland won the game 1–0 with Gelson Fernandes scoring the winner in the second half after teammate Eren Derdiyok had collided with Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas when through on goal.

[33] Spain entered their final game against Chile, at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on 25 June, needing a win to guarantee their progression to the knockout stage.

Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo came out of the penalty area and made a tackle on Fernando Torres, but the loose ball then reached Villa on the left of the pitch and he curled a shot into the net from a distance of around 40 yards (37 m).

Rodrigo Millar pulled a goal back for Chile after half-time, but Spain held on for a 2–1 and a place in the next round as group winners.

[48] There were also dancers dressed as elephants and hippopotamuses gathered around a watering hole, denoting South Africa's wildlife, and others in clothing typical of the country's urban youth.

[49] Nelson Mandela, who had missed the opening ceremony due to the death of his great-granddaughter in a road accident, made an appearance on the pitch in his wheelchair before the game, alongside wife Graça Machel.

[55] Xavi's kick reached Sergio Ramos in the penalty area, who headed the ball towards the bottom-left corner of the goal, but Stekelenburg was able to dive down to make the save.

Spain had a chance on 11 minutes when Ramos beat Kuyt after receiving the ball from Iniesta, but John Heitinga deflected his shot over the crossbar.

Nigel de Jong then became the fifth player of the match to be booked with a high tackle on Alonso which resulted in his studs connecting with the Spaniard's chest.

[55] Busquets complained to the referee that this should have resulted in a sending off,[58] Paul Fletcher of BBC Sport described the multiple bookings as having "disturbed the rhythm of the match", but noted that "several crude challenges left him with little option".

[55] Netherlands had two opportunities to score from a corner on 37 minutes, but van Bommel and then Mathijsen both failed to connect properly with their attempted shots.

[58] Shortly before half-time, Robben received the ball on the edge of the Spanish penalty area and his low shot towards the corner of the goal was saved by Casillas as the half ended 0–0.

Three minutes later, Cesc Fàbregas, who had come on as a substitute for Alonso shortly before the end of regular time, received a pass from Iniesta and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

[58] On 101 minutes, Navas ran with the ball down the right-hand flank, following passes by Fàbregas and Villa, before hitting his shot into the side netting.

[47] Braafheid made his first touch when defending a Xavi cross, the ball bouncing off the top of his head and into Stekelenburg's arms after he had turned away from it.

[55] Another booking followed for van der Wiel on 111 minutes when he fouled Iniesta, and Stekelenburg punched the ball clear from the resulting free kick before Navas hit a shot which went high into the stand behind the goal.

[55][58][61] Man of the Match: Andrés Iniesta (Spain) Assistant referees: Darren Cann (England) Michael Mullarkey (England) Fourth official: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) Fifth official: Toru Sagara (Japan) Match rules: The win was Spain's first World Cup title, and it lifted them to first place in the FIFA World Rankings with the Netherlands moving into second.

[71] Former Netherlands player Johan Cruyff was critical of his compatriots, however, saying that they had played "in a very dirty fashion", describing their contribution to the final as "ugly", "vulgar" and "anti-football".

He added that the Netherlands should have had two players (Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong) sent off early in the match, and was critical of Webb for being too lenient on them.