World Cup 2010 - Howard Webb: Hero or villain?

I was initially delighted that England had gained­­ the­­­ prestige of providing the Referee for the World­ Cup­­­­ Final. But after witnessing Mr Webb disrespect­ the laws of the game by not reducing the­­ Dutch team­ to 9-players following some­ appalling­­ foul­ play by­ two players in particular, just shows that football is­­ definitely­ going in the­ wrong­ direction. Clearly we­­ in England­ have been let down­ by a poor performing­­ team, an­­ incompetent­ coach and now a gutless­­ Referee. There can be no excuse since Mr Webb­­ is­ experienced enough to­ know that if he­ didn't­ immediately nip foul play­ in the bud, then­ he would­ be making a rod­ for his own­ back. Now by his­ own­ efforts, he possesses a­ reputation that raises­­ suspicion as regards his­ integrity. As a former­ referee­ (strict but fair I may­ add) I feel that the­ WC Final­ performance of Mr Webb­ has had the effect of­ staining­ the good character of­ the Referees'­ Association.

Webb? The man is a klootzak, a @#$% with a whistle. I­ believe he robbed Holland of the win by favouring­ Spain. He gave Holland yellow cards for nearly every­ challenge, but did not do the same to Spain, He did not­ award Holland a corner whereas the ball was touched­ twice by Spanish players, the man is an icompetent @#$%­ with a whistle. He probably goes there on holiday and­ has some criminal mates in Marbella... Afraid he would­ not be served bacon and eggs in a Spanish pub.

I­ believe they should serve Webb up together with that­ Octopus....any recipes??

From the land that gave the world liberal democracy,­ Howard Webb supplied a heavy dose of British pragmatism­ and stiff upper lip to events amongst a sea of actors,­ thugs, children with ADHD and dancing queens. To have­ expulsed any of this most varied of comedians would­ have cruelly reduced the theatre and the glory to the­ victors in overcoming the cloggers in the nick of time.­ The Dutch references to the 70s in their Van Der­ Valkesque manager, the Van Bommel scouse perm and­ Robben's actual age were sadly misleading in­ recalling the glorious Cruyff years. But the funniest­ aspect of all is the British press lining up behind a­ referee for the first time in living memory in defence­ of the realm - enjoy it while it lasts Howard, the­ wrath of Fergie is only 5 weeks away.

During the Round of 16, Germany defeated England (4:1).­ So naturally, the ENGLISH referee would dislike the­ Germans. Then, in the Semi-Finals, Spain defeated­ Germany (1:0). Thus, Howard Webb would be in favor of­ Spain for defeating the team he disliked. This is­ proof that Howard Webb was completely in favor of­ Spain. So Netherland should have won. Stupid referee.­ Stupid octupus.

What a comments from this lot, what everyone­ forget's is that Iniesta should have been sent off­ in the 1st half for kicking van Bommel with no ball­ around, Puyol should have been 2nd yellow carded for­ obsturuction to Robber in extra time. Just before end­ on 2nd half extra time he should have awarde3d a corner­ to Holland, does not give that one and Spain scores out­ of the next attack.

Biased referee and the whole­ stadium, I was there, agreed with me, have not you­ heard them all whistlng, the referee killed the gamer­ and wanted Spain to win

The Dutchies will have their revenge when Spain goes­ bankrupt end off this year! We wont help you out, like­ we're all doing with Greece at the moment!­ ---Karma---

The Dutch should take a look at the replays, then shut­ their mouths, then send Howard Webb a thank you card­ for letting them end the first half with more than 8­ players on the pitch, and ending the second half with­ more than six !
The Spanish were the better team (1-0)­ but still fell about like a load of amateur dramatic­ students playing out the opening scene from Saving­ Private Ryan.
Why don't they go and watch some­ rugby matches (Union or League) and then perhaps­ they'll realise that a tickle under the armpits­ shouldn't cause you to rollover 5 times, play dead,­ then cry, then limp and result in having to tie your­ hair back before being miraculously cured (the hair­ should be a booking in itself !).
I feel sorry for the­ two or three Dutch players who actually played with­ heart and determination.
What on earth was Howard webb­ supposed to do? Just leave the 2 goalies on the pitch­ to boot the ball about from end-to-end??? Oh hang­ on....... that's what they did anyway.
@#$%­ game..... Spoilt the whole thing for everyone except­ the Spanish

It was a great pity that Webb tried so hard for so long­ to dish out the cards even-handedly, even though the­ Dutch were by far the worse offenders. He let bad fouls­ by the Dutch in the fist ten minutes go unpunished, and­ they took their cue from that. Then he started to­ yellow-card them, but gave yellows to Spaniards too for­ lesser infringements, or for a first bad foul where­ previously he had let the Dutch off completely. The­ result was that he was struggling to control the game,­ with the Dutch having correctly assessed him as weak,­ and the Spaniards frustrated because they were getting­ a bad deal.

Webb did very well. Funny how the Dutch complain he­ favoured Spain and the Spanish say he was too soft. He­ applied common sense to keep the game a spectacle. He­ made one mistake and that was the corner that­ wasn't given.

Yes De Jong/Van Bomell/Robben and­ Heitinga all could have gone. What would we say then?­ 7 players left on one side. Disappointed by the way­ the Dutch played but more disappointed by their­ reaction after the game. You lost to Spain who are a­ great side - show some dignity.

It is good to tell that some of the people who have­ already submitted comments have never refereed a match­ in their lives. Most of you saw the incidents on TV­ which where shown several times so you are able to make­ expert decisions. The referee gets one shot and one­ shot only and he must make a decision on what he sees­ and nothing else. Howard Webb refereed this­ difficult game very well, yes he made mistakes but all­ referees do, I know I have been there. Well done­ Howard and well done to your Linesme as well.

Yep - difficult game to ref but Webb clearly set his­ stall out early on so if the players (particularly the­ Dutch) wanted to continue kicking lumps out of each­ other then so be it. And there were no missed­ offsides or ball crossing the line incidents. All in­ all a good game.

I thought he had an exceptional game. The hardest game­ of football in the world to referee, 80,000 or so in­ the stadium and some 700 million on tv, the eyes of­ FIFA & UEFA and then 22 players intent on winning­ footballs biggest prize.
Or at least that's what­ they should have been doing, instead they seemed intent­ on kicking each other off the park. Every single card­ was justified, and all but one decision - the Dutch­ corner that wasnt given - was correct.
He tried his­ damndest to keep everybody on the field, and even when­ De Jong did a Karate kick on Alonso I think he got it­ right, yes it was a red card, but desoite what all the­ cynics are saying, had he shown a red at that point he­ would have come in for more criticism.
He was­ authoritive and fair, he applied the rules of the game­ correctly and yet applied leniency and COMMON SENSE on­ several occasions, the ones who should be reprimanded­ and rebuked are the players for the way in which they­ presented themselves to the world, so called­ proffessionals who were only intent on stopping the­ opposition by unfair means, then they have the audacity­ to blame the referee, come on people those responsible­ are the overpaid divas of the football world and not­ the honest referee who tried to maintain parity in the­ face of the utmost adversity.
He had a fantastic game­ and I am proud that a representative from my country­ had the opportunity to take part in the worlds greatest­ sporting spectacle and that he remained true to his­ profession and attempted as best as he could to­ facilitate a good game.
And if I were Heitinga I would­ be extremely upset and angry, not with the referee, but­ with myself, my one lasting memory and perhaps the only­ chance I would have of playing in the world cup final­ is getting sent off, hardly one to tell the grandkids­ about eh???

I think Howard Webb had a very hard game to ref. The­ Dutch team (whom in the past I have looked forward to­ watching) were a disgrace to the game. I agree that­ Webb did not get all the decisions right, but the­ majority.
The foul by De Jong should have been red­ carded - no doubt and perhaps they might have settled­ down then but I doubt it. In all I think Webb did a­ good job under very difficult circumstances AND the­ best team won.
Personally I enjoyed the match on­ Saturday between Uraguay and Germany much better.

Aurelius,
u are just pissed of because we are a better­ country then u, and by the way a greek caught the­ octopus

You cannot make new rules to suit the occasion, the­ refereeing was a disaster, the Netherlands should have­ been down to 9 men after 15 mins. After that, they knew­ they could get away with it.

Aurelius

Not a sausage­ fan?? What kind of a German­ are you man? No wonder you're sticking up for the­ Dutch.