The big day is finally upon us and I can honestly say it has been a treat watching the semi-final matches this week, although I am rooting for Holland.

With the Spanish, if you allow them to play they will dictate because they like to have the ball and the way to get over them is to apply pressure high up the field and not allow them to stay there and knock it around because it will be a long day, as it was for the Germans.

Germany didn't play the high line and allowed Spain to keep possession, which enabled them to create the chances they had. Germany forgot to apply the pressure that was needed.

Firstly, you must have everyone behind the ball and defending as a team, you can't have one or two persons doing it because you will be cut to pieces.

You need all your players to do the job, and Germany are a very young team that played extremely well and you have to take that into consideration.

From this point of view you have to ease off them a bit because the team they have will be around for the next two or three World Cups.

A good form of defence is attack and you can't forget to do that, because if you then at some point you will cave in.

The whole side must work hard and I'm sure that is what the Dutch will do tomorrow.

Uruguay did very well to get where they were. When you look at the size of the country and the population you have to take your hats off to them, they did very well.

I'm sure they will be a major force in coming years and going the furthest they have in quite some time can only bode well for the team.

If they continue to impress they will be a threat as they have a good nucleus of players.

But my heart is with Holland, knowing the mentality of the people there and having played and lived there, I know they like to play football or what they call 'total football', and they don't stray away from that.

They work hard from the strikers right down to the goalkeeper and if they beat you they beat you as a team, going forward together and defending together.

I don't think they will be afraid of Spain, that isn't in their mentality.

The Carlos Puyol-Robin Van Persie battle will be tough. Van Persie has been around long enough to know what has to be done and he can't allow Puyol to get stuck in and get in his head early.

The main thing is for him to keep his cool and not let Puyol settle.

Each player from both sides will know to detail what needs to be done.

The match hinges on how high the defensive line for Holland sits. If they sit back and absorb then it will be trouble for them but if they can attack from the front then they could be dangerous.

Mark Van Bommel used to play for Barcelona and will know most of these players fairly well so it will be a good game depending on strategies.

A player like Wesley Sneijder, who has had a fantastic season with Inter Milan winning the treble and beating Barcelona on their way to the Champions League crown, will be a vital key for Holland.

He has been around a long time on the big stage and if he is allowed to play then he will hurt Spain.

You also have Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, Rafael Van der Vaart, all players that can get stuck in if allowed to. They are a comfortable bunch and I really don't see why they would be afraid of Spain.