Spain won its first ever FIFA World Cup Sunday afternoon after defeating the Netherlands with a score of 1-0.

The game was riddled with fouls; 47 from both sides. All together, a record-setting 14 yellow cards were shown as a warning and one player from the Netherlands, defender John Heitinga was dismissed.

Neither team scored during the regulation 90 minutes, and the game went into overtime. The goal remained 0-0 in the first half of overtime also, and Spain won the game with a dramatic goal after 116 minutes.

Spain was favored to win the game, but the Netherlands held on until the last few minutes. According to ESPN, some Dutch fans were in South Africa to watch the match live.

Karlien Sluman, a junior middle childhood education major here at Kent and an avid fan of the Netherlands soccer team, watched the game in Germany where she is studying abroad.

“I was born in the Netherlands and my dad’s whole side of the family lives there,” Sluman said. “I was visiting them in 2004 for the Euro Cup and my family watched the games on TV and were really excited about it. I kind of picked it up from them. I picked a favorite player and got really excited about the games.”

Sluman said she started enjoying soccer once she started following the Dutch team. She’s been avidly keeping up with the team’s performance since her visit in 2004 and usually has to find information online because the games aren’t always on TV in the United States.

“I love the way it works, I love how it flows and it’s definitely one of my favorite sports now,” she said.

She said she enjoyed watching the Netherlands play while in Germany.

“People in Germany actually care about soccer, so it’s just so much more fun to watch. I usually ended up watching the games on TV in my living room when I’m in the States, but there are so many options of places to watch here.”

Although the Netherlands have never won the World Cup, their fans still have reasons to be excited. Their run toward the finals included the defeat of the famously fierce Brazilian team.

“We beat one of the most famous teams in the world, and I just went crazy. I was so excited,” Sluman said.

Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014 and Germany will host the Women’s World Cup next summer.

Contact international reporter Allison Brookes at [email protected] and student life reporter Stephanie Neumann at [email protected].