Nederland gaan die Beker wen!!!

Originally posted by divegeester
How anyone could have watched that game and still felt the Dutch were the better team is beyond me (perhaps you are americans?). Webb did an excellent job refereeing a team of petulant over-physical dirty let downs who were a disgrace to the country who perpetuated "total football", even Cruyff was dismayed at their performance.

Viva Espana!

No! We Americans were disgusted by the Dutch. Seldom have I seen such a horrible display of tactics by a team feeling itself clearly inferior to the Spanish. To come out and hack away instead of trying for an outright win was shameful football. Ducth were lucky to start second half with eleven. Why De Joong was not sent off is really a mystery. In the end justice prevailed. All in all credible reffing in final. Tough game for Webb and he handled it without letting it get out of control. Now the Dutch have the dubious distinction of being threeXlosers! Total football for Dutch means use every means available to ensure opponents get carried off in a stretcher. De Joongs foul was worse than Zidane's in 06. Cruyff was right to be disgusted!

Originally posted by divegeester
Totally disagree on Webb, he is no bottler. He tried to keep the biggest game in the four year calendar going by not sending people off early. If he had started with the reds it would have been carnage and the game would have been in danger of becoming a farce.

There is insufficient appreciation for the referee's role as ringmaster.

Originally posted by divegeester
Totally disagree on Webb, he is no bottler. He tried to keep the biggest game in the four year calendar going by not sending people off early. If he had started with the reds it would have been carnage and the game would have been in danger of becoming a farce.

don't tell me what the bbc said about webb... what do you think? really... are you trying to tell me a karate kick to the chest isn't an automatic red card? and how many yellow card worthy fouls did van bommel commit? i counted at least 4, one of them giving away a pen.

world cup final or not, referring of each game should be the same. he bottled it.

webb let the dutch play their game, had if given one of the red cards that should’ve been given in the first half they wouldn't have been able to play the way they did. even giving a yellow card to the first bad foul and clearly explaining he wouldn't tolerate that kind of tackling would've been a lot better than what he did, we might have actually saw a decent match had the dutch been scared of committing the fouls that they did in fear of being sent off.

Originally posted by trev33
don't tell me what the bbc said about webb... what do you think? really... are you trying to tell me a karate kick to the chest isn't an automatic red card? and how many yellow card worthy fouls did van bommel commit? i counted at least 4, one of them giving away a pen.

world cup final or not, referring of each game should be the same. he bottled it.

w ...[text shortened]... had the dutch been scared of committing the fouls that they did in fear of being sent off.

Indeed that is one of my criticisms of soccer. I agree with diverdude that Webb was managing a really difficult game, yet what use are rules and bylaws in left unenforced, applied irregularly or inconsistently. No WC game seems to have been reffed consistently. What wsa a red in one game was not in another. The only consistently applied rule seems to be offside. Free kicks/yellow cards on inadvertent handballs is another thing that drove me crazy. Germany might have made a better game of it with Muller not forced to sit out the semi. That was really downright criminal by that silly ref. Although I favored Spain, I would have preferred a more even game. The uncalled goal in the Germany-England game robbed us of what might have been a game for the ages. Seeing the stunned German faces after the first goal then another in 20" would have been so crushing. What's the use of assistant refs and linesmen? ALL four missed a call one could see on TV! Even from behind, the first take, since one could see the ball bounce from behind Neuer! Blindness seems to be a prerequisite for being a ref! Shameful. Passing up an outright red after the De Jong kung fu kick is right up there with the failed goal call mentioned before. If FIFA has any honor they will pledge to improve this aspect (reffing) of the game.

Originally posted by trev33
don't tell me what the bbc said about webb... what do you think? really... are you trying to tell me a karate kick to the chest isn't an automatic red card? and how many yellow card worthy fouls did van bommel commit? i counted at least 4, one of them giving away a pen.

world cup final or not, referring of each game should be the same. he bottled it.

w ...[text shortened]... had the dutch been scared of committing the fouls that they did in fear of being sent off.

Yeah you make a fair point about the kung-fu, but overall I still think he decent job of holding it together.

btw I get my ideas from the daily mail not the bbc - they are far too lefty for me 😵