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Robben: Winning ugly is fine

Johannesburg - Considering it was a move of beauty that jeopardised his World Cup, it comes as little surprise Arjen Robben does not really care how the Netherlands beats Spain on Sunday. As long as he can lift the trophy.

"I'd rather play an extremely ugly game and win, instead of a beautiful one and lose," Robben said.

Winning ugly is fine, especially after what happened on June 5.

In a warm-up match against Hungary, he tried a delicate back-heel flick, a flash of flair for which the Dutch are famous, when he suddenly flinched in pain and fell to the ground with a left hamstring injury.

Suddenly it seemed that the Netherlands had lost one of its best players, less than a week ahead of the World Cup opener. Tender hamstrings are notoriously difficult to play with.

"If you would have told me then what would happen here, I simply would not have believed it," Robben said ahead of the final.

The Dutch squad even left for South Africa without him as scans still needed to show he was fit to play.

On Friday, just over a month later, he was nominated for the World Cup Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament. This despite starting in only three of the six Dutch games and playing only 267 of a possible 540 minutes. He completed his first full training only three weeks ago.

Yet in less than half the possible playing time, he has become a star of the World Cup.

Without him, the Dutch forward line was in trouble as the team struggled to early wins.

Robben's first touch of the ball came in the last group game, against Cameroon, in the 73rd minute, and it took him only 10 minutes to make a difference.

With his trademark move that also highlighted his season at Bayern Munich, he cut inside, beat defenders and curled a long-range drive that came off the post, allowing Klaas Jan Huntelaar to easily poke in the rebound.

The Netherlands won by a single goal, 2-1, and his World Cup was launched.

Robben was named man of the match and scored his first goal when he made the difference in the second-round 2-1 win over Slovakia.

His toughest playing time came against Brazil when Juan and Michel Bastos denied him the space to cut inside to move the ball to his left foot.

It only was a momentary blip. Robben was essential again in Tuesday's semifinal. Leaning far back to receive a cross from Dirk Kuyt, he still managed enough power and precision on it to head it in the low corner in a 3-2 victory.

Robben is known for his left foot, not his headers.

"My hidden talents are perhaps starting to show," he told the Dutch official supporters website.

Still, he is struggling with his hamstring.

"I am not yet at my peak, but that is because, every now and then, I still feel pain," Robben said. "I can play but it is just that I still play with pain."

"It is getting better but it has not been ideal," he added.

It has not stopped coach Bert van Marwijk from relying heavily on the winger. Robben is, after all, a born winner.

He already won league titles with PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea and Real Madrid before winning the Bundesliga title and German Cup with Bayern Munich this year. He also took the German club to the Champions League final with a series of spectacular goals. The only blemish on a great season was its loss to Inter Milan in the final.

Robben does not want to lose a second final, and he now gladly embraces the win-at-all-cost mentality that the golden generation of Johan Cruyff in the 1970s rejected so vehemently.

The great Dutch teams of the seventies reached two finals, only to lose them both.

"In the past, we heard often enough how beautiful it was, but there was no payback. So far, it has produced," Robben said of the Dutch "result football."

"We have yet to show our most beautiful football," he said. "But we have always been able to fall back on a good organization."

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