Johannesburg:
The Dutch were bent on showing that they could win ugly and win their first World Cup, but they only got the ugly part right.
With eight yellow cards, one red and endless arguing that even spilled over beyond the final whistle, the Netherlands lost much more than 1-0 to Spain in the final -- it lost a lot of its credibility as creative masters as well.
Coach Bert van Marwijk changed the "Total Football" of flair and spontaneity of the 1970s into "Result football," using cynical plotting for victory.
The outcome was the same -- the Netherlands is still waiting for its first World Cup.
The Dutch have earlier made it to the final of the World Cup on two consecutive occasions in 1974 and 1978.
They were beaten by the West Germans in 1974 and Argentina got the better of them in 1978 at home.
So even as the Dutch tried hard to make it third time lucky for themselves, eventually their game let them down and the Spanish were deserved champions.
Van Marwijk took his silver medal off as soon as he walked off the podium, with a look of disgust on his face.