FIFA World Cup Final: Howard Webb Says His Team Did Their Best
Howard Webb, who officiated the World Cup final, has come under criticism from several media outlets after the final match ended in Spain winning the World Cup. Webb, who is a former police officer, was in charge of one of the most violent World Cup finals ever.
A total of fourteen yellow cards were shown during the match, two of them were shown the Dutch defender Heitenga who pulled back Iniesta late in the game. The Dutch defender got sent off as a consequence and Holland had to play the last ten minutes of the second half of extra time, with ten men on the field.
Spain’s advantage in numbers on the field, eventually proved benefitial as Iniesta scored the one and only goal of the match to seal Spain’s triumph in the World Cup final. Howard Webb who is a resident of Yorkshire County in England, came back to his country along with his assistants Michael Mullerkey and Darren Cann on Tuesday.
They were greeted by a barrage of media at the airport; Webb told the reporters that regardless of the match and its importance, one hopes that the officials won’t be involved too heavily. He added that his team had to play a stronger role in order to maintain control of the match.
Webb has come under criticism especially from the Dutch media, who have branded him as a chump. Webb also came under scrutiny from the Dutch manager Van Marwijk and his squad members such as Arjen Robben and Dirk Kuyt.
Webb also told the reporters that, his team did the best job they could because they had no choice other than to handle the game as they did. He also said that the team felt satisfied with their performance after the match was done with, he added that they did a tough job in difficult circumstances, to the best of their abilities.
Webb, who is usually selected to referee important big team ties in the Premier League, said that it was an extremely challenging match to handle and that it would have been so for any referee in the world. He also stated that his team tried extremely hard to keep their focus on the football.
Several of the tackles during the game were red card worthy according to the interviews given by Xabi Alonso of Spain and Nigel De Jong of Holland. Howard Webb commented that there were decisions early on in the match that were clear yellow cards. He went onto say that his team tried to enforce some common sense into their decision making, given the magnitude of the game.
He also explained that, he advised the players time and again to ease up on their hard tackling; he also said that the officials talked to the senior players in both the teams in an attempt to calm the younger players down. He also remarked that the World Cup in South Africa was a wonderful experience and stated that it was a marvelous honor for him and his team to be selected for an event as prestigious as the FIFA World Cup.
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