Webb's World Cup final is no fun

Howard Webb would have hoped Sunday night's World Cup final would have been the most memorable occasion of his life. It was, but for all the wrong reasons. I was in Soccer City on Sunday night. It was freezing cold but that didn't affect the Dutch players, who set about in the most cynical of fashions, basically trying to kick their way to the World Cup trophy against a team of exquisite skill and talent nurtured by a coach who is a believer in beautiful football.
Faced with such a display of dirty play, Webb did what referees are supposed to do. He punished the trasngressors. But oddly, this had little effect on the Dutch, who ensured, for the most part, that different players carried out the yellow card offences, thus ensuring they were not sent off.

This behaviour is coached. it is not spontaneous and is carried out with the approval of the coach and his staff. Van Marwijk should take his share of responsiblity for the Dutch effectively ruining the showpiece of global football.

Webb did what he could to respect the occasion. He didn't reduce the Dutch to 9 players when he could have sent Robben off for kicking the ball away. He showed 14 yellows but could have shown more, holding back to avoid complete chaos and keeping the game going, if not flowing. He'll be aware of a couple of mistakes that he made. De Jong's kick to Xavi Alonso's 's chest should have been a straight red but I suspect Webb didn't have a clear view of the incident and accepted his assistant's view that a yellow card offence had been committed.

And in extra time, he unfortunately didn't spot a defender deflecting a Spanish free kick. What should have been a Dutch corner became a goal kick that resulted in Iniesta's goal that won the World Cup. I'm sure that one will bother Webb, but it shouldn't.

Webb did his best to protect the Spanish from the systematic fouling campaign and by doing so, created conditions in which Spain could play football. In extra time, Heitinga was sent off and most other Dutch defenders were just one yellow away from being sent off. it meant they hesitated before fouling. This freed Spain up to play football and their goal was a result of this.

Webb's a big lad. The pathetic behaviour of Dutch players at the end is nothing he hasn't witnessed before in the premiership. Some players should be punished, that's for sure. Robben, unfortunately, was at his cheating and deceitful worst throughout the match. He missed two golden opportunities, one of which was a result of Webb seeing him shrug off Puyol and get himself into an excellent scoring position. Imagine the outcry if Robben had scored only to see the game pulled back for a free kick. He's have gone nuts.

So bravo Howard Webb. All his refereeing colleagues would have been watching that game and thanking heavens they weren't in the middle. Webb stood up to the bullies and the right team won the cup. Result!