Bert van Marwijk accepts Spain as World Champions but blames Webb for the defeat
Critics might carve it down in history as one of the dullest finals. However, the fact remains that it was a match that had its fair share of notoriousness and excitement. Though both teams had a number of chances during the match, but Spain’s Andres Iniesta brought the winner in the last minutes of the extra time to power his country towards football glory.
The most interesting part was that the match saw a total of 14 yellow cards waved along with a red one. The referee continuously remained in the spotlight for his strict conduct on the pitch. The Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk accredited the loss to English referee Howard Webb who gave Spain a 1-0 victory.
The red card departure of John Heitinga in the Dutch defence did in fact create a setback for them as the unguarded Andres Iniesta slipped a goal from where a Dutch defender would have easily blocked him. But Marwijk didn’t blame his own player for receiving two yellow cards. On the contrary, he went for an easier target. Marwijk blamed the referee for creating such an offensive tempo of the game. Contrary to that notion, experts agreed that it was clearly the Dutch that were causing the majority of the trouble with some rough football.
Marwijk explained that the goal occurred when the referee failed to notice a foul and give the advantage to the Dutch. As the Netherland’s forwards were appealing, the Spanish took advantage of the situation and scored. Marwijk even stated that Webb gave that decision as he was under pressure because of the Spanish media. Spanish newspaper editorials had earlier blamed the referee for their opening match defeat against Switzerland.
The Dutch coach expressed his disappointment when he said, “I don't think the referee controlled the match well. But let me be clear about this: the best team won the match”.
After giving Spain their fair share of credit, Marwijk explained that he was trying to analyze the match to the best of his capabilities. He told that in doing so, he had noticed that the referee’s decision was influenced in favor of Spain. The Dutch coach further added that when that happens one should forfeit the match then and there as there is no point in playing football.
Marwijk confessed that there were some advances made in the game by his players that should not have been made; especially by Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel. While talking on the subject he said, “It's not our style. Let me put it this way, it's not our style to commit horrible fouls. It's not our kind of football”.
Marwijk added that the tension created by the fans in the World Cup also got to the players on the field. The Dutch coach explained that he had seen the Spanish making terrible dives and fouls because of that.
Nevertheless, the Dutch had played marvelously throughout the tournament which is why they deserved the place in the finals. The coach clarified that nobody really expected Netherlands to reach the final of South Africa 2010. He told that the match was very close to the penalties even though their star forward Arjen Robben nearly scored in the match.
Marwijk instigated the issue when he said, “Whether we would have deserved that, I don't know. But it's a final. It's very disappointing. You want to win it, and we might have done. I think we performed really, really well to get this far. The team that scored the first goal was going to win that match. Those chances for Robben could have meant victory for us. But, unfortunately, we weren't so lucky”.
He also told that the Dutch never intended to win the match with a tough and brutal game play that they were being blamed for after the match. He stated that the Dutch were in fact playing an attractive brand of football which was appreciated by people across the globe. However, European Champions Spain out classed them and they had to be a better team to defeat them.
He commented on his strategy by saying, "We did a good job tactically on them. We got into good positions at times. Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. It's not our style, but you play a match to win”.
However, he did compliment the match and told that everyone one had had a lovely time playing football in South Africa. He said, “It's a World Cup final, and there's a lot of emotion out there. You saw that with both teams. I'd loved to have won that match, even with not so beautiful football”.
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