FIFA 2010 World Cup: Robben says Dutch were stuck because of English referee, Webb
Howard Webb the Rotherham official got slammed by both the Netherlands and the Spanish side for the way he handled the World Cup final match.
The referee pulled out fourteen yellows cards in which he gave Jonny Heitinga two yellow cards and sent him packing from the World Cup final and leaving only ten players on the field for the Netherlands side. The match was definitely hard to control but both the teams felt that it could have been done better.
It was very lucky for Nigel de Jong to stay on the field along with Mark van Bommel and Sneijder, though Robben says that he was a victim of gross injustice. When at the point that the match was level and Carles Puyol stopped him from racing through.
Robben admits that both sides made it hard for the referee to control the match but Howard Webb was definitely not strong enough to handle the match and should have not been the one with the responsibility to control it.
The Chelsea star cried out that it was the World Cup final!
He continued on by saying that these were two very aggressive teams playing the match and both were determined to win. It’s the referee’s responsibility to control the match and there were definitely some very strange decisions by the English referee. For a World Cup final, you need a world class referee and Webb did not show himself as a world class referee.
Robben still complains over the incident with Puyol as the replay clearly shows that Puyol was tugging Robbens shirt.
Robben kept complaining about Spain’s captain and goal-keerp, Iker Casillas as well, that he was too close and Robben went on to say that in the last ten minutes of the game they could have still scored and could still have won the match but Casillas was too close to him and Webb did nothing about that.
In the end, Andres Iniesta shined through and scored the winning goal for the World Cup final.
Finally, they commented on the topic by saying that Spain has a great team with great players and they should not criticize themselves, as they did everything they could have possibly done.
He ended by saying that there is always one winner and one loser from every match but it is very frustrating when a team loses four minutes before the end.
Xabi Alonso has called Nigel de Jong's World Cup final kick which he took right to the chest as the worst tackle he has been dealt.
Even De Jong commented on the topic by saying that he was very fortunate that he did not get sent off from the field by Howard Webb as he had already tackled Alonso in the first half.
The midfielder from the Netherlands planted his shoes right into Alonso’s chest in a Bruce Lee karate kick fashion and left him gasping for breath and in need of treatment.
Alonso said that he was still in pain a long time after the final whistle for the match blew and was worried that he had broken a rib.
He definitely was not amused by De Jong’s play and said that it was the worst tackle he had ever suffered.
Alonso continued by saying that the World Cup final was definitely a very tight game and there was definitely respect from both sides, as both were trying to close each other down and the challenge was very hard but that tackle was uncalled for and it was very hard to play on after that.
Spain has now become the third country to hold both titles of the World Cup and the European champion title at the same time. Before them, it was only Germany and France.
However, no country has ever managed to ever take on three titles at the same time and as the Euro 2012 is coming up, they are already being booked to be the ones to make the first hat trick in history.
Alonso accepted that they need to work really hard and there is a lot to do but what matters is that they already have the raw talent.
He continued by saying that right now the mentality, style and the spirit are all there and the basics are with them, if they keep working with the same commitment that they have done so far, then there are a lot more big things coming their way.
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