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World Cup Final referee reviewed

   

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We predicted it would be an intense occasion but never expected this! The joint highest number of bookings ever in a World Cup game, a red card, a disputed goal and probably the hardest game of Howard Webb’s life. Did the players destroy the game with their fouls or did Webb destroy it with his whistle?

Spain 1-0 Holland

Referee: Howard Webb (England)
Yellow cards: 13 – Puyol, Capdevila, Ramos, Xavi, Iniesta (Spain) Van Der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen Van Bronckhorst, Van Bommel, De Jong, Van Persie, Robben (Holland)
Red card: 1 – Heitinga (Holland, second booking)

Where do we start? Perhaps we should start by looking at what must have been the pregame talk to the Dutch team – physical play, designed to get amongst the Spaniards and stop them hogging the ball. If this wasn’t part of the plan for Holland then it soon became par for the course when the match begun.

There is no problem with it on paper and indeed, if executed correctly it can nullify certain teams who can’t compete on levels of strength and if you have competent ball winners and a sense of discipline, it can be a game winner.

But tonight, that approach did not work for Oranje, not that I would exclude Spain from the discussion as they nearly trebled their yellow card total in one game after a clean tournament.

Initially, events didn’t appear to be too surprising. Both sides began relatively cagily with the Spaniards carving out a few decent chances and when Robin Van Persie came in with a forward’s challenge on Joan Capdevila and got slim to nothing on the ball, it was viewed as a symptom of his frustrated forays into the Spanish half rather than the start of dirty game.

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Mark Van Bommel picked up from where he left off against Uruguay with a few late challenges early on but it was the man from the other semi-final, goalscorer and brown-locked Carlos Puyol who came in with a sloppy tackle from behind on Arjen Robben to get the second yellow of game quite fairly.

I was slightly concerned that Webb needed to keep his cards at least somewhat in his pocket even at that stage with just a quarter of the game gone but my concern was quickly altered when Van Bommel finally swallowed his just-desserts when he clattered into Andreas Iniesta from behind for a definitive caution and possibly red from stricter officials. Arguably, his numerous fouls throughout this half should have seen him off the pitch by half-time but it seems his blanket of invincibility is still being worn by the midfielder.

The next moment Webb scribbled Sergio Ramos’s name down when he fouled Dirk Kuyt. With respect to Webb, this was not a pretty attempt to win the ball and from a neutral’s perspective, it is very important to demonstrate to both teams that this isn’t about who is making the tackles but that bad play would be penalised.

Then came Nigel De Jong’s attempt at karate on Xavi Alonso. I do fault Webb for this as the photo below shows he is well placed to spot the offence and while there is a time and a place for the “it’s a World Cup final and we should give players the benefit of the doubt” argument, that doesn’t fly when you smack your boot into another player’s ribs. De Jong should’ve received red, but he only got a yellow.

chestkick

It could be argued that perhaps a sending off would have shown both sides that they really needed to keep their rambunctious contact under control – though by the general atmosphere of the game, I don’t really know if anything would have really changed the way certain players were treated on the ball.

Before half-time Sneidjer should probably have received a booking for bundling into Ramos but again – where do you draw the line between allowing some physical leeway and turning the game into a farce?

My point of view on this is from an entirely unbiased one and even former Dutch maestro Clarence Seedorf was surprised at Oranje heading into the break with 11 men on the field, saying on the BBC:

The Dutch aggression is their tactics, I think. They’ve been committing a lot of fouls and they are lucky not to have received a couple of red cards, I have to say. Spain started well but after 15 minutes the Netherlands reshaped and since then all we’ve seen is fouls and tension.

However while the opening ten minutes of the second-half appeared to be more about attacking football, it returned to its normal standard quickly when Netherlands’ skipper Giovanni Van Bronckhorst held back Ramos – a caution in any game.

By now, it was more of a slugfest than a game of free-flowing football as Johnny Heitinga cynically stick a boot into David Villa off-the-ball and joined most of his teammates in the book. Minutes later, Capdevila appeared to get his own back on Van Persie by bringing him down by replays were inconclusive as to whether it was a poor tackle or a dive by the Dutchman. Probably a touch of both.

Van Bommel should join a circus such was the tightrope he was walking when he appeared to clip Iniesta – but then received a taste of his own medicine when the Spanish playmaker spitefully took his feet away after the ball had gone. Remarkably, both escaped cards.

When the game began to open up and Robben broke through the defence of Vicente Del Bosque’s side he battled over a challenge of Puyol before the out-rushing Cassilas grabbed the ball at his feet. He chased Webb down the field yelling, believing a foul should’ve been called. Robben kept on his feet by Puyol’s attempted tackle so it is difficult to argue it hindered him that much and the closing down to stop the shot was acceptable play. Maybe an advantage should have applied but that is debatable. However his protests correctly earned him a caution.

With the match deadlocked at 90, extra-time was required and with all these yellow cards sitting on the wall, it wouldn’t be long before one should accidentally fall. That came Iniesta tried to cut through the Oranje backline with a one-two pass but was held back by Heitinga. While it may seem cruel to go for that, he does have his arm on the shoulder of Iniesta and while the Spaniard exaggerates the contact, he is certainly not playing the ball. It also was by far not the only offence the defender had comitted since his first yellow.

The largely clean Gregory Van Der Wiel can feel like the obedient kid caught up in a class detention when he was wrongly cautioned for fouling Iniesta when the Spaniard had simulated the offence.

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The Dutch however could have been down to nine-men when Robben tucked the ball in the net after play had been stopped for offside. I think it was the right call to leave him on however it is a quite minor offence and would have turned a difficult task into an impossible one for Holland.

That soon became a reality when a swift counter-attack from Spain ended with Iniesta swivelling in the area and dispatching the Jabulani into the net to send his countrymen delirious. The Dutch heavily contested this goal so let’s analyse it in some detail.

Depending on what reports you read, the disputes with the goal either came from an offside in the build-up to it or a foul on Elijero Elia at the end of the field just before the attack begun which was not blown for. If we address the offside first where the shot below shows the first ball played through (which was actually blocked by a defender) where Iniesta is level at worst with a Dutch player.

spaingoal1

The next photo is the clearly onside Iniesta’s position as he receives the ball back, confirming its legitimacy in and of itself as a goal, as opposed to the whole attacking move.

spaingoal2

The other aspect is with the alleged foul on Elia. I can’t find a suitable graphic image of that but from seeing the replays, it was more of a block from the defenders rather than an outright foul. I’m not saying those aren’t given on a regular basis but it is by no means a given. At any rate, the goal happens a good 10-20 seconds afterwards involving a good few Dutch touches as they try to get the ball from the Spaniards but fail. Holland did not clearly stop, assuming an offence had been called and their defenders were in a normal position at the start of the move.

The essence of this is then not so much a disputed goal as a marginally debatable minor foul – significant though it is, the reasons behind Oranje conceding that goal are not overly tied up with Howard Webb or his assistants.

But I realise I’ve digressed from talking about yellow cards. Immediately following the goal, Joris Mathijsen’s furious protests earned him a booking. Obviously he has the right to feel angry if he thinks, rightly or wrongly, that his side have unfairly conceded a goal but his viracious aggression cannot be allowed to escape punishment.

Just to show Webb wasn’t going to allow Iniesta to remove his shirt (I don’t agree with the rule but Webb is contractually obliged to enforce it) and cautioned him for his wild celebrations. Xavi clearly didn’t want out on the record-breaker and eeked his way into a yellow shortly after for petulantly kicking the ball away.

Holland weren’t able to grab a goal back in the remaining minutes and hence, Spain claimed their first World Cup. At the final whistle, Webb was surrounded by furious players such as Van Bommel who continued to berate him. There’s little I can comment on this – it was heat of the moment and while I frown on their behaviour, at least the ugly scenes were short-lived and in a game of these high stakes, one can somewhat empathise with their position.

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This was an incredibly hard game to referee – no one expects the World Cup final to be a doddle to oversee but this was unprecedented and with so many clear infractions, Webb cannot simply say shrug his shoulders and let play continue “for the good of the game”. The reason why more Dutch names ended up in his book than Spaniards is simply because they committed more offences. If any Oranje supporter believes Webb to have unfairly penalised their team, perhaps they should review the first half when other officials may have sent Holland in with ten or maybe even nine men.

In the end, irrespective of the cards and the general quality of the match, most neutrals concur that the better side won on the night and in a highly charged and unstable contest such as this, that is all you can really ask for. It’s not the way anyone really wanted to see these finals end on and while Webb has had better nights, I don’t think any official could really come away from that satisfied as it’s more the lesser of two evils – either you flash red cards over the shop and blight the final itself or you let one or both side get away with cheating purely because of the occasion. Webb managed to scale those two extremes relatively well and while it wasn’t perfect, it required someone of strong character and judgement to keep his head and get the majority of the calls correct.

He may have been booed by many supporters in the stadium while collecting his medals but perhaps that particular prize was appropriate today after the battle on the field – having one of those pinned to your jersey shows Webb survived the combat and ended his tournament if not with a touch of class then a gritty, steadfast and determined performance which those years officiating in the lower reaches of the English leagues will have adequately prepared him for.

Plaudits should also go to his assistants Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey who have had a superb tournament, arguably marginally better than Webb and have rarely put a foot wrong. The importance of their back-up to the referee cannot be overstated and they deserved recognition for their tireless work.

Refs rating: 7/10

Just because the tournament is over doesn’t mean we won’t continue to chew over the remains of the World Cup banquet on here for a short time as it is only with perspective of hindsight that we can truly consume the beast (octopus or otherwise) that has been South Africa 2010.


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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 62 comments.

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By Pho Htoo | July 12th, 2010 at 9:22 am
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Great Blog.

Here, among the comments, I see most of the British trying to defend the(their) referee(oops?). The match was undoubtedly one of the most difficult to referee but the fouls and cards given on the pitch was just not fair.
FIFA and UEFA have been all for Spain and nobody can deny that. Dermot Gallagher is a complete idiot and is only partially correct in his information.

Props to sscouser for correctly stating that all games should be referee’d the same.

Posted from Myanmar Myanmar

By sheilamazza | July 12th, 2010 at 9:52 am
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Roma

Webb did a fantastic job-he either had to expell the Dutch players who couldnt win with talent only with foul play so he decided to keep the players on the field otherwise the Dutch would have said-we lost because we only had 6 players left…

Excellent Spain-

By Anthony Z | July 12th, 2010 at 10:13 am
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3 HUGE mistakes by Webb at the end of the game:

- Iniesta flopped on the second yellow to Heitinga. If you don’t see this, well you’re either blind, or comnpletely biased. Heitinga didn’t make any contact with him.

- That should have been a corner kick when
Webb gave them a goal kick. This lead to the goal.

- Iniesta was offsides on the play just before the goal.

While the Dutch may have played a rough game, these three failures were too big at that point in the game to just shrug off. FIFA needs to take a serious look at it’s reffing. Webb was obviously in Spain’s corner.

Posted from United States United States

By AT | July 12th, 2010 at 11:35 am
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Webb’s big mistake in my opinion is not sending off De Jong and/or Van Bommel (I’m sure even Netherlands fans would not disagree with these red cards if its given).

If Webb didn’t chicken out in giving those red cards, Spain would have walked over Netherlands in the 2nd half and easily won the game, and we wont be having these endless debates about further incidents and we do need to endure all these extremely blinkered and sour grapes comments from Dutch supporters/players.

By Mike | July 12th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
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Good Review.

I have been a dutch fan ever since 1998 (coming from Canada you to pick another team). However, I am rethinking that after the final.

I can’t believe that the Dutch are complaining about the refereeing. What poor sports. Obviously De Jong should have been sent off – but that would have killed the game. Robben should have been sent off as well.

I totally agree with the review. Webb was put in an impossible situation and worked it out fairly well. At the time I was glad that he didn’t send anyone off in the first half, but now I think I have changed my mind.

By the end of the game Iniesta’s simulations got the calls, but by that time the Dutch had lost all their credibility.

I can excuse Robben’s theatrics given the fact that it must be maddening to botch two breakaways in a goaless World Cup Final. The scenes at the end of the game were sour indeed – especially coming from the coach.

Sometimes a yellow card cools down the whole team. On this occassion, however, each player needed a yellow to stop seeing red.

Posted from United States United States

By mohammed | July 12th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
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“- Iniesta flopped on the second yellow to Heitinga. Heitinga didn’t make any contact with him.”

Heitinga brought his arm down on Iniestas shoulders, knocking him off balance. Yeah, Iniesta flopped, but if Heitinga hadn’t already been on a yellow it wouldnt have been such a problem would it?

“- That should have been a corner kick when
Webb gave them a goal kick. This lead to the goal.”

Yep it should have been a corner. Lead to the goal – thats a stretch though. There were 20/30 seconds of play between the two events.

“- Iniesta was offsides on the play just before the goal.”

No he wasnt, as repeated replay of the tv footage clearly shows.

I feel for the Netherlands because even though they played ugly, they played with heart and to have it taken so cruelly in the last few minutes of extra time was unfortunate.

Dont blame the ref though.

Posted from United Kingdom United Kingdom

By jamesb | July 12th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
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If you watch Webb’s pregame video on Utube he did one big thing he did not want to do: have the referee be a subject of discussion after the game.

He came to the game with too many preconceieved ideas of how the game should be played rather than calling the game as it unfolded. He abandoned good referee sense for the politics of the game that got him the game in the first place. I think he did a good job overall. But if persistant infringement is not called and serious foul play is not misconduct then you are only as good as your worst thing; only fair game management.

American non soccer fans have good reason for not embracing this game. I better understand now. There is too much baggage dragged onto the field by the official. Play the game and call it as you see it but get the call right before you restart the game. can you imagine an NBA game, a NHL or NFL game rules called so subjectively. Never.

By Andy | July 12th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
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Excellent review, however: After the 10 first minutes Mr. Webb lost control of the game. A couple of extra yellow cards on Holland would have corrected the Dutch misbehaviors. It appears that Mr. Webb tried very hard to favor Holland and would have been happy if they had won. However, in spite of Mr. Webb Spain won. They won against Holland and Mr. Webb.

By kisa vorobyaninov | July 13th, 2010 at 2:15 am
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everyone is an expert in football… everyone is watching the game at home on a tv screen and therefore of course seeing every moment better than the referee on the field… only a lazy bum nowadays is not b…ing about referees when their team loses a game. i agree that officiating needs to continue improving, and fifa needs to continue in bringing referees from different countries to one high standard in officiating. however, those who put the whole blame for a loss on a referee, i can advise to watch golf (one ball strike every 30 min, and plenty of time to chat) or tennis (with its “challenges” and video replays, wow, technology!) or baseball (where a referee staring! at a base still can’t make a right call 100% of a time). just savor the game, enjoy the win, enjoy the loss, and hope for a better result next time your team is on a pitch.

Posted from United States United States

By kilian08ardfra | July 13th, 2010 at 3:26 am
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If i agree game was very difficult, i think H.WEBB made it more difficult by forgetting two red cards for the dutch.

He was not consistant. He was too tolerant. Nothing to two dutch players who did not stop after off side whistle. I understand dutch players were cautionned. But why to carry off with yellow to Inesta (took off his shirt) and another spanish (delay the restart)after so many yellow ? He choose not to apply the laws for dutch why did he apply them to spanish ? What’s the value of two more yellow in a game with so many ?

I think you over rate webb 7/10. Your rates were correct during world cup but on this game, he deserved 4/10 because his responsability cannot be hidden.

He changed the direction of the game by choosing to ignore van bommel’s late tackle by behind and de jongh ninja kick.

Afterwards, he constated his “kindness” did not pay and tried to manage but was not efficient.

I knew webb better and he’s a great referee but being honest you cannot say he did not perform well on this game.

Fortunately, his assistant saved the result with a great decision and the team which play football won !!
and the cheaters loosers complain.

I think Webb will remember this quote :”give jelly to porks and you are not paid back with caviar”

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 8:46 am
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andy, webb lost control over the game in 30th minute and you rate him 7/10??? even i really doubt your objectivity. it must be a joke.

much bigger joke is behaviour of dutch players, trainer and supporters. no words can describe their poorness. they should thank to webb the they were kept alive for so long..

holland, you have lost lots and lots of supporters around the world. good luck in judo competitions

Posted from United States United States

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 8:58 am
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btw. why the clear penalty for spain in the extra time is not mentioned in the review?

Posted from United States United States

By H Manders | July 13th, 2010 at 10:35 am
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@ Dubhe

because it was definitely NOT a penalty… Iniesta kicked into Heijtinga’s foot (who legally cut him off en route to the ball), and not the other way round. Even the definite pro-Spanish/anti-Dutch BBC pundits agreed on this – that it was NOT a penalty.

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
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you obviously don’t know the rules. and if somebody on bbc told it so he doesn’t know it as well (and they may have protected webb as andy did). it was clear trip and it should have been also yellow card.

manders, you and your compatriot who can’t admit that they were helped (NOT ROBBED) by the referee and complain about his dicisions put their country in huge shame. it’s led by your couch and some of your players. i can tell you that you’ve lost many and many supporters. it was shame what you displayed in the final (and also in some other matches).

i’m not a supporter of spain. i like football and i don’t have any reason favour any team.

btw: it was xavi, not iniesta

Posted from Slovakia Slovakia

By H Manders | July 13th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
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If that is how you feel…. there is little I can do…

It was a Xavi dive (or at least his complaints were), no penalty, because there was no trip AT ALL. As clearly shown by some of the replays, where it is obvious that Heijtinga is just quicker and has his foot between Xavi and the ball the moment Xavi wants to kick the ball – instead he kicks into Xavi’s foot.

And if you have read my other posts, I have mentioned on multiple occasions that Spain was the better team, deserved the win, and that the Dutch were lucky to have 11 on the pitch by half time…

However, (unpunished) misbehaviour by Dutch players does not negate questionable and outright faulty decisions by the referee in favour of the Spanish, or vice versa.

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
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ok. i didn’t realise that it was you who wrote that.. in this case the above was directed to the “other” dutch supporters.

exactly as you have described it is a penalty. please consult any referee you have near to you. you don’t have to kick somebody – i don’t know english version of the laws very well and i can’t find it there quickly but in explanations to the laws of the game say that setting a foot/leg to cause oponents fall is considered as a flip and it should be awarded with free kick or penalty in the penalty area. you don’t want me to tell that heijtinga wanted to play the ball.. it was obvious blocking of xavi’s foot from shooting.

Posted from Slovakia Slovakia

By H Manders | July 13th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
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@ Dubhe

So you are not allowed to try and tip the ball away the moment the opponent prepares to shoot? What kind of idiocy is that?

The foot Xavi struck with his kicking foot was the exact same foot Heijtinga used to tip the ball away. Even more so, contact was made at the END of Xavi’s swing (with his foot). Heijtinga did NOT set a foot to cause Xavi’s fall on this occasion. It is rediculous to suggest otherwise. Heijtinga siumply got to the ball before Xavi did. I am not completely sure, but Heijtinga might actually have touched the ball before Xavi struck his foot. Tough luck for the diver on this occasion.

Frankly you are grasping at straws here… even the vast majority of those extremely critical of the Dutch (the same who for instance deemed van Bommel’s shoulder push on Puyol a yellow card offence, even though you see dozens similar plays each game, often not even penalized, let alone carded – or who suggested that Robben did not fall over due to Puyol’s grabbing him in order to make a dive in the penalty area!) judged this one NOT a penalty. Cutting in front of an opponent to take/tip the ball away is not an offense. And that is clearly what happened here… It is a standard play you see hundreds of times all over the pitch withut fouls being called.

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
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please watch this highlights
http://www.footytube.com/video/netherlands-0-0-0-1-a-e-t-spain-51604
the situation is at about 3:20

where do you see heijtinga playing the ball? he just blocks xavi. at 3:33 you can clearly see that heijtinga has no intention to play the ball – just block the attacker from shooting. other dutch defender then kicks the ball away..
if you don’t see the penalty, i feel sorry for you. everyone unbiased will tell you that it was clear penalty.

Posted from Slovakia Slovakia

By H Manders | July 13th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
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@ dubhe

And it shows Heijtinga getting to the ball before Xavi does and tipping it away (they showed a much better angle, closer up in replays during the game). In fact, Heijtinga’s foot is exactly where the ball would have been if he had not done so – hence Xavi striking Heijtinga’s foot…Heijtinga’s play was completely legal.

The best view is actually distorted by the idiotic message bar at the bottom of the screen.

Simply put, if Heijtinga had not touched the ball first, the play could not have developed as it did…

So again, you are grasping at straws…

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

By dubhe | July 13th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
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uh.. find any video you want.. heijtinga did not touch the ball, did not tip it or call it anyhow you want. he just blocked the player. i don’t have energy to argue with you anymore. you just don’t want to see the truth. believe in what you want.

Posted from Slovakia Slovakia

By brado | July 13th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
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Webb’s postgame commments that the match was tough and the pregame comments (paraphrased) of not wanting to be the show underlie what went wrong.

The referee is part of the show, part of the drama. It’s only a problem when there is no justice to be served that inserting authority becomes problematic. However, the opposite it true also. When the Dutch violence occurred against the backdrop of poor Dutch play, the game was demanding Webb to come into the limelight and present the match with the completion of the drama; foot in chest followed by send off of ref. That is the drama we were waiting for Dutch, Spanish, American, Iraqi, etc. The absence of Webb in the scenes demanding a red card was like a movie where Luke Skywalker didn’t want to fire into the vent because he didn’t feel like he alone needed to bring down the empire. We were waiting for you to shoot! Fire that weapon!

Instead, the players had to carry within them the thought that they are on their own to deal with the violence as the fans just had to wait for the hero to show up and were stood up because he didn’t want to do what he knows now at 3:00am alone in his room he had to do.

It was a difficult match to referee? Okay, let me ask. Did what you did mintue by minute make it easier of harder? After the six, seventh, eighth yellow card, did you not think, “Are cautions working?” Is it not at all possible Holland could have played better if the violent players who repeatedly kicked the ball out of bounds like recreation players were removed?

The red card is a tool not to merely remove bad players, but like a knife cutting cancer allows the rest of the body to live and thrive. We all can live our lives to the fullest when the violent people on our streets either change their ways with police warning or leave sight and sound of our neighborhood. That goes for Hollard as well as Spain.

Posted from United States United States

By Mishee | July 14th, 2010 at 6:42 am
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Excellent review of the match. I thought the ref did brilliantly under really tough conditions. :-)

Posted from Portugal Portugal

By koolchick | July 15th, 2010 at 6:44 am
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Good review many have said more should of been booked and sent off but in Howards defence if he had booked and sent more off people could of been moaning he ruined the match. Anyone remember the ref that had Holland vs Portugal in first knock out stage of last world cup 16 yellow cards and 4 red and he got bad press from everywhere including Fifa and other referees. Really Howard was in no win situation.

I have seen where the Dutch should of had a corner and it should of been one but I had to see the close up from certain angle to spot it which Howard had to go on what he saw as it happened which is easy to not notice. This proves why video replays should be introduced which Howard is in favour of. Its impossible to make the right decision every single time without it. I’ve lost count of times I’ve watched a match and seen something differently on a replay so how can anyone be expected to make the right decision every time.

It was the most presure I’ve ever seen any referee be under there is no way after a game like that the referee would please everyone which was proved by some claiming he was too hard on the Dutch and others saying he was too soft. It seems more people are rightly defending him over it now and he has thanked media in England for supporting him before and after the final.

By brado | July 16th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
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I must start by acknowledging that this was an excellent article to start.

I’m so tired of excusiology about how tough the match was. Why was it tough? Because players were violent. What makes a tough match better? 6 yellow cards, 7, 10, 14, 20? The purpose we have referees is not to wear soft blue colors, blow their whistle, and preside over a gentle match. If that happens great for the game, but we have the referee to guard the flow of the match and the players’ safety. Neither was handled with the 14 caution strategy. I’m suggesting there needed to be another strategy. At yellow card 5, was there a thought, “The next reckless foul, I’m taking someone out of the match. Do you all realize what could have happened if that kick to the chest was more straight-legged than it was? You may say now, “You can’t what if. The foul resulted in no further violence.” Really? There was lots more. But added to this was the flow of the match. It was horrible. The referee has some control over that. I said some. It involves taking away impediments to flow which are fouls both hands-on and hands-off like time wasting.

Also, that was in no way the most pressure a referee has ever been under. Have you seen the violence in the professional leagues in England, Portugal, and Mexico et. al? None of the players would have said much on either team if he would have sent one of the three red cardable acts. Instead, the ganged up on him toward the end and at the end of the match. He knew the match he had when he cautioned the straight-leg to the chest. Look at the photo and his eyes. He saw it full on. He moved in quick with a hard whistle, but went for the yellow. What if you saw the red come out? Please don’t give me the “but they’ll be down a man”. So so many teams win with ten and even nine players.

Lastly, Webb and other keep saying, “The match was difficult.” The is such a victim stance. You are not a victim Mr. Webb. At your disposal were the tools to make the match easier for the players not you. The red card if for the players trying to play with flow, speed, and rightly focused aggression to shoot and defend. Would one, simply one red card make the game easier for the players? I say maybe, likely, but you didn’t even try. And as for the criticism that no one would be happy whether he sent off players of not, I’ll add that that isn’t a consideration. He is not there for Holland, Spain or Mr. Blatter. This is the World Cup Final Match. He will retire after that match. There are no longer any political considerations as to whether of not he will get another top match. He will never do another competitive FIFA-level match. What he will do is become a leader in the referee community training top level referees for the rest of his life. What will they learn? If it’s a tough match, keep them in as long as you can, make sure everyone including the violent players stay in the match, and then shrug you shoulders and hope for supporters back home. We need referees that stay miles away from matches that are well played and flowing, and right in the thick of the action when there is violence.

Posted from United States United States

By dd | August 12th, 2010 at 5:03 am
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