Speedway World Cup: The Race-Off

Denmark, Russia, Sweden and Australia all battled it out in Vojens, Denmark, to be the final two nations to compete in Saturday's World Cup final. Sweden welcomed back Andreas Jonsson who would be a real boost for the Swedish team whereas the other three teams kept the same team which meant Australia were still without Jason Crump.

The meeting switched around all night which meant plenty of entertainment was on show. Sweden took the early lead with Australia and Denmark battling for second, Russia floundered and became too far behind very early on and couldn't recover. With the meeting now really about three nations Russia would make sure they had something the eventual outcome. It seemed destined for Australia and Sweden to be going through as Denmark struggled for a couple of heats and Sweden were starting to get away. However it soon changed as Australia started losing more heats (finishing fourth) and Denmark were winning them. Before we knew it Denmark had somehow took the lead and it was now Australia who were struggling and Sweden were hanging on for second.

After a failed joker attempt by Australia they knew the meeting was over for them as they grew ten points behind with less than ten heats to go. Russia still paved the way for some shock results as they started picking up points late on in the meeting. All eyes were on Sweden and Denmark to see who would grab top spot and it went down to the final heat; the teams were level on points so it would be straight out fight between Bjerre for Denmark and Jonsson for Sweden. Chris Holder had had a terrible by his standards and it was he who lost on the joker attempt, however he gave it his all in the last heat to win it for Australia and Povaznhy finished last for Russia. Meaning that whoever won the personal battle would give their nation a win by one point and it was to be Bjerre just coming out on top for Denmark. That meant they finished on 48 points and Sweden on 47, Australia finished third on 36 with Russia finishing on 19 points after their late surge. This means that Denmark and Sweden join Great Britain and Poland for Saturday's final which will be held in Vojens again.

Speedway World Cup: 2nd Tie

Last night King's Lynn in Norfolk witnessed the second tie of the Speedway World Cup. The host nation, Great Britain, have never won a World Cup meeting but stood a great chance in this one. Their team consisted of both youth and experience (something a certain Capello should take note of) with Nicholls and Harris in the World Championships along with young Tai Woffinden who has also been competing in this year's World Championships. The other two riders were the vastly experienced Lee Richardson and the newcomer Simon Stead. Sweden were also considered contenders for first but they were without their main rider, Andreas Jonsson due to injury. However they still had Freddie Lindgren and Magnus 'Zorro' Zetterstrom who are both in the World Championships. Antonio Lindback has also had World Championship experience whereas Davidsson and Nermark are relatively new to the senior circuit.

Australia were also considered favourites but they were severely hampered without arguably the best rider in Speedway, Jason Crump. They still had Chris Holder and Davey Watt from the World Championships but also had Batchelor, Schlein and Ward who are very youthful. The underdogs of the tie were Finland whose only notable riders were Joonas Kylmakorpi and captain Niemienen but neither are in the World Championships this year. Unless you follow Speedway religiously (which I don't) then you may recognise Lahti who rides in the Premier League which is the second tier of British Speedway behind the Elite League. The other two riders were Juha Hautamaki and Aarnio.

There was drama from the start as the first heat had to be restarted twice due to crashes which meant only two riders actually competed in the first heat. Heat seven followed the same pattern as the result was taking shape with Finland lagging at the back and Sweden looking set for third. All that was left to sort out was the battle for the win between Australia and Great Britain. It was a very tight contest and the lead kept swinging from one side to the next, eventually after the 25 heats were complete it was great Britain who would make a little piece of history with 51 points. Australia finished just three points behind on 48 and will be in the race-off on Thursday along with Sweden who grabbed third with 40 points. Finland finished miles behind on 14 but made a better showing than Czech Republic. Leaving Denmark, Russia, Australia and Sweden to fight for the final two places in the final in Thursday's race-off.

Phil 'The Power' Taylor Claims His 11th World Matchplay Title

Phil Taylor became the 11th time winner of the World Matchplay Darts after beating Raymond Van Barneveld in Blackpool. With the game always looking to be tight, the first break of throw was going to be crucial. Taylor would get that first break of throw but didn't run away with it as Barneveld hit back and the score remained within one leg. At 11-9 Barney had a great chance of levelling the score but missed the double before Taylor checked out his ton plus finish. With the score at 12-10 Barneveld had another chance to break Taylor's throw which would give him a great chance of levelling but he couldn't manage it and Taylor kept his advantage at three legs. He would eventually break Raymond Van Barneveld again before securing the 18-12 victory over the Dutchman.

Speedway World Cup: First Tie

Yesterday saw the first tie of the Speedway World Cup, for those of you who don't know how the tournament works I'll tell you: Firstly there are two qualifying ties, this year they consist of Poland, Denmark, Russia and Czech Republic, the other tie consists of Australia, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland. The winner of each tie (which is decided over 25 heats/races, with 3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd. Each team is allowed to use one 'Joker' which doubles the score accumulated in that heat) is automatically through to the World Cup Final on Saturday. The teams finishing in 4th are automatically out of the World Cup, however the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd go through to a playoff on Thursday where there the top two will progress to the final.

The first tie was held in Poland and the home nation were anticipated favourites with the likes of Gollob, Holta and Hampel all competing in the World Championships, the other two riders in the team were Miedzinski and Kolodziej who have World Championship experience themselves. Russia were without injured Emil Sayfutdinov which was a big blow as he is the captain, this left Russia with a pretty unknown team with Artem and Grigoriy Laguta, Gafurov, Gizatullin and Povazhny.

The Danish team looked second strongest with Bjerre, Andersen and Pedersen all competing in the World Championships. They also had the experienced Iversen who has also competed in the World Championships before as has Klindt their final rider. Czech Republic's team consisted of Matej Kus who currently sits second from bottom in the World Championships and has the experienced Dryml brother; Lukas and Ales. The other two riders are Simota and Malek who are virtually unknown to us.

The result turned out with no surprises and the outcome was a certainty round about half way through the meeting. Czech Republic finished the night with just eight points, that is just three points ahead of the all-time lowest World Cup score which was accumulated by Germany. Russia finished third with 31 points and Denmark grabbed the other playoff spot with 45 points, Poland, as anticipated, won the tie with 68 points which is a new all-time highest World Cup score. With Poland already dubbed as favourites to win the whole thing even before this tie it's hard to see why not, the only historic factor is that Poland have never won the World Cup outside of Poland and the final is being held in Denmark.

Alonso Wins in Germany as Ferrari Show Favourtism

Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix under somewhat suspect circumstances in the Ferrari camp. Ferrari dominated from the get go as Vettel was too busy trying to force Alonso off the road and inadvertently allowed Mass to overtake the pair of them. Vettel's strategy failed on all accounts because Alonso passed the young German on the first corner anyway and Ferrari were heading an early one-two. The Red Bull of Webber fared no better as both McLarens passed in the first few corners. From there, there wasn't any real drama apart from Buemi having to retire after his teammate Alguersuari took his rear wing off.

As Massa and Alonso were looking into a one-two Alonso looked a little quicker and tried to overtake his Brazilian team-mate but failed. This resulted in the Ferrari garage having a big discussion on whether or not Massa should let Alonso through and decided to leave it for now. This seemed the right call as Massa found his pace and began to get away slightly from Alonso, but the Spaniard was having none of it and soon caught back up with Massa. This led to further discussions amongst the Ferrari garage and after being told just a handful of laps ago that Massa was on course to win and to keep going, they made a U-turn and told Massa to let Alonso pass and let the Spaniard win. He did so reluctantly and Alonso did go onto win, but I don't think it was the right call and unfair for Massa. If anything Ferrari should have let their drivers race for it but make sure they kept it clean so they avoided a repeat of Vettel and Webber's coming together in Turkey.

The standings are as follow: 1. Alonso (Ferrari), 2.Massa (Ferrari), 3. Vettel (Red Bull), 4. Hamilton (McLaren), 5.Button (McLaren), 6.Webber (Red Bull), 7. Kubica (Renault), 8. Rosberg (Mercedes), 9. Schumacher (Mercedes), 10. Petrov (Renault), 11. Kobayashi (Sauber), 12. Barrichello (Williams), 13.Hulkenburg (Williams), 14 De La Rosa (Sauber), 15. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 16. Liuzzi (Force India), 17. Sutil (Force India), 18. Glock (Virgin), 19. Senna (Hispania) Retired: Kovalainen (Lotus), Di Grassi (Virgin), Yamamoto (Hispania), Trulli (Lotus) and Buemi (Toro Rosso)

This leaves Hamilton still leading the championships now 14 points ahead of Button on 157. Webber is third ahead of Vettel on fourth with both drivers on 136 points. Alonso's victory puts him on 123 points and still has a chance of maybe winning the championship but it's going to take some doing.

World Matchplay Darts: Semi Finals

The semi-finals in Blackpool were to be an historic event as they were the first Darts matches to be shown live in 3D and they didn't disappoint. Although neither game was terribly close and again blankets were back in the cupboards out of the way. The first semi final saw Van Barneveld take on James Wade to become the first finalist of the 2010 World Matchplay. It was looking to be a seemingly close affair as all three of the opening legs went against throw to give Wade a 2-1 lead. That soon turned into a 4-2 lead but Van Barneveld was going to stay behind and won the following four legs to turn the deficit onto Wade. Normally good at doubles, Wade uncharacteristically missed three darts at a double to let Barneveld take a 9-5 lead although Wade restored some hope to break back and win the next leg. Wade stayed three legs behind up until 11-8 but from there Van Barneveld hit the overdrive button and won the following six legs to win 17-8 and stake his claim for the title on Sunday.

His opponent would either be Taylor or Whitlock and the result was imminent even before it started. Whitlock was still suffering from the flu and this time his game suffered overall and couldn't fight against Taylor who was playing better than in previous rounds. Taylor found himself 7-1 ahead in no time at all and from there everyone knew Whitlock was finished. He made sure Whitlock's torture was as quick as possible and Taylor won 17-4.

German Grand Prix Qualifying Result

With the battle between Red Bull and McLaren dominating the headlines, Ferrari were able to just go about their business and sneak into second and third on the grid. The main drama came from the back of the pack as Hispania brought Senna back but this time dropped Chandhok for Yamamoto, Virgin's Timo Glock and Force India's Adrian Sutil would be demoted five places for changing their gear-box. However both Virgin's and Force India's day would soon be capped off with dismal events in Q1; Virgin's Di Grassi couldn't even post a lap time and therefore had to automatically start 24th on the grid and Forci India's Luizzi crashed during a hot lap which caused Q1 to be postponed for quarter of an hour. When Q1 finally restarted we already knew who would be the casualties: the three new constructors and now Luizzi, all that was left to be decided was where they would finish. With Di Grassi 24th, Yamamoto finished 23rd behind Liuzzi and Hispania's Senna but the latter three would all be promoted as Glock finished 20th. The two Lotus cars finished the casualties off for Q1 as Trulli finished 18th ahead of Kovalainen. The fastest in Q1 was Fernando Alonso proving that Ferrari were going to have a say in the overall race.

Q2 saw the Toro Rossos finish 16th and 17th with Alguesuari just finishing ahead of Buemi. Sauber couldn't perform as well as they did in the last race as De La Rosa finished 15th, however they would be promoted as Sutil finished 14th and was therefore demoted to 19th. The big exit of Q2 came from Schumacher as he failed to perform on his home coming as finished 11th, ahead of Sauber's Kobayashi and Renault's Petrov. Again Alonso found himself as the fastest in Q2 just pushing his potential pole campaign just a little further.

Again Q3 would see the top six drivers battle it out for the top six places with Kubica, Barrichello, Rosberg and Hulkenburg battling out 7-10 and they would finish in that order. McLaren ultimately lost the qualifying battle as Hamilton finished 6th and Button just ahead of him in 5th. Webber looked largely off the pace in qualifying and that saw him finish fourth behind the two Ferraris and his team-mate. Massa would finish third which left Alonso and Vettel to battle it out for pole. It was to be the German to grab pole on his home race to get his third consecutive pole and his sixth pole overall.

World Matchplay Darts: Quarter Finals 23/7/10

With the tournament now entering the final stages the quarter finals had to be split into two session; two games in the afternoon, two in the evening. This meant one thing was for sure; no blankets or coffee was going to be needed! With the fantastic four all looking to be guaranteed a place into the weekend's semi-finals all that was needed was to watch them do it in style. Up first was James Wade up against Wayne Jones, the lowest ranked quarter finalist. All the makings of an easy victory were there when Wade surged into a 5-1 lead which everyone would've thought to have been an unassailable lead. But Jones fought back and made the left-hander sweat a little bit as the match became levelled at 5-5. In agreement with the Sky Sports commentators, if the match had been a shorter Jones could have made quite the upset but due to the format being first to 16 legs there was no way Jones could match the World Number 3 in terms of stamina. Therefore it was no surprise to see Wade take another big lead of 13-9 and this time it was unassailable as Wade was able to close out the match 16-12 and became the first semi-finalist of the World Matchplay 2010.

Simon Whitlock was the next of the fantastic four to try and book his place into the semis, he arguably had the hardest quarter final tie up against the dark horse Jelle Klaasen. Klaasen held his nerve up until finding himself 6-5 behind where then he suddenly lost his way and the Aussie fired in a relentless attack to win 16-8 to follow Wade into the semis.

With the afternoon matches played the Blackpool crowd awaited the night's matches and the first one was Taylor against Painter. A match that seems to keep repeating itself over the darting circuit and one that Painter wasn't massively pleased with. With Taylor still not looking at his best it could've been Painter's best chance to win but Taylor crushed Painter with considerable ease with his superior finishing to win 16-4, the biggest deficit of the quarter finals.

The final quarter final match saw the all Dutch tie of Van Barneveld against Stompe, with Barney looking back to his best and a real shout for the tournament surely there could be only one result to confirm all of the fantastic four into the semi-finals. However Stompe held his own for most of the match and even out finished Van Barneveld in terms of three digit checkouts. Barneveld did manage to find some breathing space at 12-10 although Stompe had a chance of levelling at 11-11 but missed the bullseye. From there Barneveld wasn't going to be caught and he won 16-12 to book his semi-final place against James Wade.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 6

If we just managed to escape the blankets in day five then we most definitely needed blankets and coffee to persevere through day six. The entertainment was still high but with games going into extra time we had passed the midnight mark before we had finished. The first game of the night was possibly the closest match on paper between Scot Gary Anderson and Dutchman Jelle Klaasen and indeed it proved to be the closest match of the night as we needed extra time to find a winner. Klaasen took an early 6-2 lead to be nearly half-way to victory but Anderson went on to win six of the next seven legs to turn the advantage to 8-7 his way. Klaasen then managed to equalise at 10-10 and with the game now reduced to first to three it already looked like extra time was inevitable. Anderson missed a hat-ful of doubles and eventually it cost him the match as Klaasen progresses through to the quarter finals after just edging it 14-12.

The second match of the night proved just to be as close between Kevin Painter and Mark Walsh, again it needed extra time to separate the two. Master of the comeback, Painter, was at it again as he found himself 4-1 behind and although it was less of a deficit than against Colin Lloyd it was still hard work for Painter. But he did manage it and went 8-5 ahead and turned the tables on Walsh who, despite his best efforts, couldn't emulate Painter's comeback. However he did level the match at 12-12 although Painter missed eight darts at a double to seal the 13-11 victory. The missed doubles didn't throw him off his stride and Painter won the final two legs to win 14-12 and like Klaasen finds himself in the quarter finals.

With the two close matches on paper and on the stage out of the way everyone would have thought the final two matches would be far from close. In Phil Taylor's case you were right as he was next to enter the fray up against Steve Beaton. Beaton did take a surprise lead however as he found himself 2-0 ahead in no time at all. But Taylor wasn't having any of it and soon found his way through the gears to take the rather nervous Beaton to the cleaners. After two quick double success Beaton failed to get more of them and Taylor stormed in to pounce and he won convincingly 13-4.

The final match saw 'The Wizard of Oz' Simon Whitlock take on Bristolian plasterer Steve Brown, with Whitlock apparently suffering from the flu Brown had a good chance of overcoming the Aussie and possibly creating the shock of the tournament so far. And Brown took his chance very well and made Whitlock go all the way. With Whitlock uncharacteristically missing doubles Brown kept with Whitlock up until 8-8 with both players breaking their opponent's throw twice. But Whitlock found his adrenaline and sneaked to an 11-8 lead but with victory in sight Brown was still hanging on and clawed it back to 12-10 with Whitlock throwing for the victory. Which he did and the Australian just creeps into that quarter final line-up where he'll take on dark horse Jelle Klaasen.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 5

Day five saw the first games of the second round and just like the previous four days, we were given lots of entertainment and a shock along the line. Although Blackpool's Winter Gardens had very much been invaded by Dutch fever, with all four of the Dutch participants making it through to the second round and all but Jelle Klaasen playing their second round matches on day five. First up however was the only match not to feature a Dutch contingent and it also brought the night's shock result. Wayne Jones played Ronnie Baxter and the home boy seemed to be a little nervous and soon found himself 3-0 behind against the under-dog. With the second round matches extended to first to thirteen legs everyone knew it would be the longest night so far so we had blankets at the ready just in case any went into extra time! Jones' 3-0 lead ended up to be unassailable as Baxter couldn't level the score at any point but did battle to 13-9 defeat, this sees Jones progress to his first ever major quarter finals.

Then the Dutch invasion began as Co Stompe took on the Welshman Mark Webster. The result looked inevitable when Stompe cruised to a 10-3 lead and Webster was looking lacklustre and very forlorn. But when returning from a quick break, Webster suddenly found his throwing arm as Stompe couldn't find the prowess to finish the former Lakeside champion off. Stompe still made it to the finish line but only after Webster made the result look more respectable at 13-9.

Unfortunately for the Dutch it wasn't going to be all good news as Vincent Van Der Voort perished in a tight match to the world number two James Wade in a result that could have looked quite different. Wade played better than his first round performance but only for half of the match. Both players broke their opponent's throw and Wade was let off a few times Van Der Voort failed to secure some easy doubles which Wade will never leave unpunished. Therefore the result finished 13-10 to 'The Machine' to make sure the first of the 'Fantastic Four' (Taylor, Wade, Van Barneveld and Whitlock) was into the quarter finals.

After his majestic comeback to darts in the first round with a nine darter the crown waited in earnest for Van Barneveld who played against Tabern in the final match of the night. It was already 10:45 and the blankets were getting closer to hand knowing that we still had at least thirteen legs of darts left. Although on paper the result seemed inevitable, Tabern pulled off some early ton plus finishes with 121 and 156, letting Barney know it wasn't going to be a walkover. But Barney soon went through the gears and let everyone get to go to bed a little earlier than what it could have been as he powered to a 13-5 victory and is looking increasingly likely to win the Matchplay if he carries on in this vain of form.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 4

The fourth day was probably the day of the comeback as we saw the final first round games. Up first was Colin Lloyd against Kevin Painter which. on paper, looked set to be a close game. However when Lloyd took an 8-2 lead Painter looked to be all at sea. However 'The Artist' somehow managed to fight back and take it 9-9, forcing a tie-break where the winner must win by two legs. Painter would complete his comeback and take the next two legs to win 11-9 and progress to round 2.

The second match followed a similar patter as Mark Walsh took on Mark Dudbridge; Walsh soon sailed into a commanding 5-0 lead and like Painter, Dudbridge held a spirited fightback winning seven of the next nine legs. As the first, this match also went into a tie-break and Walsh just managed to hold off Dudbridge to win 12-10 and will face Painter in round 2.

Up next was the numero uno of darts, Phil 'The Power' Taylor who faced Welshman Barrie Bates which on paper looked to be close to, if not, a whitewash. However we were all to be mistaken as Bates held his own as Taylor looked a shadow of himself during the first session (consisting of five legs). With Bates immediately breaking Taylor and managing to get to 5-5 after taking 2-0 and 5-4 leads was still very impressive. However Taylor suddenly found his momentum and powered (excuse the pun) through the next five legs to win 10-5.

The final match of the night saw everybody's love to hate figure Paul Nicholson take on Steve 'Bronzed Adonis' Beaton. Unfortunately Nicholson played possibly his worst darts ever on live TV and distinguished the match as a contest. Beaton played consistent and rather well but if Nicholson was on form I think he'd have won because Beaton looked rather nervous on stage. However the veteran steamed through and took a 10-3 win over the lacklustre Nicholson but with every good news there is bad news, and for Beaton it's the fact he has to play Taylor in the second round.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 3

Day three of the World Matchplay meant we are already a third of the way through and we had another four fantastic first round games before the final first round matches tonight. First up onto the oche was Terry 'The Bull' Jenkins up against Steve Brown who is a very up-and-coming star of darts. Brown took the first two legs and checked out the first with a bulls-eye finish. Jenkins couldn't find any edge against Brown and soon found himself 6-4 behind, Brown then found a 149 checkout as the result seemed to be going one way and it looked inevitable when Brown took a 9-4 lead, especially as Jenkins missed a handful of doubles to keep him in the match. Jenkins did however plant a few seeds of doubt by taking the next two legs to take it to 9-6, but he was too far away and Brown came through with a 10-6 victory, providing the second upset so far this tournament.

If the opener seemed close the second and third matches were far from it; Whitlock found some of his best form and wiped the floor with Eccles after a 10-1 win. The Wizard from down under didn't let Eccles come close to winning a Whitlock made sure he looks to be a strong contender for the title. It was an all Scottish affair in the third match as UK Open runner-up Gary Anderson played against Robert Thornton. But the match was over before it started as Anderson provided the first whitewash of the tournament, brushing aside his compatriot 10-0 in front of the Blackpool crowd. Anderson was helped a little by Thornton's lack of getting his doubles whereas 'The flying Scotsman' was ruthless and has also made sure opponents will be wary of him this tournament as another up-and-coming star.

The fourth and final match of the night was possibly the most anticipated as Mervyn King took on Jelle 'The Matador' Klaasen. The Dutchman looked shaky at the start throwing loose darts and King took advantage by taking a 4-2 lead leaving Klaasen with a lot of work to do. But Klaasen was up to the task as he suddenly found his throwing prowess and the 25-year old took the next eight legs to provide the third surprise of the tournament. King missed a vital opportunity when he was 6-4 behind but he squandered the chance and Klaasen checked out a couple of three digit scores to put himself into the second round.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 2 18/7/10

After Barney's 9-darter on the opening day the Blackpool crowd were wondering what could possibly be in store for them for day two. Well four games that went to the wire, three went into extra-time and a surprise result, that's what. First up was a crowd favourite, Co Stompe against Andy Hamilton of Scotland. The Scot took a 4-2 lead before the Dutchman managed to reverse the score to 7-4. It eventually went to 10-10 meaning the first match to go into extra time as the winner had to win by two clear legs. Stompe made it 11-10 and when throwing for the match he missed a handful of doubles and Hamilton failed to make Stompe pay as he also missed crucial doubles, Stompe finally found the dead man's double (double 1) and made it into to the second round.

The second match of the night saw the first major upset as Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis lost to former Lakeside champion Mark Webster in the second match to reach extra time. Webster looked to be on top as he managed to get himself into a 6-2 then an 8-5 lead over the 2010 Premier League man. However Lewis fought back and took the lead for the first time to make it 9-8, Webster won the next leg to make it the first to get two legs clear. With Lewis' energy all used up to get to this stage Webster took the following two legs to win 11-9 and take the Phil Taylor protege out of the World Matchplay.

The third match of the night saw the number 2 seed James 'The Machine' Wade in action against Andy 'The Pie-man' Smith. On paper the result seemed inevitable but Smith made Wade sweat and nearly won it. Smith checked out an early 151 to gain the advantage and he managed to keep it to 8-7. He should have gone 9-7 ahead but he missed nine darts at a double and you simply can't do that to beat someone like Wade and he levelled at 8-8. With Smith looking rather tired Wade just managed to take the following two legs to win 10-8 to avoid extra-time but he knows he'll have to play better in the next round.

The final match of the night saw Alec 'The Saint' Tabern take on UK Open semi-finalist Wes Newton. Tabern soon raced into a 6-1 lead and the match looked over, however Newton had other ideas and roared back with a vengeance to level at 9-9. Again forcing extra-time but it was to be Tabern who took the next two legs to win 11-9 and he goes through to the second round where he'll meet Van Barneveld who should take Tabern out, especially after his performance on Sunday.

World Matchplay Darts: Day 1 17/7/10

With Blackpool awaiting their Premiership debut in August the tungsten theatre arrived in the Winter Gardens to wet their appetites for the season ahead. The World Matchplay is arguably the second biggest tournament to win in darts and the 2010 tournament started in earnest last night. The nine day tournament has been anticipated to have drama and boy it didn't disappoint as the first round matches kicked off. First to the stage was birthday boy Dennis 'The Menace' Priestly who was celebrating his 60th birthday, he was up against Holland's Vincent Van Der Voort and he proved to be the party pooper. Winning 10-6, Van Der Voort showed a touch of finishing class as he checked out numerous three digit scores, the best being a 157. Priestly couldn't match the Dutchman's finishing and became the first casualty of the World Matchplay.

Next was a match between two players who aren't expected to go far in these top tournaments; Gary Jones and Colin Osbourne, Jones has never got past the first round and the match showed why. It was a very tight affair with no-one going two legs ahead and Jones made it 7-7 to make the best of 19 into a best of five. Jones was to take three of next four to make into the second round for the first time with a Shanghai finish (120).

The penultimate match was probably the most eagerly anticipated between Raymond 'Barney' Van Barneveld and Denis 'The Heat' Ovens. Van Barneveld struggled with personal problems during the Premier League and decided to rehabilitate and missed the UK Open, incidentally Ovens made it to the semi-finals of the UK Open and came into the game on top form. The first three legs went with throw but as soon as Barneveld broke Ovens' throw in the fourth there was no looking back. Ovens missed some good chances at doubles and against Barney you can't afford to do that and the three-time World Champion made sure he took advantage. He wasn't completely back to his best but was still lethal in his finishing as he bagged a 112 and a 142 finish. With the match well and truly over at 8-1 Barney treated his fans to a fantastic nine darter, with two 180s before checking out on 141 with a treble 20, treble 19 and double 12. This was the first in the Winter Gardens since Phil Taylor made one in 2002 and the roof was lifted off as celebrations began. Van Barneveld then won the following leg to finish Ovens off with a 10-1 darting demolition.

The fourth and final match saw the hometown darting hero Ronnie 'The Rocket' Baxter sporting the Blackpool tangerine colours take on Jamie 'Jabba' Caven. With Baxter the clear odds on favourite the result was inevitable but Caven put on a good show and made Baxter work hard for the victory. The first four legs all went against throw until Baxter managed to find a two leg lead which became unassailable as Caven started to miss doubles and Baxter eventually won 10-7 for the home crowd.

Another England Demise

Well the World Cup is over and it's Summer time so head on down to the beach. That's certainly what England did as their beach soccer team participated in the group phase of the World Cup qualifying tournament this past weekend. The top four teams, i.e. the eventual semi-finalists of the tournament, will automatically qualified for the World Cup in Dubai next year. England weren't exactly looking toward that but at least progression from the group which contained Estonia, Israel and Portugal. On the whole it looked like England could bag second behind Portugal who are one of the best beach soccer teams in the world. It started well against Estonia beating them 1-0 which is a very un-beach soccer scoreline but that's England for you. Portugal beat Israel which meant if England beat Israel on the Saturday and Portugal beat Estonia then both England and Portugal would go through to the last sixteen. Portugal beat Estonia with ease however England somehow managing to lose 5-2 against Israel, Iloz getting two for Israel and Gould scoring the goals for England in his debut tournament. So this left England in a must-win situation against Portugal who beat England 17-4 in November, there was only going to be one winner for sure especially as there are no draws in beach soccer. With the tournament held in Bibione, Italy the stage was set and after Estonia beat Israel it would be between England and Israel to finish second and progress. England unsurprisingly lost 5-2 with Belchior getting the pick of the goals for Portugal. So another English demise on the World footballing stage, maybe next time!

Aussies Enjoying British Wins

First it was Mark Webber winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix in Silverstone, then it was Chris Holder winning the Speedway British Grand Prix in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. This was the sixth round of the Speedway Grand Prix and after his outstanding success in Poland, Thomasz Gollob was looking to further extend his lead over Jaroslaw Hampel with both Kenneth Bjerre and Jason Crump looking to stage last-ditch Championship campaigns. The omens were looking very good for Crump, who was looking to achieve back-to-back British Grand Prix successes. Last year he won every race and was looking good to do the same here after winning his first three heats (out of five).

But it was his from his fourth heat the night seemed to slip away from him; from the first corner he slipped off his bike forcing a restart. Luckily the referee didn't exclude him and all four riders restarted the race where he eventually finished second, it was after the race where things got a little heated; Chris Holder was unhappy that his fellow Australian didn't leave enough room for him ride well and clearly though that was an impediment. He made sure Crump was to know about it and they had a little tiff on their bikes, Crump cut Holder up as they looked to exit the track and that heated Holder up more. With the Speedway World Cup in two weeks and these two riding together they probably could have done without this argument, but they carried on in the paddock for a good five minutes before they agreed to disagree and carried with the night's action.

More outbursts came in the 18th heat when Tai Woffinden won the only heat for a Brit; he was oblivious to the jostling between Hans Andersen and Nicki Pedersen behind him. The two Danes were then to have afters when the race finished and again these two would be teaming together in the World Cup for Denmark. They exchanged words and heads came together before they drove each other into the safety wall, then separated by the stewards they carried their argument on in the paddock.

After the heats were completed it was Thomasz Gollob who topped the list with twelve points and would be joined in the semi-finals by Hampel, Crump, Holder, Freddie Lindgren, Andersen, Rune Holta and Pedersen. Holta and Pedersen just sneaking in ahead of Greg Hancock and Kenneth Bjerre who all had seven points. As for the British riders they capped the night off with Chris Harris and Woffinden on six points with Scott Nicholls on four.

The first semi-final was competed by Gollob, Holder, Andersen and Holta. From the start Gollob looked to have taken a lead but his bike blew-out and forced him out of the semi-final when he looked certain to reach the final. This gave Holder the win and Andersen could sneak second place to earn the right to race in the final. The second semi-final was contested by Hampel, Crump, Lindgren and Pedersen. Hampel won the semi-final which put him level on Championship points with Gollob and after finishing last in his final heat, Crump held onto second to make the final. It would be the two Aussies who came out on top in the final with Crump finishing behind the victorious Holder, Hampel finished 3rd with Andersen 4th.

This result leaves Hampel on 92 points just two ahead of Gollob with only four meetings left until Finals day, where the top eight race to be outright winner. Crump is third on 75 with Bjerre now 4th on 66, Holder is now four points ahead of both Holta and Andersen on 60 points. Nicki Pedersen currently hold the final spot to be in with a chance of racing on Finals day on 51 points with a slender lead over Andreas Jonsson on 48. The other possible contenders for that final 8th spot are Lindgren and Magnus 'Zorro' Zetterstrom on 43 points, Chris Harris on 42 and Greg Hancock on 41. The Grand Prix takes a break to make way for the Speedway World Cup in two weeks time with Great Britain, Australia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Finland and Czech Republic all looking to become World Champions.

Viva Espana: Holland 0-1 Spain AET 11/7/10

Holland line-up: Stekelenburg, Van Der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronkhorst (c) (Braafheid, 105'), Van Bommel, Kuyt (Elia, 71'), De Jong (Van Der Vaart, 99'), Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben
Spain line-up: Casillas (c), Pique, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa (Torres, 106'), Xavi, Capdevila, Alonso (Fabregas, 87'), Ramos, Busquets, Pedro (Navas, 60')

Spain became World Champions to add to their European crown after a feisty affair with the Dutch. Overall they deserved the victory which came in extra time in a game that had 12 yellow cards, two of which went to Heitinga. There was also slight controversy over the Spanish goal and Holland should have had De Jong sent off in the first half, but on the whole English referee Howard Webb and his two assistants played a fine game. With Spain as favourites and being backed by a certain octopus, they came out the gates quickest in the first half with their sheer dominating possession football. Ramos and Pique were first to test Stekelenburg and his defenders who stood up to the early challenge and kept Holland level. Heitinga could have an own goal but his clearance from Ramos' cross went over for a corner when it could have gone anywhere. The resultant corner gave David Villa his first chance but he sliced the volley wide into the side-netting and Holland were let off. From their Holland grew into the game and we had a midfield battle on our hands. Nigel De Jong was lucky to stay on the field when he placed a high boot right into the chest of Xabi Alonso, lucky for De Jong Webb saw it only as a yellow card offence and he became the fifth cautioned player in the first half-hour. Holland had the momentum in the final ten minutes of the half and when Van Bommel picked up a short corner from Robben, he crossed it into the path of the unmarked Mathijsen on the back post who, like a typical centre-back, got his volley all wrong and rolled off for a goal-kick. Robben forced Casillas into action for the first time minutes before half-time, Casillas dived neatly to the corner to deny Robben scoring for Holland.

Holland may have the momentum going into the break but Spain came out in the second half pretty much like they did in the first. Puyol, who scored Spain's semi-final match winner, looked to feed in Capdevila as he headed down another corner unmarked, but Capdevila couldn't stretch enough to make any meaningful contact. The game opened up more as the players began to tire, Wesley Sneijder played a beautiful through ball just after the hour mark, Robben went through to a one-on-one situation with Casillas and the keeper saved with his outstretched foot when Robben really should have scored. Substitute Jesus Navas proved a handful for the Holland defence as his pace couldn't be matched and he sent a cross in for Villa but his shot was deflected behind by Heitinga to save his country. Twelve minutes from time and Spain should have had their goal; Sergio Ramos was unmarked from a Xavi corner but somehow he managed to head the ball over from six yards out. From here it was Spain who looked the most likely to score and Sneijder had to produce a last ditch tackle to prevent Iniesta running his way through the Dutch defence. However Robben carried a constant threat and when he beat Puyol for pace he looked to be through again against Casillas, Puyol looked to have been holding him and if Robben had gone down he would have won a free-kick and possibly Puyol's sending off. But he kept going and Casillas saved bravely at his feet as Robben this time tried to buy a penalty by tripping over Casillas' body. Howard Webb correctly was having none of it and the final went into extra time.

Again Spain were looking more likely to grab the winning goal but the Holland defence stood up to the task. Xavi had a shot deflected before substitute Fabregas was played through only to be foiled by Stekelenburg. Holland's only real chance in the first half fell to Mathijsen but he could only head the ball wide from a corner. Fernando Torres' tournament was to get even worse when he was allowed a cameo in extra time replacing David Villa, but towards the end of extra time he pulled up after running after a ball and it could well be bad news for Liverpool fans. Ten minutes before penalties beckoned Holland were reduced to ten men; Heitinga pulled down Iniesta outside the box and rightly earned himself a second yellow and Holland's backs were well and truly against the wall. Four minutes from time and Spain were to take the lead, Iniesta was played through by Xavi and smashed the ball home for Spain. There were arguments for offside which replays showed were incorrect and Iniesta's goal correctly stood on that account. However the other controversy came from the end when Dutch substitute Elia tried running against Puyol and Pique and looked to have been sandwiched by them just outside the box, Howard Webb decided not to issue a free-kick and Spain countered and that's where they scored from. For this argument I think Holland do have a case but Spain overall deserved victory and can now celebrate with at least four years of being called World Champions.

Webber Secures Silverstone Victory

Mark Webber won the the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone after taking the lead from the start. Webber and his Pole position teammate Sebastian Vettel battled for the lead during the first couple of turns, Vettel pushed Webber out to the inside before Webber retorted and pushed Vettel onto the grass verge. It was there where Webber took the lead and unfortunately for Vettel he suffered a puncture. He wasn't the only one as Felipe Massa also suffered a rear tyre puncture during the first encounters. Both drivers were forced to pit and therefore end up at the rear of the grid and would have to battle their through if they were to get anything out of this race. Fernando Alonso was the biggest loser of the opening corners as he fell from 3rd to 6th as Hamilton was gifted second place. From there the race was over in terms of who was going to win as Webber just kept firing quickest laps throughout the race.

The main significant event was Pedro De La Rosa's rear wing breaking off, it forced his retirement and enforced the Safety Car. This was a great help to Vettel as he surged through the pack after the Safety Car pitted because the group was tight again he managed to get to eighth before Adrian Sutil made a gallant effort to stop his fellow countryman, but Vettel's persistence paid off as he overtook Sutil on the penultimate lap and he managed to finish in an unlikely seventh place. Alonso's race worsened as he and Robert Kubica battled for position before Kubica forced Alonso off the track, Alonso had no option but to cut the the corner which resulted in him overtaking the Renault. A few laps later Kubica retired due to a mechanical failure but the stewards still made Alonso take a drive-through penalty for not allowing Kubica back through after the 'illegal overtaking manoeuvre'. This was issued before the Safety Car was deployed and he had to take the penalty soon after it pitted which resulted in him falling down the pack. He looked to battle his way back to 11th but after contacting Liuzzi he suffered a puncture of his own and had to pit again resulting in him finishing in 14th. The big winners were Jensen Button who managed to climb to fourth after starting 14th, Barrichello and Kobayashi drove steady races and managed a somewhat surprisingly fifth and sixth respectively. The result is as follows:

1. Webber (Red Bull), 2. Hamilton (McLaren), 3. Rosberg (Mercedes), 4. Button (McLaren), 5. Barrichello (Williams), 6. Kobayashi (Sauber), 7. Vettel (Red Bull), 8. Sutil (Force India), 9. Schumacher (Mercedes), 10. Hulkenburg (Williams), 11. Liuzzi (Force India), 12. Buemi (Toro Rosso), 13. Petrov (Renault), 14. Alonso (Ferrari), 15. Massa (Ferrari), 16. Trulli (Lotus), 17. Kovalainen (Lotus), 18. Glock (Virgin), 19. Chandhok (Hispania), 20. Yamamoto (Hispania) Retired: Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), De La Rosa (Sauber), Kubica (Renault) and Di Grassi (Virgin)

This leaves Lewis Hamilton just 24 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who is in fourth place, with 145. Fellow Brit and McLaren teammate Button is currently second with 133 and after his win Webber is third on 128. Next stop on the Formula One calendar is Germany and with all four drivers still in contention it should be a nail-biting race in 11 days time.

Germany Third After Five-Goal Thriller: Uruguay 2-3 Germany 10/7/10

Uruguay line-up: Muslera, Lugano (c), Godin, Fucile, Cavani (Abreu, 88'), Suarez, Forlan, Perez (Gargano, 77'), M.Pereira, Arevalo, Caceres
Germany line-up: Butt, Jansen (Kroos, 81'), Friedrich, Aogo, Khedira, Schweinsteiger (c), Ozil (Tasci, 91'), Muller, Mertesacker, Cacau (Kiessling, 73'), Boateng

Germany just manage to sneak third place after a game with many twists and turns. Without any pressure on this game, we were treated to free-flowing football and a highly entertaining game throughout. Looking at the team sheets it was quite clear who was taking this most seriously but the weakened Germany team still wanted to win without any doubt. Both teams came out on the front foot as the rain poured from the heavens in South Africa. Muller and Cavani were the first to fire their warning shots to let everybody know they mean business. However it was Germany who came closest early on after Arne Freidrich fired a header from an Ozil corner onto the crossbar. Just under twenty minutes played and Germany were ahead; Bastian Schweinsteiger blazed a shot from thirty yards and keeper Muslera could only parry it in front of him, Thomas Muller was the most alert and despite cries of offside from the Uruguay defence Germany were correctly 1-0 ahead after Muller's tap-in. This meant Muller had scored five goals for the tournament putting him level with Sneijder and Villa for the Golden Boot. Uruguay were undeterred by the goal and came back fighting for the equaliser. Germany's Ol' Reliable, Per Mertesacker kept Germany ahead after he headed a Forlan far-post header away to safety. Uruguay were to get their equaliser just four minutes later when Germany's deputy captain Schweinsteiger dallied on the ball and was dispossessed by Perez, he found Suarez who played the ball through to Cavani. He shot on his second touch and fired it into the bottom corner and Uruguay were level. Suarez had a glorious chance of putting Uruguay ahead just minutes before the break but after drawing Butt out of his goal, Suarez could only fire wide from a tightened angle.

Butt played a vital role in keeping Germany level in the second-half making himself big in one-on-one situations against Cavani and getting fingertips to a curling Suarez shot. But just six minutes into the half and Uruguay were to have their deserved lead, Arevalo played a cross onto the edge of the box where Diego Forlan was on hand to volley past the helpless Butt. This spectacular goal also put Forlan on five goals for the tournament making it even more interesting for the Golden Boot. But this time it was Germany's turn to be undeterred and they came searching for the equaliser. It came just five minutes after going behind; Muslera looked uncharacteristically nervous in goal and failed to collect a Boateng cross, it looped over him where the waiting Jansen headed the ball into the empty net. The game became very stretched as both teams looked to take the lead again, this left a lot of open spaces for swift counter-attacks. Again Butt made himself big to stop Forlan and again saved neatly to prevent Suarez from getting his goal. Kiessling had a great chance for Germany when they countered via a breathtaking passing masterclass but Kiessling fired over from fifteen yards. The winning goal was somewhat sloppy from another Ozil corner, Muslera and the Uruguay defence failed to clear and ball bounced up to Khedira who looped his header over the diving Muslera and Uruguay were 3-2 down. Forlan nearly forced extra time with the last kick of the game when they were awarded a last minute free-kick, it hit the crossbar and went behind, leaving Germany with the Bronze medal.

World Cup Final Preview: Holland v Spain 11/7/10

The Final of the South Africa World Cup 2010 is tomorrow and we are guaranteed not just a European winner but also a first-time World Champion. But aside from the two teams a congratulations has to come from a England perspective as we do have English representatives in the final. Referee Howard Webb and his officials Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey will take control of the prestigious event in what will be their biggest game yet. They've already officiated three flawless games so far in the World Cup and they made the grade from the Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and now move on to the World Cup Final between Holland and Spain. To pick a winner from these two is hard, unless you're a psychic octopus! Holland are thus far unbeaten and deservedly so whereas Spain haven't looked back from their first game defeat to Switzerland. Holland have an immense goal threat with Sneijder, Kuyt, Van Perise and Robben all potential match winners. Spain have looked towards David Villa for their goals but their dominance of possession is second to none and Holland will find it hard to break Spain down. Paul the Psychic Octopus has gone for Spain and I'm very much on the fence, my heart says Holland because I'm big fan of their football but my head Spain and I think my head, like the octopus, will be right with Spain winning 2-1.

3rd/4th Place Playoff Preview: Uruguay v Germany 10/7/10

The penultimate game of what has been a very enjoyable World Cup. Uruguay face off against Germany for the chance to finish third in the World Cup. Uruguay will have Luis Suarez back from suspension and Germany look to be without Miroslav Klose who picked up an injury. Hopefully with some pressure off of this game we will get a decent affair straight from the off and Paul the Psychic Octopus has gone for Germany, which I'm inclined to agree with as they are the better team and I think they will win 3-1.

Great Britain Save Themselves From Relegation

After losing to Lithuania the Great British Davis Cup team were one game away to being relegated to the bottom league of European Davis Cup. Although Andy Murray made it to the Semi-Finals of Wimbledon before losing to Rafael Nadal, Great British tennis is in a worse state than most of the other national sports teams and relegation would have been the ultimate embarrassment for the creators of Tennis.

The stage was set in Eastbourne and yesterday was day 1 of 3 for the weekend tie against Turkey. All ties are played best out 5 rubbers that includes four singles matches and and a doubles match. Day 1 started with Jamie Baker against Ergun Zorlu, it was a comprehensive straight sets victory for Baker with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 finish. The second singles match was between James Ward and Marsel Ilhan, Ward knew that if he won Great Britain would be in good stead to stay in the Europe/Africa Group II with Turkey dropping to Africa Group III. Ilhan looked a lot better than Zorlu and put up a better fight but Ward still managed to win by 6-2, 7-5, 6-7, 6-1. This left day 1 with Great Britain 2-0 ahead knowing that if they won the doubles today they would win the tie. Up stepped the duo of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski as they faced off against Halok Akuyyon and Zorlu. Again it was a harder fought contest which was to the surprise of the British fans but the Brit pairing came through with a straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory to guarantee the British win ahead of tomorrow's final two singles matches.

Another Red Bull Qualifying Masterclass

Formula 1 rode into Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix and there are huge hopes from spectators for a British victory tomorrow. But their hopes have been slightly hampered by a Red Bull pole for the 9th race out of ten. There were no real shocks in Q1 as all the new teams failed to get through yet again which left one driver from a possible seven maybe eight to join them. The big news coming out from the new constructors was that Bruno Senna had been replaced by Yamamoto for Hispania racing, who have confirmed it will only be for this race. Unfortunately for Hispania they make up the bottom pairing as Yamamoto finished 24th and Chandhok 23rd. Lotus ultimately won the battle between themselves and Virgin racing as Trulli finished 21st and Kovalainen leads the new teams qualifying 19th, whereas Timo Glock qualified 20th and Di Grassi 23rd. The final driver to fall out of Q1 was Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso and will therefore start 18th in tomorrow's race. Red Bull started their dominance from Q1 with Vettel just edging the fastest lap over Mark Webber.

Q2 finished with Mark Webber gaining the upper hand as he edged the fastest lap over Sebastian Vettel with a Red Bull one-two seeming inevitable. However the big shock from Q2 came from Jensen Button who later said the McLaren car was 'undriveable' and will start from 14th which really damages his chances of Silverstone success. Renault's Petrov qualified miles behind teammate Kubica in 17th which is a disappointment for the team, Alguersuari's teammate Buemi at Toro Rosso managed 16th. Force India's Liuzzi qualified behind Button in 15th while Willams' Hulkenburg qualified ahead in 13th which could prove to be a difficult overtaking for Button. The big winners of the qualifying session have to be the BMW Sauber team as Koboyashi managed 12th and the final evictee from Q2 was the Force India, Adrian Sutil in 11th.

Q3 looked to be split into three parts; which Red Bull would take pole leaving the other in second, in which positions would the Ferraris, Hamilton, Rosberg and Kubica finish leaving Schumacher, Barrichello and possibly the surprise of Pedro De La Rosa in the other Sauber to battle for places 8-10. It would be Michael Schumacher of Mercedes who finished tenth with De La Rosa 9th and Barrichello 8th. Williams, like Sauber, must be really happy with their qualifying results and will hope they can carry out onto the race. The two Ferraris finished at either end of block two with Alonso gaining 3rd and Massa 7th. Robert Kubica continued his decent form recently by qualifying in 6th and Rosberg finished 5th. Lewis Hamilton kept the British hopes alive by finishing 4th but he has an uphill battle against the Red Bulls who look flawless. As for pole it was to be Sebastian Vettel to edge it claiming his second successive Silverstone pole and will looking to win his second consecutive Silverstone race. Mark Webber therefore claims second although he was the first driver to break the 1 minute 30 mark with a 1:29.9 before Vettel stormed in a 1:28 to clinch it.

Possibly The Oddest Thing About The World Cup 2010

Until the Germany-England match there was very little grumblings about a certain aquamarine animal. But since that result the psychic powers of a certain octopus has come to light and brought many into a sense of bewilderment. Paul the Psychic Octopus has predicted each of Germany's results correctly so far this tournament, including their defeat to Serbia and last night's defeat to Spain. Originally born in England, Paul now lives in Germany in a sea-life centre and has been attracting a lot of attention. The owners would place two boxes side by side with the flags of the Germany and their opponents, each box would contain a mollusc and Paul would go to that box of which country he thinks will win. He has correctly predicted Germany's wins over Australia, Ghana, England and Argentina and had also predicted their two defeats. Now he will predict the winner of the 3rd/4th place playoff and also the Final which would be the first game he predicts that doesn't contain Germany, so watch this space!

Header Puyts Spain Through: Germany 0-1 Spain 7/710

Germany line-up: Neuer, Friedrich, Khedira (Gomez, 81'), Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Podolski, Klose, Trochowiski (Kroos, 62'), Lahm (c), Mertesacker, Boateng (Jansen, 52')
Spain line-up: Casillas (c), Pique, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa (Toress, 81'), Xavi, Capdevila, Alonso (Marchena, 93'), Ramos, Busquets, Pedro (Silva, 86')

Spain just about get past Germany in a tight affair, meaning that Spain will face Holland in Cape Town on Sunday for a chance to become a first-time World Champion. On a slightly more light hearted not this result meant that once again Paul the Psychic Octopus correctly predicted the winner. The first half was very cagey with few chances, Spain as usual dominated possession but lacked potency in the way of creating chances. Although Germany saw less of the ball they looked more threatening in front of Casillas and posed a few problems. The best chance of the half for Spain came within six minutes when Torres' deputy Pedro fed in a good through ball past the defence into Villa, however Neuer was off his line quickly and was easily able able to parry Villa's effort. Eight minutes later and Spain should have been ahead; Xavi played a short corner to Iniesta, he crosses into the box where Carles Puyol was unmarked six yards from goal but he managed to somehow head the ball over the bar. After those two chances Spain created next to nothing in front of goal but still dominated possession with around 60% of it. Casillas overall was the busiest keeper in the first half although he wasn't called into action until the half-hour mark, Trochowski, who was in for the suspended Muller, fired a lethal shot from 30 yards and Casillas did well to parry away from a corner, which resulted in a somewhat nervy punch from the Spain captain but no danger followed from that. The big talking point of the first half came on the stroke of half-time; a rather muted Ozil had broke past the Spain defence but was seemingly tripped in the box by the chasing Sergio Ramos but the Hungarian referee waved play on and Spain were a little lucky.

The second half was very much like the first except Spain had found urgency in their possession and started creating more chances. Xabi Alonso and David Villa both fired warning shots just past the post of Neuer's goal and Germany were looking a little nervous, especially coach Joachim Low. Pedro, who looked very good in place of Torres, forced a fingertips save from Neuer and Mertesacker uncharacteristically was caught napping in trying to clear. This allowed Iniesta to steal the ball before drilling it across the six yard box and David Villa was inches away from sliding it home. Low decided it was time to change things and brought Jansen in replace of Boateng, who didn't seem to deal with Pedro very well, then ten minutes later Kroos came on for Trochowski in an attacking move. Seven minutes after coming on, Kroos brought about the first chance of the second half for Germany; he met Podolski's cross at the far post but his side-footed volley was a bit tame and Casillas forced it away. With just over fifteen minutes remaining Spain found their goal, after Puyol's warning header in the first half Xavi placed another corner onto the penalty spot where yet again Puyol rose unmarked to fire a bullet header past Neuer. With Germany needing to come out and attack Spain were able to catch them on the break and should have put the game beyond all doubt. Pedro and substitute Torres found themselves in a two-on-one situation against Freidrich, however Pedro decided not to use the unmarked Torres and Friedrich was able to get back and tackle. Torres also became a guilty party on the greed count when Spain broke into a three-on-two advantage but again Torres went alone and was tackled. But it was to immaterial as the final whistle went and Spain are now through to their first ever World Cup where they will meet the biggest underachievers in World football, Holland.