A mesmerizing highlight reel of the dribbling skills of Cruyff, one of the top five players of all time:




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Spain 1, Germany 0. Spain-Netherlands in the final on Sunday. Neither have won before.

Spain methodically controlled the game with tiki-taka possession and stifled Germany. The Germans could not win the ball from the Spanish in a way that lead to productive possessions, let alone successful counterattacks. Many German touches that interrupted Spanish possessions were headers or toe-pokes or kicks that escaped the German third but simply dropped back into the possession of the Spanish. When the Germans did properly gain control of the ball, the Spanish pressed them into surrendering possession or bad passes. The Germans could not get into any sort of rhythm and rarely threatened. Kroos had an open look at Casillas in Germany's best chance, but he shot it right at the keeper. Germany did not play poorly; they were bested by a more-skilled opponent.

The game was also cleanly played, with few fouls and no serious diving. A pity more matches aren't as clean and skillful as this one.

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