CARLES PUYOL HEADER SENDS SPAIN INTO FIRST-EVER WORLD CUP TITLE GAME

At Durban, South Africa:

Carles Puyol, seen here, third from left, being mobbed by teammates,  scored the only goal of the match with his noggin in the 73rd minute as Spain defeated Germany 1-0 on Wednesday to reach this coming Sunday's FIFA World Cup final against the Netherlands.  It will be the Spaniards' first appearance in the championship game of world soccer's premier event, and this year's final, to be played at Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium,  will be the first since 1978 (when hosts Argentina defeated the Dutch) in which two teams who have never won the title will play against each other.

For the record, Germany will take on Uruguay in Saturday's third-place match at Port Elizabeth. 

DUTCH HOLD OFF URUGUAY TO REACH FIRST WORLD CUP FINAL SINCE 1978

At Cape Town, South Africa:

The Netherlands defeated Uruguay 3-2 on Tuesday night to reach the championship match of the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1978.  Giovanni Van Bronckhorst opened the scoring for the Dutch at 18 minutes, only to see Diego Forlan equalize for Uruguay in the 41st minute.  In the second half, Wesley Sneijder put the Dutch back in front at 70 minutes.  At 73 minutes, Arjen Robben scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal.  Yes folks, that's a snapshot of him celebrating.  The Uruguayans mounted a frantic comback during second-half stoppage time, and Maxi Pereira scored (90'+2) to make it a one-goal game again, but they came up just short of tying the game and forcing overtime.

The Dutch will be looking for their first-ever World Cup title, having lost the title matches in 1974 and 1978 to the host nations, West Germany and Argentina respectively.  They will play the winner of Wednesday's Germany-Spain contest on Sunday at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

Uruguay will play in Saturday's third-place contest at Port Elizabeth against the loser of Wednesday's game.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images