As Cesc Fabregas crafted a pass into Andres Iniesta, who took one touch before firing past Maarten Stekelenburg to win the World Cup in Soccer City, one couldn’t help but think it was a move crafted in La Masia, the Barcelona academy. Seven Barcelona players started the game, with Cesc Fabregas, a former academy player, coming on as a substitute near the end of normal time.

It is rare when one club dominates a national team so much, and the seven Barcelona representatives in the final beat the six Bayern Munich put forward in 1974 for West Germany. The tiki-taka philosophy has taken a pragmatic form during this tournament with the use of a second defensive midfielder.  Coupled with the defensive mentality of the opposition, they have accumulated the lowest tally for goals scored by a winner in history, with a measly eight.

Iniesta finally decided to shoot with no option to pass available, having refused to put his foot through the ball when clean through on two other occasions. The result this time brought Spain the World Cup trophy. The mercurial midfielder was also involved in the sending off of Johnny Heitinga, exaggerating contact by plunging to the ground to confirm the dismissal of the Everton man, who was the last defender.

While his general play was fantastic (excluding his previous refusal to shoot), the instances of thespian reactions to some Dutch tackling was embarrassing. The message underneath his shirt to Dani Jarque, the Espanyol captain who passed away tragically last summer, was, on the other hand, a very touching gesture.

Meanwhile at the BBC studio, Alan Hansen went on like a broken record about ‘touch and technique, pass and move’, (he somehow forgot to mention the tricolon of ‘power, pace and precision).  Later his analysis of Iniesta’s goal consisted of ‘touch, turn, hit’. One would think the Scotsman teaches a class on how to disguise alliteration and description as punditry. Hansen also gave the opinion that Mandela is “an absolute legend”. As the Guardian’s Scott Murray said: “Football cliches don’t really do service to decades of democratic struggle, do they?”

Lee Dixon, one of the few respectable pundits left on television lost much credibility, dismissing the foul on Elia in the build-up to Iniesta’s winner because ‘we don’t care’. There was no hint of impartiality in the BBC’s punditry, as Holland’s defence was essentially likened to some sort of gathering of Jeffrey Dahmer’s and Albert Fish’s. There were 14 bookings and a sending off overall, a record for the final.

This is a complete 180 degree turn to the stance adopted by Messrs Hansen, Shearer and co. in the Premier League when teams like Stoke and Bolton use thuggish means against opposition teams that play passing football like Arsenal. His disgusting hypocrisy took form in the following words: ‘Justice was served, I dont think there is any place in football for the way the Dutch set out to play here’. While Holland made several cynical fouls, they weren’t as bad as the BBC tended to portray them as (but they were pretty thuggish). (This blog stayed away from ITV’s coverage on the assumption it would be performing fellatio on itself over the selection of English match officials – and how they covered themselves in glory!)

The poor decision making in extra time by Brave Wise English Hero Howard Webb was barely mentioned as he struggled to make simple decisions once the game became more open. The fact that he was roundly booed when collecting his medals summed up his performance, given the obvious free-kick he denied Eljero Elia in the build-up to Iniesta’s goal. Webb was also given a rating of 0/10 in Spanish tabloid Marca’s ratings. The Spanish media bemoaned his selection as the World Cup Final referee after the opening game loss to Switzerland (also refereed by Webb), and one could argue the pressure they put on every decision with the despicable Sergio Busquets among others either writhing on the floor or waving his imaginary card.

Finally, in a very apt image, the legacy of South Africa’s World Cup can be epitomized by the action of Sepp Blatter to President Jacob Zuma in the trophy presentation. In what was supposed to be a joint-transfer of the trophy for Casillas to hold aloft, Blatter only allowed a token touch of the trophy to Zuma before handing to it a grateful Casillas. It was typical of a tournament where little has been given to South Africa in terms of a legacy concerning social and economic development but where FIFA have banked over £2bn in marketing revenues.