For the 'other' 30 national soccer teams, it's all over. It has come down to a match between Don Juan and the Flying Dutchmen! Who will win? Everyone has an idea - today we preview the final match as well as checking out the last of the funny and fascinating World Cup reporting and Tweetage.

Which team has the craziest fans?

World Cup Finals preview: Spain  vs Netherlands

Spain:             1.95 - 2.11

Netherlands:    3.5 - 4.0

What history says:

In their past World Cup matches, Netherlands have a 4:3 edge over Spain, with 1 drawn match. However, Spain are the more prolific goalscorers, with a total of 12 to Netherland's 10. Netherlands are coming off a 24-match unbeaten streak, also.

What the Daily Mirror says:

Of the nine experts (although to be fair, one of those nine is an octopus) gathered by the Daily Mirror in England, eight of them say that Spain is going to win. Xavi, Iniesta and Villa are predicted to be the men of the match and possible goalscorers.

What Paul the Octopus says:

Paul the Octopus, housed in Oberhausen Aquarium in Germany, has picked Spain to win the World Cup. His deductive methods are unknown, but he communicates by eating mussels out of box labelled with the flags of countries about to play. He also predicted around 70% of Germany's results in the 2008 European Championship.

Reporter's Cup

• There will be a solar eclipse at the same time as the World Cup final. Unfortunately it will only be properly seen in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.
• The reporters who were saying (before the World Cup) that they expected no problems with violent altercations in South Africa are now busy gloating. Thankfully, nobody died, was kidnapped or seriously injured.  
• In the European Championship 2008, the Polish prime minister threatened to murder Howard Webb, the referee for this World Cup finals match fpor awarding a last minute penalty to Austria.

Tweeter's Cup

We've already got plenty of conjecture on who will win. Tpoday we just soak up the virtual, Twittified excitement!

--- ChrisEFrost: RT @TheOfficeSweep: Should be an exciting #worldcup final between #esp and #ned. Its certainly a final of 1sts! http://qck.ly/bo

-- melmelet: RT @HomerJSimpson: The vuvuzela is the world’s most annoying horn and Bart won’t stop playing it! I’ll kill the international spirit of peace! #worldcup

--- Age9126: note to self- take a nap BEFORE #worldcup final tomorrow

--- G7SEV: #WorldCup final tomorrow! Can.... Not.... Wait..... for the non football fans, you wouldn't understand... carry on.

Despite having slightly longer odds at most betting agencies, the LA Lakers have taken out the 2010 NBA finals crown ... woo hoo! It was an ultra-close final 7, and an ultra-close final game to top it all off. For those that like the feeling of sitting on the edge of the seat, the NBA playoffs finals provided plenty more excitement than those disappointing conference semifinals. Here's how it went down!

Game recap

Final score:

Boston Celtics 79

LA Lakers 83

Point scorers:

• Kobe Bryant, 23 points
• Paul Pierce, 18 points
• Pau Gasol, 18 rebounds
• Paul Pierce, 10 rebounds

The Lakers were constantly struggling to get ahead in the game ... but in the end Artest, Gasol and Bryant hit a dream run of points and free throws to clinch the match and the NBA finals.

Odds On, Odds Off…

The Lakers odd were around 1.87 - 2.16 when they won their final match ... so congrats to all that cleaned up on the team with the longer odds!

Cheers and Jeers

• Apparently the Lakers aren't content with their two wins in two years ... everybody, the team included, is talking abut a 'three-peat' already! Sit back and enjoy for a bit, people!
• Apparently many business owners in blocks surrounding the arena where the Lakers played the winning game woke to mornings of smashed windows, minor arson and motor vehicle damage ... sigh.
• Much of the talk around the Lakers now surrounds the upcoming draft, who'll be staying and who'll be going. Derek Fisher may leave the Lakers (although the pundits don't think that's wise), while Andrew Bynum's injury run may spell seeing his backside from the Laker's office door.
• The Celtic's performance is still being lauded - they had a surprisingly good run through the playoffs, and many are reporting it as 'just one win short'.

The Tweet-Offs

Twitter hasn't run as hot with NBA news since the World Cup matches started (which is a bit of a pity for the Lakers and the Celtics!). But people have been pretty quick to jump on the Lakers bandwagon ... Celtics fans are strangely quiet on the micro-blogging platform!

--- kikibby562 Q:LA LAKERS! A:NBA Champions<3.

--- DavidLMcConnell Lakers beat all the haters and Boston bean-loving Celtics. (Truthfully they were worthy adversaries.) But we now expect a "three-peat"!

--- gastonia2695 Waking up with disgust, Lakers won - how unhappy it makes me

--- traditionalbill So La celebrates Lakers victory with rampaging violence and burning taxi's. In other words, like a typical liberal protest march...   (Party pooper!)

Given the record in the conference finals, it looks as if tonight's game will be the last one of the NBA Playoffs ... and it also looks very much like Boston will probably create a repeat version of the conference finals history. However, the Lakers have the home court advantage for this match, and that's made a difference in the past ... it'll be a nail biter, and today we check in to see which way it might go!

Will this face start to become a familiar sight?

NBA Finals Games So Far

There was a lot of nastiness in the reporting over the conference semifinals - it seems that a bit of bad luck in basketball can break whole careers. Then we saw what desperation to avoid that situation could do for a team in the conference finals. Will that spill over into the Lakers' performance tonight? Hmmm...

Current standings:

NAB Finals

Boston Celtics: 3

LA Lakers: 2

Odds On, Odds Off…

There's certainly a range of opinions expressed in payout terms over what tonight's outcome will be.

Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers

Lakers: 1.87 - 2.16

Celtics: 1.74 - 1.97

Cheers and Jeers

• Okay ... perhaps we can concede to the wisdom of the Associated Press, who last time we met were predicting a Lakers-Celtics final. Perhaps they should just let the journalists decide who's going to win the NBA Finals, and skip the games altogether?  
• If you haven't yet seen it, check out the video of Paul Pierce accidentally punching the referee in the face during game 4, instead of punching the air in celebration. As Mastercard would say ... Priceless!
• It seems that massive advertising airplay time during the NBA Finals does not always a box office hit maketh ... Grown Ups with Adam Sandler and Co has been drilled during the Finals ads, but Brandfreak reminds us what was in the same position last year - it was Year One.  What? Exactly.

I don't think anybody (even the Bayern Munich players ;-)) could begrudge Inter Milan this UEFA Champions League Cup. It's their first UEFA Champions League Cup in 45 years, and also special because they achieved a continental treble (winning their domestic league competition, domestic cup competition, and also the UEFA cup). Inter Milan will go on to challenge Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup soon enough, and have guaranteed themselves a spot in the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Lets check out how it all went down!

The High Points

• There was no clear favourite before kickoff time … despite a slight shift in the odds in favour of Inter.
• The first goal was scored by Diego Milito, with help from Julio Cesar (Inter's unusually active goalie) and Wesley Sneijder.
• Hamit Altintop's near goal attempt was stopped by Julio Cesar early in the second half
• Milito again scored a goal, this time assisted by Samuel Eto'o.
• Bayern visibly lost their drive after the second goal

The Gossip

• Diego Milito is being widely reported as a 'Rocky lookalike'! I'm not sure if he'd consider that a compliment… but am guessing that since he just won Inter their first cup in 45 years, he doesn’t really care :-)
• Next year's UEFA Champions League will have 2 extra assistant referees, just as the Europa League did this year.
• Jose Mourinho threatened to cry if the journalists made him talk too much about leaving Inter … I'm surprised nobody took up the challenge!

The League of Tweeters

At least some people are taking a bit of time to rejoice, instead of rushing ahead to the next title…

--- keletsomayisa Inter milan has won the uefa champions league yeeeeaaaahhhhh!!!......

--- Kareem1993 Milito owned bayern munich's ass last night inter milan won the italian cup, uefa champions league and italian league :)

--- nkashokbharan Inter Milan have won the UEFA Champions League after beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the finals. It's the Jose effect! - great manager, he is!

--- YowH final uefa champions league next moring!.bayern v inter.hope inter lost :P

Hopefully you've all called in sick to work … cancelled your dinner plans … and arranged at least a couple of mates to stay up until 4am, watching the UEFA Champpions League finals cup! For the Inter Milan fans, it's going to be a big one - they'll need everybody they can get cheering them on (LIVE!) as they head to the possibility of their first UEFA Champions League cup in around 45 years. And I suppose Bayern might like to feel some friendly vibes too! You'll also want to see where your punting dollar is going … so here's where you can watch the UEFA Champions League Cup live, as well as the official lineup for the match.

Where to watch

On television

If you’re in Australia, the most comfortable place to watch (and also the cheapest), will be live on SBS, the official channel of the world game here. In fact, no matter where you are in the world, there's bound to be at least a little bit of live coverage of the finals. At 4am on the morning of Sunday the 23^rd, the finals match will be broadcast. The only dilemma then is how to avoid falling asleep on the comfy couch!

On the official UEFA site

This is pay-per-view, but if you won't have access to a television or they aren't broadcasting locally on television, it's also a good option. At least you get the whole match, the official commentary, and guaranteed live action.

http://www.livesoccertv.com

The servers are a bit slow, but the site's pretty good!

The lineups

Lineups are one of the most tightly guarded secrets in soccer, it seems … I think I'd have an easier time trying to find out the 11 secret herbs and spices in KFC chicken! It is only 11 hours until the game, and the official lineups are yet to be published. So, here are some of the players we are fairly certain will be playing tonight:

For Bayern

• Mark van Bommel
• Bastian Schweinsteiger
• Arjen Robben

For Inter Milan

• Javier Zanetti
• Estaban Cambiasso
• Wesley Sneijder

These are the players that have been speaking about their upcoming match, anyway. Guess we'll get a couple of surprises in a row!

We'll be back in a couple of days with a wrap up of the final match, shirts over our faces either way!

Numbers can be pretty interesting … even if you aren't a mathematician! Hear me out, I know I sound like I'm talking crazy talk :-). When you check out the numbers (the team statistics) for the UEFA Champions' League final match in a few days, you'll notice an interesting discrepancy between the bookies' opinion, and UEFA's official 'percentage chance to win' stats. So we decided to have a look at the other numbers that went into UEFA's calculation … in the interests of truth in punting!

Overall chance to win:

Bayern's official percentage from UEFA is 58%, while Inter Milan's is 45%. Perhaps they take the fact that Inter hasn't won a Champions League cup in around 45 years into that reckoning… Interestingly, they've left the percentages up from the rest of the season, and some of the teams that were considered to have a better shot of winning than Inter Milan include Olympiacos, Porto, Sevilla and APOEL. Hmm!

Goals scored for and against

Bayern are equal first for goals scored this season, and have an average of 1.75 per game. Inter Milan has scored only 15 to Bayern's 21, but has a pretty close average of 1.25 per game to Bayern's 1.75.  Interestingly, Bayern has also had far more goals scored against them than Inter - 13 to 9.

Attempts on target versus attempts wide

Bayern's 79 attempts on target reflect their higher percentage over Inter, who've had 60 shots on target. The attempts wide figures are surprisingly similar; however Inter Milan have played fewer games so it would seem that with equal shots, Inter are actually playing more aggressively.

Red and yellow cards

These two teams have been about as 'naughty' as each other - Bayern have received 3 red cards for the season, Inter have received 2. In the yellow card countup, though, Inter comes out on top. They've received 31, versus Bayern's squeaky clean 21. Real Madrid actually received the most yellow cards for the least games played … 22 overall.

Ball possession %

It seems that UEFA's official percentage chance of winning is taken straight from their ball possession time stats! Bayern has 66% here, Inter has 45%.

The end result? It seems that UEFA does have a pretty good basis for backing Bayern over Inter. What they can't take into account though is that hunger to win, and the spirited playing that got Inter through in their match against Barcelona. They beat the odds then … so why not on Saturday!

There's less than a week before the final match of the UEFA Champions League, and the funny thing is, that there are so many other soccer commitments happening, so many other leagues, matches and player swaps to think about, that there really is little discussion about it! I don't know about you, but I'm pumped … Inter Milan did the impossible and beat Barcelona, and I'd love to see them continue that streak for a title I think they deserve. But what does everybody else think about the upcoming UEFA Champions League finals match … ?

The Odds

Well, as always, the bookies' opinion is nearest and dearest to us, and so comes first! The odds of either team winning haven’t changed since we did our last preview post, early last week:

Bayern Munich: 2.38 - 2.40
Inter Milan - 1.57 - 1.57

The Tough Talk

Louis van Gaal is big-noting Bayern's win in the German League, ahead of next Saturday's final with Inter Milan. Bayern won 4-0 against Werder Bremen.  Jose Mourinho might well say, though, "Who's Werder Bremen?". Personally, I think that a quiet victory is not only more classy, but more likely…

Sandro Mazzola was an Inter Milan player from the 60s, and says that he sees many similarities between his side (which enjoyed a long run on top of their game), and the current Inter Milan team. "I think Mourinho is very similar to Herrera in many ways," Sandro Mazzola said. "First, because he immediately brought the ball back into training  … Another parallel is their (jose Mourinho's and Herrera, the coach from Inter Milan's 60s team) relationship with the players and they are also similar in their dealings with the press", said Mazzolo.

The Gossip

Just the quick versions…

• Thiago Motta has been confirmed as suspended for two matches after being sent off in the Barcelona match, meaning that he'll miss the final next Saturday.
• Ivan Cordoba is also in doubt, due to a niggling thigh injury.
• Esteban Canbiasso says that the final is important to Inter, but they can't let those 40 years of history weigh on their performance. Hopefully not!

The League of Tweeters

As is the case across most of the sports reporting world, there is more talk about the 2011 UEFA season than the upcoming final!! Here's what the League of Tweeters thought:

--- ZaphodCamden Been looking at procedures for a quadruple-elimination tournament - complicated but fun. Perhaps the UEFA Champions League should use it :)

--- trill3k RT @sidlowe: Atleti come out to get uefa cup to sound of we are the champions... But calderon not full  (Somebody stole our pun from the Queen song!)

-- NatalieLSmith Arsenal Ladies was great, but next wk going to UEFA Women's Champions League Final! Hoping to get some interviews for the Masters Project

--- kacebonk Angan angan parcendol RT @astikaputri: Next Season : UEFA Champions League Winner ;)

Given the success of our predictive efforts in the semi finals, we've decided to try our hand at picking the scorers for the finals match of the UEFA Champions League Cup, which will be played on May 22. In the semi-finals rounds, we tipped four players to watch, and three of them scored goals! The only player that didn’t was from Lyon; a team which scored no goals at all. So, lets see how we go this time around …

No teams have been finalised yet - as you know, the team list sometimes remains up in the air until only a day before the match. The players below are speculative only.

Goalies

It looks like Julio Cesar has the task of stopping Bayern's goals for Inter Milan (none of the 3 other team goalies have played this season). Bayern's goalie will most likely be Jorg Butt - who has not only played every game as goalkeeper for Bayern this season, but actually has a goal to his own name!

Inter Milan

The big names of Wesley Sneijder, Samuel Eto'o and Dejan Stankovic will naturally be a big part of Inter Milan's game in a couple of weeks. But you should also keep your eye on some of the hungrier players, like:

Esteban Cambiasso: This 29 year old Argentinean player has played 11 games this season and scored one goal this season, with 4 to his name overall. He's played 6 full games in a row in the current Champions League, and hasn't been carded at all.

Mario Balotelli: He might be frustrated with Inter Milan, and this might be his last season there - but he may also be looking to impress future clubs, and despite his difficulties with Jose Mourinho, he has played in 8 games so far and scored a goal in the current competition.

Bayern Munich

Ivica Olic and Arjen Robben might be the standout players of the season, but don't discount these up-and-comers - they have plenty of potential!

Thomas Muller: This Bayern forward is only 20 years old, and has scored 2 of his 3 UEFA career goals in the current competition. He almost got red carded against Bordeax in the Group stage, but has kept his nose clean since.

Bastian Schweinsteiger: This midfielder is yet to score a goal in current competition, but has played plenty of full games and is always in there having a go.