Spain are changing into their red shirts to celebrate. And they just hoisted Del Bosque into the air. He looked like he was going to die. And that leads to Chris Fowler pointing out that he appears to have suffered a wedgie. Possibly a high point in the history of football analysis.
spain didnt deserve this win guys lol all my teams have lost this year what the F is going on? munich, celtics, germany, holland, whats next?
Howard Webb catches some heat when he gets up for the refs medals. I think its undeserved. He may have had an itchy trigger finger by the end of the match, but the Dutch can only blame themselves for continuing to hack at the Spaniards. Ruud Gullit offers some good analysis, blaming the Dutch for the performance of the ref for giving him the chance to call for that many cards.
I don't think it would drive up the price on Fabregas. Its not like he's Sammi Khedira or Thomas Mueller where he was a lesser known player who had a terrific tournament. He went into the tournament as a world class player and he played like one in very limited minutes.
Not to belabor the point about the officiating, but a pretty strong case could be made that the worst call was giving Nigel de Jong a yellow instead of a very well deserved straight red for what could be the worst foul of the tournament. After Suarez's hand ball against Ghana, I'd consider that the most blatant red card offense of the last month.
Ref was biased though, there were same fouls committed by both teams yet Holland got the most yellow cards plus the red. It was obvious from the get go that he hated the Dutch. (fucking bastard) Spain should cherish this win, they're never going to win again in the next 100 years. (quote me on it) (I mean titles lol)
You're still dramatically overstating what happened here. I don't think the officiating was biased at all. As I already said, the only way in which Webb had a dramatic impact on the match was in not sending De Jong off early. Spain played the superior match and they won the World Cup. The Netherlands lost it...its that simple. Its nothing to do with the officiating.
Everything to do with officiating, if he was going to decide that it had to be a clean game then be fair to both sides, not give 10 yellow cards to Holland and only 5 to Spain. He was biased, FIFA should be ashamed having these weak ass refs destroying the game. It's so disturbing it's making me take a break for the game, I don't want to watch the ref control every little thing on the pitch. Let them effin play.
Let them effin play so that the Dutch can start breaking legs? Those yellows were all justified, except for the one that De Jong picked up which should have been a red. You can't critique the ref and not admit that if Spain were playing with a man advantage starting around the 25th, they would have won by a few in regulation. Spain dominated possession and the Dutch were trying to hack them down to get them out of it. Most of the fouls weren't exactly ticky-tack type fouls. Many were from the Dutch being considerably late or swinging through with the other leg. The yellow card count was justified by the cynical play by the Spaniards. Listen to the post-match analysis from Ruud Gullit, he'll agree with me, and I might suggest that he and his oranje tie are more likely biased towards the Dutch than you are.
^ Also Spain got 9 more fouls. But agoo, you agree what Elia did when he almost got inside with the ball and two Spanish players broke his play, if it had been a Spanish player doing that on other side same thing had happened it would have been automatic foul (plus maybe a yellow, it was that kind of game). Whole Elia play that should have been stopped led to goal on the other side by Iniesta. That's why its the refs foul, if it had gone to penalties and Holland lost there I wouldn't mind, fair game, but for the ref to decide like this, its BS.
The Netherlands got called for more fouls because he hardly had any possession...which is another reason why they lost. They hardly created any chances and they didn't finish the ones they had. Its easy to scapegoat, but in this case, the Dutch lost. Not Howard Webb. And if we're going call for call, tell me how different the match would have been if De Jong got the straight red for his karate kick on Xabi Alonso. Worst call of the match was that one. Get over it.
^ I'm over it, I just hope Webb never gets to coach another game in his life. (praying to god that happens) Anyways, cannot wait for Euro 2012 to see some other European team rape Spain.
You're talking foolish right now. Spain's entire game is dominating possession. Spain dominated possession in every single match. They deserved the win today and they deserved every win they got. You could have put that entire list of teams you provided earlier in this match instead of the Netherlands and the result would have been the same. I also like that you're giving up the discussion, rather than acknowledge the De Jong call.
No way man, first of all Spain had easy group, plus they lost to Swiss which has absolutely no offense at all. Let's cut that down, Brasil or Argentina would have easily beaten Spain 3-1. Any day of the week.
You're kidding yourself. You can make a case for Germany which I still wouldn't listen to, but not Brazil or Argentina. Xavi and Iniesta would have torn the Argentine defense apart and Brazil would have ended up hacking at the Spanish like the Dutch did today. That would have been the same match up.
All of the flopping and players tripping over their own feet and getting others carded for it was just pathetic football. There was no flow at any point in the match and yet another poor decision by a ref decides the outcome due to a switch of momentum. What do I mean? The goal kick for Spain that eventually led to their goal when it should have obviously been a corner kick. Puyol should have also been sent off for wrapping up Robben when he broke free late in the second half. In all, one of the worst matches I have ever seen, and honestly, a fitting end to an awful World Cup marred by poor officiating, theft and often appalling behavior by the players.
