Somewhere in Catalonia, a Dutchman is smiling.

His name is Johan Cruyff, and since before the Beatles broke up he has been fighting on behalf of an attack-intensive brand of soccer, a stylish game of short passes and zig-zag dashes that brought pleasure to tens of millions of fans but never produced a world champion.

Over 40 years, he imposed his vision on two national teams, as a player for the Netherlands in the 1970s and as a coach in Spain since 1988, the year he took over FC Barcelona and began selling his style of soccer to the Spanish and their national team.

On Sunday, the Netherlands and Spain will meet in a World Cup final that is a vindication for the roughly" target="_blank" title="ad.完全地，彻底地">thoroughly unfashionable Mr. Cruyff. In Europe and nearly everywhere else, defensive soccer has been ascendant for nearly two decades. But whichever team hoists the trophy Sunday will bear the offense-first imprint of Mr. Cruyff.

'What you are seeing is a victory for attacking football,' said Ruud Gullit, a star of the Dutch teams of the 1980s. 'It's what people like to see.'

This is particularly true of the Spanish. Their devotion to Cruyff-style offensive strategies has earned accolades from each opponent they vanquished, and of course from Mr. Cruyff.

'They are the masters of the game,' German coach Joachim Low said after falling to La Furia Roja on Wednesday night. 'You can see it with every pass.'

The Oranje of the Netherlands are less loyal to their former star. While they remain a possession-oriented, quick-passing team, they have shifted away from the teachings of the prophet Mr. Cruyff, garnering a tongue-lashing from him for playing a more structured, less free-flowing style. Yet it has succeeded: The Dutch are playing in World Cup final for the first time since 1978.

The final becomes a test of Mr. Cruyff's philosophy: Can his style win in its purest form, or must it be adapted to the modern game? Mr. Cruyff, who lives in Catalonia, declined to be interviewed.

Over the past three decades, the Dutch appeared to come to terms with their place in soccer's natural order. They were the purists who would play the game their way -- Mr. Cruyff's way. They would suffer for their art by being knocked out of tournaments but could always tell themselves that they were beaten by less talented" target="_blank" title="a.天才的；能干的">talented teams, or teams that were willing to sacrifice style for success.

Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk this week called Mr. Cruyff 'the best footballer ever.' But earlier in the tournament he also said, 'If we can win playing beautiful football that's great, but two years ago when I became coach, I said you have to be able to win ugly games.'

In true Cruyff style, Spain tries to avoid that at all costs, even if coach Vicente del Bosque stopped short of crediting the Dutch and Mr. Cruyff for his team's current success and style.

'I don't know if it looks like the Dutch style,' he said after defeating Germany. 'It is always based on quality of the people in the midfield. If you have order, you can showcase a lot of talent. We have great players, good order and that makes everything much easier.'

But Spain's key midfield trio of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets all play for Barcelona in a style that evokes the Dutch of the 1970s. Their special awareness, speed of thought and crisp passing are the backbone of the Spanish team.

Mr. Cruyff's captain during much of his time at Barcelona was Pep Guardiola, the current manager of Barcelona, who provided six of Spain's starting 11 against Germany in the semi-final.

As a result, unlike the much-anticipated clash between Germany and the Netherlands, this final won't be about two historic rivals settling old scores on the field. For two countries separated by roughly 500 miles that have been among the best in European soccer for half a generation, Spain and the Netherlands have never played a game with a major title on the line.

Some 400 years ago, Spain and the Netherlands were rivals. But a series of 17th century peace treaties brought peace between the two countries. The two sides are 4-4-1 since 1920, their most recent meeting a 1-0 win for the Netherlands in 2002.

This Dutch team is formidable, having won all six of its World Cup games in South Africa. Since 1958, when the three-match group-play format was instituted, three teams have entered the World Cup final having won all their matches, and all three won the championship.

Matthew Futterman

• vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)
• player [´pleiə] n.游戏的人；选手 (初中英语单词)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
• victory [´viktəri] n.胜利，战胜 (初中英语单词)
• devotion [di´vəuʃən] n.献身；忠诚；热爱 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• prophet [´prɔfit] n.预言家；先知；提倡者 (初中英语单词)
• philosophy [fi´lɔsəfi] n.哲学；人生观 (初中英语单词)
• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• talented [´tæləntid] a.天才的；能干的 (初中英语单词)
• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
• talent [´tælənt] n.天才；才干；天资 (初中英语单词)
• manager [´mænidʒə] n.经理；管理人；干事 (初中英语单词)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik] a.不同的 prep.不象... (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• generation [,dʒenə´reiʃən] n.发生；世代；同龄人 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• behalf [bi´hɑ:f] n.利益 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• offensive [ə´fensiv] a.冒犯的 n.进攻 (高中英语单词)
• opponent [ə´pəunənt] a.对立的 n.对手 (高中英语单词)
• tournament [´tuənəmənt] n.比赛，锦标赛 (高中英语单词)
• historic [his´tɔrik] a.有历史意义的 (高中英语单词)
• roughly [´rʌfli] ad.粗糙地；毛糙地 (高中英语单词)
• formidable [´fɔ:midəbəl] a.可怕的；艰难的 (高中英语单词)
• defensive [di´fensiv] a.&n.防御(的) (英语四级单词)
• trophy [´trəufi] n.战利品；奖品 (英语四级单词)
• backbone [´bækbəun] n.脊骨；骨干；支柱 (英语四级单词)
• dutchman [´dʌtʃmən] n.荷兰人 (英语六级单词)
• whichever [witʃ´evə] a.&pron.无论哪个(些) (英语六级单词)