From a Guardian Football column by one Jonathan Wilson, published just before the WC2010 final between Spain and Holland, and brought to our attention at that time by one otheradamnovy; the column is titled “The Question: What have been the tactical lessons of World Cup 2010?” and open as follows:

This has been the tournament of 4-2-3-1. The move has been apparent in club football for some time; in fact, it may be that 4-2-3-1 is beginning to be supplanted by variants of 4-3-3 at club level, but international football these days lags behind the club game, and this tournament has confirmed the trend that began to emerge at Euro 2008. Even Michael Owen seems to have noticed, which is surely the tipping point.

Click thru for more–much more: commentary on the tactics of Spain, Germany, Holland, Argentina, Ghana, and Brazil, with some notes about all that fit into the context of club football tactics over the past decade , e.g.:

Reactivity has been a feature of this World Cup, which is one of the reasons the proactivity of Spain is so welcome. It’s probably too early to highlight it as a definite trend, for the world seemed headed in a similar direction in 2004 when José Mourinho’s Porto won the Champions League and Greece won the European Championship, only for attacking football to return the next season, but with Mourinho’s success with Inter, it may be that the great creative boom of the past decade is drawing to a close.

and in closing, that this defensive reactivity “suggests a preparedness to absorb pressure that it’s hard to believe wasn’t in some way, if not inspired then at least encouraged, by Inter’s success in Barcelona. There was evidence that a technically inferior side could, though discipline and industry, endure a prolonged assault. It is that same battle between proactivity and reactivity that will be fought on Sunday; and for once, it is the Dutch who find themselves cast as the destructive force.”

As we all saw, the Dutch were unfortunately a mostly destructive force in that final, but ultimately the proactivity of Spain prevailed.  Perhaps this coming season we’ll see this same Manichean drama play out in La Liga’s great rivalry: the technical prowess of Barcelona vs. the disciplined reactivity of Mourinho’s Real Madrid side.