On this day: Spain win the World Cup

Spain have plenty of reasons to reflect at the moment. It has been less than two weeks since La Roja tasted a third successive tournament success having beaten Italy 4-0 in the final of Euro 2012 and in the aftermath of that victory in Kiev talk immediately turned to the magnitude of their achievements.

No other team have won three (major) successive international tournaments, and no team has ever defended their Euro crown before – but, luckily for them, Spain are unlike any other.

The centre-piece of their unique triple was their World Cup win in South Africa two years ago – but they didn’t have it all their own way. A defeat in their first game against Switzerland prompted rumors that the Euro 2008 champions weren’t the real deal.

However Vicente del Bosque’s side soon turned it around and made it all the way to the final where they came up against a Netherlands side that had stunned Brazil and Uruguay en-route to the final.

The final in Johannesburg wasn’t a pretty affair – later the Dutch would be accused of abandoning their football philosophy in order to stop Spain playing their game by any means necessary - but Andres Iniesta extra-time goal ensured that the first ever World Cup held on South African soil would be remembered for some time.

That was two years ago to this very day – so what better excuse do you need to relive the day that Spain ruled the world?