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What did you make of the World Cup final?

Graham Fisher in Editorial, World Cup 13 Jul 2010

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'Anti-football'

I have now read and heard an awful lot of reaction to the World Cup final and opinions about Spain, Holland and Howard Webb are about as divided as it is possible to be.

The only thing that nearly everyone agrees on is that the best team won and maybe that is all that really matters in the end.

Let’s look at the referee and the two teams:

Howard Webb
There is no doubt that the referee had a very tough night. The reason he had a tough night was not because he is a bad referee necessarily, but because there was an awful lot going on. There were bad tackles, off the ball incidents, play acting, arguing and lots of waving of imaginary cards.

In fact, in amongst some admirable skill, effort and determination, the game produced just about every type of incident that I hate to see in a game of football.

Webb could and probably should have sent off De Jong and Van Bommel in the first half of the game. If he had, the game would have been ruined as a spectacle and he would no doubt have been blamed for that.

Every one of the fourteen yellow cards he brandished was deserved and, if anything, the criticism should be that there should have been more.

In the second half, again, he probably should have sent off Van Bommel and Iniesta. If he deemed the Puyol challenge on Robben as a foul when Robben was clean through then he should have gone as well. He had no choice but to dismiss Heitinga.

Both Sneijder and Van Persie also committed at least two bookable offences and could have gone.

Of the other controversial decisions, the awarding of a goal kick for Spain when the twice deflected free-kick should have led to a corner was a glaring error, but certainly not a major contributory factor to the Dutch defeat. Elia was not fouled and was just looking to try to get a free-kick and the winning goal was not at any stage offside.

It seems to me that the criticism of Howard Webb, of whom I am by no means the biggest fan, is a little unfair. His worst mistakes seem to have been giving a goal kick that should have been a corner and not sending off four Dutch players and two Spaniards. Would we really have wanted a final played nine against seven?

Holland
Twice before, in 1974 and 1978, Holland were losing finalists when they played some wonderful football and were most people’s favourites to win. This time, many people who wanted Holland to win changed their allegiance after a first forty-five minutes that saw them play orchestrated ‘anti-football’ in attempt to beat a superior team by fair means or foul.

Had the tactics have worked, and they nearly did, the people of Holland wouldn’t have cared a jot. However, they didn’t and I can’t help but feeling that the country that brought us ‘total football’ will feel a little embarrassed by what they tried to do.

For Holland to blame the referee for their defeat is beneath contempt. If Webb had refereed to the letter of the law the game would have been over for the Dutch inside half an hour. They owe him a debt of gratitude.

Spain
They are worthy champions but are they as good as everyone is saying? I suppose their European Championship and World Cup trophies suggest that they are.

They only conceded two goals in the whole tournament and they have won every game after the unfortunate defeat against Switzerland first time out. They have shown some wonderful passing and movement and in the semi-final, totally outplayed a German side that many people thought were the best side in the competition.

On the other hand, they scored very few goals, a vast majority of the passing was square or backwards, and they were not afraid to make the most of any contact from the opposition or do their best to get the referee to show yellow or red cards to them.

There is no doubt that at this time Spain are the best team in the World and deserve to be the World champions. I don’t think, however, that they deserve to be regarded as one of the best ever. They pass the ball beautifully and can be good to watch, but there is too much negative about them to make them one of the all time greats.

That’s my take on it anyway. What’s yours?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Fisher


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  • E

    0 0

    I completely agree with el rojo on this discussion.

    When I read Matt’s post all I see is rediculous statements and flat out wive’s tales.

    Holland played dirty the entire game, I will not claim that there was no play acting because everyone on the field seemed to be flopping around. ESPECIALLY mr Arjen Robben. To go out of your way and focus your criticism on only one side in a match like that is foolish.

    There is no hiding the fact that Holland should have recieved at least 1, if not 2 red cards in the first half. They are lucky they held on as long as they did.

    Obviously I wanted Spain to win, and I would have loved to see them beat Holland by 3 or more goals, but as long as they won I say Bravo to Howard Webb for at least controlling the game as best he could. Spain won in the end so thats all that matters.

  • Brad

    0 0

    El Rojo just wasted my time with that bit that Stan quoted. . . . it’s tough to play against the “casual to the eyes” passing Spain does, so naturally, the Dutch were put out of their own game. what do you do if you’re put out of your style and don’t have a back up? Simple: play as if this were still the days before subs were allowed and bookings didn’t exist.
    El Rojo, you’re gonna overlook this, but it was La Furia Roja who were the cowards. They kept on flopping, play-acting, and doing the professional foul (Puyol did a perfect example). In fact, I actually thought it was Italy I was watching, instead of Spain.

  • stan

    0 0

    [quote=”el rojo”] But I know why they played against spain the way they did, they’re cowards. The players and the coach. They knew their football was no match for spains dominant style and skill, so the dutch, under the direction of van marwijk, took a step backwards and were diving as bad as they were attempting to injure. Cowards! [/quote]

    I don’t think they where scared of Spain. I’m sorry to say that but they would know that if they played like they did in 2008 against italy and france and 2010 against brazil. That way they would have won.
    That was their plan i think but it didn’t run in the whole game. And they saw that it was going wrong and had to play that way.
    If you know what i mean you will know that this was a logical reaction of the dutch team.

    Besides that they didn’t play 100% they could have get so much better football out of this dutch team!

  • el rojo

    0 0

    Spain’s fair play was disappointing? They were awarded the fair play award for being the cleanest team at the tournament. They won this in 2006 too. Spain is consistently amongst the cleanest most honorable teams in any competition. Matt was clearly watching this world cup with his “hate spain spectacles”.

    You want to talk about play acting, look no further than robben! Unless he thinks he has a clear shot at goal, he crumples just by looking at him the wrong way. And don’t tell me van persie and snieder weren’t making meals of fouls committed on them. Kuyt’s another one that has a flair for the theatrics, and watch out for his elbows too! But hurting other players must come naturally after being exposed to van bommel for too long, that thug more resembles a criminal than a footballer. And the de jong kick… Well, if you sympathize with that then you really show your an animal just like the dutch were in this final. I have every game saved on my PVR, maybe we should count every teams diving and see who takes the cake, I can guarantee spain won’t be it, but as established earlier, reasoning with people like matt is like reasoning with an animal.

    I must admit though, I was so surprised to see them (dirty dutch)play like this in the final since they were playing some nice if not spectacular football. With the exception of the first 20 mins of the brazil game, they were compact, organized and very effective. But I know why they played against spain the way they did, they’re cowards. The players and the coach. They knew their football was no match for spains dominant style and skill, so the dutch, under the direction of van marwijk, took a step backwards and were diving as bad as they were attempting to injure. Cowards! They knew they would lose, so their only desperate last ditch effort was to abandon the football that brought them to the final and injure other players. That unsportsmanship is the true black eye on the sport.

    Luckily, despite webb’s horrible officiating, the right team won. I just hope that webb’s lack of fortitude in brandishing two very very deserved red cards against the dutch animals in the first half doesn’t set a dangerous president for future games where a less skilled team will feel entitled to intentionally injure the opposition when they know loss is inevitable.

    There are some people that strongly side with holland here, I’ve never met one of you people in real life, but you clearly exist. Stop being so blind and realize what the world is saying is true- the dutch played a shameful game-

  • Matt

    0 0

    Spain… absolute…

    Spain are worse than Italy, Brazil and any other team at cheating. The diving in this world cup was absolutely immense from them. No one can forget the famous Raul dives, or Busquets’ little whine after a little tap in the face, but this world cup annoyed me. Fernando Torres in my eyes is talented, but had a very poor morale, two very silly red cards were given for Spain, for Capdevilas’ overreaction and Fernando Torres’ dive. Let’s not put into shadow the talent of Spain however, as you can see the potential of the game, but the level of fair play shown by them was extremely disappointing, in fact, very very disappointing. I was sad with the final result, I believe the dutch deserved to be in the final, but for me, a Germany vs Netherlands final would have sealed it for me.

    I think the referee did a relatively good job, he may look back at one or two decisions, but as you say, the game flowed quite poorly due to the amount of cards shown. The final resulted with the Holland players infuriated and enraged with the referee after Webb had let play go on. Now, this world cup in my eyes — more than any other as a matter of fact, I believe has shown FIFA that video technology needs to be an essential part of the game.

    The Netherlands fluked past Brazil, with Robben missing a millennium of chances in the final. So that disappointed me. Sneijder has had a fantastic word cup, along with De Jong and Van Bommel, so for those 3, ending up without a winners medal is a real shame. De Jong’s ‘flykick’ all I can say is — good. I personally think he should have gotten a red but at least there is vengeance for me!

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    Loved seeing Xabi get kicked…glad someone did it…

    Other than that, i’m glad Drogba got a goal…Ghana disappointed…Eto’o – where were you? Essien – better be there next time big dawg.

    I was kind of hoping for Germany b/c the Bundesliga has been phenomenal this season…Congrats to Spain tho – loved watching each and every one of the 36 passes it took to take a shot on net – it had me gigglin’…Oranje – what can we say…better luck next time.

    I do miss the games already even tho I wasn’t a fan of any particular country…France was sad, Brazil was wtf, Uruguay showed what pride was all about, i’m out of ideas on Portugal, England – next, Howard Webb did an outstanding job given the crap he had to put up with, Spain is really not as good offensively as we say they are, but they play f’in awesome and the defense was brilliant…the Dutch played dirty, Robben should have sealed the deal and went down as a legend, and I almost wished it came down to pensalties cuz watching guys choke is always funny – yea yea, some of u are snickering at JT, but so am I…haha.

  • Chamu

    0 0

    Pros and Cons on Webb: Okay so I heard a lot of controversy but i agree with what was said on this article. I mean yah there were a lot of cards (kinda reminded me of last WC in the Portugal vs Netherlands game) but honestly did anyone watch the game?! Webb was actually verbally talking with the players trying to calm them down before pulling out the cards. Yeah some were probably deserved, no doubt, but think of the Arsenal vs Barca Champions League final in 06 when Arsenal goalkeeper got a early red for taking out Eto’o. Everyone said the ref ruined that final. Instead of seeing a full forced Arsenal team we were forced to watch almost 60-70 minutes of just defending. I feel that Webb was trying to prevent having a horrible final of 10 vs 11 or like the article said (9 vs 7). Yah, there were some other calls that he probably missed.(corners, free kicks, etc.) But really people, compared to the calls missed this WC, Webbs calls are mediocre. Eng vs Ger?? Thats a horrible call….or should i say lack there of….Mexico vs Argentina…OFFSIDES….and the U.S. were being tortured with bad referring. Webb missing a corner….im sorry, but thats just part of any game be it WC final or college soccer!

  • Stan

    0 0

    Hi,
    I’m from holland and I’m not so proud of the final the dutch team played last sunday.

    But i don’t think that holland didn’t deserved to be in the final. The world media puts the dutch team down if they have reached the finals by a dirty game but only the final was hard.

    And i think dirty game is to much, only becouse of that by accident ninja kick. I’m sorry the dutch guys lost becouse spain was better.
    But they dont deserve that kind of denigration from the rest of the world.

    PS sorry for my bad english its not my first language.

  • Brad

    0 0

    An ugly, physical game 4 the most part, but it did have it’s moments where it lived up 2 the name “The Beautiful Game”.

  • Brad

    0 0

    An ugly, physical game 4 the most part, but it did have it’s moments where it lived up 2 the name “The Beautiful Game”.

  • Stan

    0 0

    Hi,
    I’m from holland and I’m not so proud of the final the dutch team played last sunday.

    But i don’t think that holland didn’t deserved to be in the final. The world media puts the dutch team down if they have reached the finals by a dirty game but only the final was hard.

    And i think dirty game is to much, only becouse of that by accident ninja kick. I’m sorry the dutch guys lost becouse spain was better.
    But they dont deserve that kind of denigration from the rest of the world.

    PS sorry for my bad english its not my first language.

  • Chamu

    0 0

    Pros and Cons on Webb: Okay so I heard a lot of controversy but i agree with what was said on this article. I mean yah there were a lot of cards (kinda reminded me of last WC in the Portugal vs Netherlands game) but honestly did anyone watch the game?! Webb was actually verbally talking with the players trying to calm them down before pulling out the cards. Yeah some were probably deserved, no doubt, but think of the Arsenal vs Barca Champions League final in 06 when Arsenal goalkeeper got a early red for taking out Eto’o. Everyone said the ref ruined that final. Instead of seeing a full forced Arsenal team we were forced to watch almost 60-70 minutes of just defending. I feel that Webb was trying to prevent having a horrible final of 10 vs 11 or like the article said (9 vs 7). Yah, there were some other calls that he probably missed.(corners, free kicks, etc.) But really people, compared to the calls missed this WC, Webbs calls are mediocre. Eng vs Ger?? Thats a horrible call….or should i say lack there of….Mexico vs Argentina…OFFSIDES….and the U.S. were being tortured with bad referring. Webb missing a corner….im sorry, but thats just part of any game be it WC final or college soccer!

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    Loved seeing Xabi get kicked…glad someone did it…

    Other than that, i’m glad Drogba got a goal…Ghana disappointed…Eto’o – where were you? Essien – better be there next time big dawg.

    I was kind of hoping for Germany b/c the Bundesliga has been phenomenal this season…Congrats to Spain tho – loved watching each and every one of the 36 passes it took to take a shot on net – it had me gigglin’…Oranje – what can we say…better luck next time.

    I do miss the games already even tho I wasn’t a fan of any particular country…France was sad, Brazil was wtf, Uruguay showed what pride was all about, i’m out of ideas on Portugal, England – next, Howard Webb did an outstanding job given the crap he had to put up with, Spain is really not as good offensively as we say they are, but they play f’in awesome and the defense was brilliant…the Dutch played dirty, Robben should have sealed the deal and went down as a legend, and I almost wished it came down to pensalties cuz watching guys choke is always funny – yea yea, some of u are snickering at JT, but so am I…haha.

  • Matt

    0 0

    Spain… absolute…

    Spain are worse than Italy, Brazil and any other team at cheating. The diving in this world cup was absolutely immense from them. No one can forget the famous Raul dives, or Busquets’ little whine after a little tap in the face, but this world cup annoyed me. Fernando Torres in my eyes is talented, but had a very poor morale, two very silly red cards were given for Spain, for Capdevilas’ overreaction and Fernando Torres’ dive. Let’s not put into shadow the talent of Spain however, as you can see the potential of the game, but the level of fair play shown by them was extremely disappointing, in fact, very very disappointing. I was sad with the final result, I believe the dutch deserved to be in the final, but for me, a Germany vs Netherlands final would have sealed it for me.

    I think the referee did a relatively good job, he may look back at one or two decisions, but as you say, the game flowed quite poorly due to the amount of cards shown. The final resulted with the Holland players infuriated and enraged with the referee after Webb had let play go on. Now, this world cup in my eyes — more than any other as a matter of fact, I believe has shown FIFA that video technology needs to be an essential part of the game.

    The Netherlands fluked past Brazil, with Robben missing a millennium of chances in the final. So that disappointed me. Sneijder has had a fantastic word cup, along with De Jong and Van Bommel, so for those 3, ending up without a winners medal is a real shame. De Jong’s ‘flykick’ all I can say is — good. I personally think he should have gotten a red but at least there is vengeance for me!

  • el rojo

    0 0

    Spain’s fair play was disappointing? They were awarded the fair play award for being the cleanest team at the tournament. They won this in 2006 too. Spain is consistently amongst the cleanest most honorable teams in any competition. Matt was clearly watching this world cup with his “hate spain spectacles”.

    You want to talk about play acting, look no further than robben! Unless he thinks he has a clear shot at goal, he crumples just by looking at him the wrong way. And don’t tell me van persie and snieder weren’t making meals of fouls committed on them. Kuyt’s another one that has a flair for the theatrics, and watch out for his elbows too! But hurting other players must come naturally after being exposed to van bommel for too long, that thug more resembles a criminal than a footballer. And the de jong kick… Well, if you sympathize with that then you really show your an animal just like the dutch were in this final. I have every game saved on my PVR, maybe we should count every teams diving and see who takes the cake, I can guarantee spain won’t be it, but as established earlier, reasoning with people like matt is like reasoning with an animal.

    I must admit though, I was so surprised to see them (dirty dutch)play like this in the final since they were playing some nice if not spectacular football. With the exception of the first 20 mins of the brazil game, they were compact, organized and very effective. But I know why they played against spain the way they did, they’re cowards. The players and the coach. They knew their football was no match for spains dominant style and skill, so the dutch, under the direction of van marwijk, took a step backwards and were diving as bad as they were attempting to injure. Cowards! They knew they would lose, so their only desperate last ditch effort was to abandon the football that brought them to the final and injure other players. That unsportsmanship is the true black eye on the sport.

    Luckily, despite webb’s horrible officiating, the right team won. I just hope that webb’s lack of fortitude in brandishing two very very deserved red cards against the dutch animals in the first half doesn’t set a dangerous president for future games where a less skilled team will feel entitled to intentionally injure the opposition when they know loss is inevitable.

    There are some people that strongly side with holland here, I’ve never met one of you people in real life, but you clearly exist. Stop being so blind and realize what the world is saying is true- the dutch played a shameful game-

  • stan

    0 0

    [quote=”el rojo”] But I know why they played against spain the way they did, they’re cowards. The players and the coach. They knew their football was no match for spains dominant style and skill, so the dutch, under the direction of van marwijk, took a step backwards and were diving as bad as they were attempting to injure. Cowards! [/quote]

    I don’t think they where scared of Spain. I’m sorry to say that but they would know that if they played like they did in 2008 against italy and france and 2010 against brazil. That way they would have won.
    That was their plan i think but it didn’t run in the whole game. And they saw that it was going wrong and had to play that way.
    If you know what i mean you will know that this was a logical reaction of the dutch team.

    Besides that they didn’t play 100% they could have get so much better football out of this dutch team!

  • Brad

    0 0

    El Rojo just wasted my time with that bit that Stan quoted. . . . it’s tough to play against the “casual to the eyes” passing Spain does, so naturally, the Dutch were put out of their own game. what do you do if you’re put out of your style and don’t have a back up? Simple: play as if this were still the days before subs were allowed and bookings didn’t exist.
    El Rojo, you’re gonna overlook this, but it was La Furia Roja who were the cowards. They kept on flopping, play-acting, and doing the professional foul (Puyol did a perfect example). In fact, I actually thought it was Italy I was watching, instead of Spain.

  • E

    0 0

    I completely agree with el rojo on this discussion.

    When I read Matt’s post all I see is rediculous statements and flat out wive’s tales.

    Holland played dirty the entire game, I will not claim that there was no play acting because everyone on the field seemed to be flopping around. ESPECIALLY mr Arjen Robben. To go out of your way and focus your criticism on only one side in a match like that is foolish.

    There is no hiding the fact that Holland should have recieved at least 1, if not 2 red cards in the first half. They are lucky they held on as long as they did.

    Obviously I wanted Spain to win, and I would have loved to see them beat Holland by 3 or more goals, but as long as they won I say Bravo to Howard Webb for at least controlling the game as best he could. Spain won in the end so thats all that matters.

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