Howard Webb had a GOOD game...

[fire&skill]

Yeah. Definitely a yellow. Well done, Howard!

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[Pavilionaire]

The Spanish press are wankers. They've just won the World Cup but is this enough to stop them having a pop at the ref? Is it f***.

As for the Dutch, they've taken the best part of fourty years of a reputation for silky football and ripped it to shreds.

The Dutch were my second team and I sat there in my "Hup Holland" orange scarf but, I have to say, they and their manager are a total disgrace.

There was a time when the Germans were cynical cheating wankers while the Dutch were entertaining but plucky losers. Now, everything in the football world's upside down.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Yeah. Definitely a yellow. Well done, Howard!

I think it's quite cheap to criticize this personally. It needs to be in context and refereeing the WC final is much more than just applying the rules. As many have pointed out the game could have decended into a farce quite easily. But it did not. And it did not because of one person. As I said early, I personally think history will look very kindly on Webb's performance.

 

[Chesney Christ]

De Jong - straight red.
Van Bommel - should have got a 2nd booking for several fouls.
Robben - 2nd yellow for kicking the ball away.
Heitinga - rightfully sent off.

Should have been down to 7 men, and they have the nerve to complain about ONE "foul". Total c*nts.

 

[Stevie Boy]

i thought he had a very good game, a couple of mistakes but no one is perfect (look at some of the wankers we had last season) The dutch were a total disgrace, i wanted them to win before hand but watching the way they played i was hoping the spanish would win.

 

[Jim in the West]

One thing's for certain, I've lost all respect for the Dutch. Their approach was reminiscent of South American thugs of the 60s. It's all very well setting out to stifle the opposition, but to deliberately target them with some pretty dangerous "tackles" was the ultimate in cynicism. It's extremely fortunate that no Spanish player was seriously injured. Did they forget that this was the World Cup Final, for God's sake?

Webb had a pretty good game in virtually impossible circumstances - most other refs would have made decisions which would have turned the game into a farce.

Players like Van Bommel are quite simply a disgrace to the game. I hope both he and the Dutch nation are suitably embarrassed.

 

[The Large One]

Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff has launched a scathing attack on Netherlands' display in the World Cup final, deriding it as "anti-football".

The Dutch received nine yellow cards, and a red card for Johnny Heitinga, as they lost 1-0 to Spain in South Africa.

"Sadly, they played very dirty," Cruyff told Spanish newspaper El Periodico.

"This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style... If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they lost."

Cruyff was the symbol of 'Total Football', which earned the Dutch successive World Cup final appearances in 1974 and 1978.

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk appeared to opt for pragmatism over style as he led the Oranje to a third final in South Africa, but the result was the same, as Andres Iniesta scored an extra-time winner for Spain.

But Sunday's game was also notable for Netherlands' surprisingly aggressive approach.

Cruyff, along with many others, believed Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong were lucky not to be sent off before half-time, Van Bommel for a tackle from behind on Iniesta and De Jong for kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest.

"They should have been down to nine immediately, then they made two [such] ugly and hard tackles that even I felt the damage," said the 63-year-old Cruyff.

"It hurts me that Holland chose an ugly path to aim for the title."

Cruyff brought his footballing philosophy to Barcelona in an eight-year spell as manager, and he is widely credited with the one-touch passing style still employed by the Catalan club, who provided the backbone of Spain's World Cup-winning squad.

However, in the Champions League semi-final last season, Pep Guardiola's side were upset by a defence-minded Inter Milan, coached by Jose Mourinho - a fact not lost on Cruyff.

"On Thursday they asked me from Holland 'Can we play like Inter? Can we stop Spain in the same way Mourinho eliminated Barca?'

"I said no, no way at all. I said no, not because I hate this style, I said no because I thought that my country wouldn't dare to and would never renounce their style. I said no because, without having great players like those of the past, the team has its own style.

"I was wrong. Of course I'm not hanging all 11 of them by the same rope, but almost. They didn't want the ball."