In a physical and tough send off in which the final view on the soccer scoreboards was 1-0 to Spain, the English Referee Howard Webb broke a new record for a World Cup final by showing yellow cards to 13 players. All in all 47 fouls were committed in one of the worst tempered finals ever. With a continuous succession of late and aggressive challenges in particular from the Dutch team, Webb was left with little choice. The previous record was 7 yellow cards, but this was beaten in the 57th minute when the referee showed the 7th yellow card to the Dutch defender John Heitinga.
At the end of the match, Webb was booed loudly by the Dutch fans when he went to collect his medal after the match. The Dutch players and management followed up with voices of resentment and anger for the way that Webb had refereed the match.
Bert van Marwijk complained that the referee didn’t control the match well at all, and the Dutch winger Arjen Robben also had words to say against Webb. He was sure that the Spanish defender Carles Puyol for a poor tackle should have been given a red card 10 minutes from time. Instead the referee gave the advantage, which Robben considered to be a big mistake as there was no advantage due to the fact that the goalkeeper (Iker Casillas) was already too close. Puyol was not punished either.
The Dutch were also incensed that Webb didn’t award their side a corner just before Spain scored their only and winning goal. In this respect the Dutch have a point. Spain took a free-kick, which clearly took a deflection off a Spanish player. If the referee had correctly awarded the corner then Spain would have not shortly after found themselves in such a position to score.
In an interview with the wife of the English referee Howard Webb, she said that she was very confident that he had performed well, although she could not make any personal judgement as she could not watch much of the game due to nerves.
Howard Webb is an ex police sergeant, and his selection as the referee for the world cup final shows the faith that FIFA have in him as being one of the world’s elite referees. He was the 1st Englishman to head a World Cup final for 36 years. The event was watched by around 750 million viewers around the world.
The World Cup will be remembered for a series of refereeing scandals, including the ‘revenge for 66’ goal scored by the English against the Germans, which inexplicably wasn’t awarded. The next world cup might see changes, and technology might finally be used. Technology or not, soccer fans will be hoping for a better world cup final in four years time in Brazil.
For more information go to: telegraph.co.uk