Johannesburg, July 12: Howard Webb went into Sunday’s World Cup final saying it was the greatest moment of his career, a culmination of 17 years of toil, and yet by the end of it, when the public announcer called his name to receive his commemorative medal from Fifa, boos rang loud and in unison. Surely this couldn’t have been how the bald official would have pictured it.
A record 13 yellow cards and one red, more than double the previous ‘best’ which was six yellow cards by Brazilian Romualdo Arppi Filho in the 1986 final between Argentina and West Germany.
To be fair to Webb, he didn’t have much of a choice considering the way Holland were intent on winning ugly, but the referee failed to show consistency in his decisions. How can one justify only a yellow card for Nigel de Jong after imitating Bruce Lee and using Xabi Alonso’s chest as stack of bricks while he kung-fu kicked the Real Madrid star with his studs showing.
But, it wasn’t just Spain who were at the receiving end. Holland’s Arjen Robben was irate after he was tackled from behind by Carles Puyol when he was clear through on goal and the referee just awarded a free-kick.
“Late into the second half I was clearly put off by Puyol and the referee should have awarded us with a free kick and Puyol should have received his second yellow card of the game. According to me in a World Cup final, you should also have a world class referee,” said the dazzling winger.
His coach Bert van Marwijk also agreed with Robben. “If you look at the second chance of Robben, the referee should give Puyol a second yellow card, which would have meant him being sent off,” the coach said.
On further probing he added that, “I don’t think the referee controlled the match well. Let me be clear about this: the best team won the match. But I read a few things today about how angry Spain were at [Webb’s] refereeing in the first match against Switzerland, claiming he had not given two penalties to them. If you viewed the performance [of the referee] today, you’d almost think now that that first match had an influence on this game.”