Spain Wins World Cup

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(VOA) Spain has won its first-ever World Cup, beating the Netherlands 1-0 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Spain – which has waited many years to win the world football championship – had to wait until the 116th minute in extra-time to score the winning goal.

The match was scoreless through regulation, and with just four minutes of extra-time remaining, Andrés Iniesta took a crossing pass and blasted it past the Dutch goalkeeper and into the net.

It is the first time a European team has won the World Cup when the tournament was played outside of Europe, and the third time the Netherlands has lost in the final. Both the Dutch and Spain were attempting to win their first World Cup.

The win brought joy to the Spanish fans but it was ugly. The ill-tempered and hard-fought, physical match yielded a record 13 yellow cards.

The Netherlands was reduced to 10 men in the 109th minute when John Heitinga was given his second yellow card of the match.

Fireworks lit up the sky across Spain as spontaneous celebrations broke out throughout the country. A crowd estimated at 300,000, many dressed in Spain’s red and yellow colors, gathered to watch the match live on giant TV screens in Madrid’s downtown Paseo de Recoletos boulevard.

Uruguay striker Diego Forlan was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. Forlan was the joint leader for goal’s scored, with five.

This was the first World Cup ever held in Africa.