FIFA 2010 World Cup - Sepp Blatter in support of Howard Webb
English referee Howard Webb is being condemned after the FIFA World Cup 2010 final. Webb gave away 13 yellow cards to players and a red card to Dutch player John Heitinga.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said that he does not have the authority to judge the decisions of the officials. He stated that the three referees had a tough job at the Final on Sunday, and they did not have much help.
Both Spain and Dutch teams have said that Webb was not good at making fair and firm decisions. The Spanish players are stating that Webb was not stern with the Dutch players; on the other hand the Netherlanders feel that Webb gave them an insensitive treatment on the field.
The FIFA president has kept a distance from making any comments on how the Netherland players’ actions were on the field. He commented on how the team which was playing proper football won the World Cup Final. Blatter went on to say that football has its roots fixed on discipline and respect, yes it is a fight but it is a fight based on fair play.
English referee Webb who is now 38, has been on the line of fire by Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk as he gave 9 yellow cards including the 2 which dismissed Heitinga from the match. The Dutch fans during the medal ceremony jeered Webb. There are many who have been supporting Webb through this episode, amongst them has been Graham Poll the former Premier League referee. Poll felt that Webb did justice to his position and he did it very well. Poll added that Webb proceeded in the game on his own terms and in his opinion made a better set of important decisions. If Webb would have set strict laws then only 8 Players would have been left on the Netherlands team. Dermot Gallagher, former referee, was another individual supporting Webb and he stated that Webb had one of the most difficult jobs and he handled it very decently.
The Netherlands team approached the game in a difficult and aggressive manner and should feel lucky that their team was not just left with 10 players on the pitch in the first half, after Nigel de Jong kicked Xabi Alonso on the chest. Many in the audience raised their voice during the match and similar sentiments were carried forward on Monday’s media reports.
The Spanish newspaper, El Mundo Deportivo, claimed that the Dutch were fortunate as Webb’s decisions allowed them room to continue in the game with no severe penalty. Marca on the same level resorted to making cruel comments towards Webb that according to him Webb has always been a terrible referee. Webb’s professional decisions were judged to the extent that made him the person who could have been responsible in destroying the match altogether.
Gallagher had a different viewpoint in which he stated that Webb was trying to keep the game moving hence he gave some leverage even after De Jong’s incident. Gallagher felt that Howard’s decision was correct as his view was blocked by Alonso’s body during the De Jong incident. However there were many other offences that were committed, amongst them were some made by Van Bommel, Sneijder few others.
The Dutch are holding back against Webb as they felt his decision in not allotting them a corner right before Spain made their winning goal was what lost them the FIFA Final.
However Webb has become the first Englishman since Jack Taylor in 1974 to receive the control of World Cup Final award after his three previous games in which he handed out 17 yellow cards.
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