Taken from Football365.com an interview with Howard Webb, referee of Sunday's World Cup Final which was a tempestuous affair littered with player misconduct throughout, all of which was sensitively managed by the man from Rotherham. The interview is as follows ...
English referee Howard Webb has no regrets over his handling of Sunday's "extremely challenging" World Cup final between Spain and Holland.
The Yorkshireman arrived home from South Africa on Tuesday with his assistants Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey to a barrage of media interest in their performance in the final at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
Webb has come in for criticism from both the Dutch and Spanish camps after he handed out 14 yellow cards and sent off Holland defender John Heitinga during Spain's fractious 1-0 win.
"Whatever the match, you always hope that the officials won't need to be heavily involved. However, we had to raise our profile in order to keep control," Webb said in a statement released through the Premier League this evening.
"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did. We came away feeling satisfied that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities.
"It was an extremely challenging match to handle, but it would have been so for any referee. It is one of the toughest games we will ever be involved in and we feel that we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as much as possible."
The Dutch players have been widely criticised for their behaviour during the final, during which Bert van Marwijk's side committed a rash of heavy-handed challenges.
Holland were fortunate not to lose midfielder Nigel de Jong to a straight red card in the first half for a high challenge on Xabi Alonso. But, despite Webb's leniency on that occasion, his performance nevertheless incensed the Dutch, and he was confronted by several players after the final whistle.
"From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards," Webb continued.
"We tried to apply some common sense officiating given the magnitude of the occasion for both sides - advising players early on for some of their tackling, sending players away when they were surrounding the officials, and speaking to their senior colleagues to try to calm them down."
Despite the furore that has followed Sunday's final, Webb insists he has come away from South Africa harbouring "amazing memories".
"It was a marvellous honour to have been selected for the tournament and we had a wonderful six weeks in South Africa," he said.
"The people made us feel really welcome and we've hugely enjoyed the experience of being involved in such an incredible and unique event.
"We left the 2010 World Cup with amazing memories.
"We have been overwhelmed by the support of the public, the media, friends, colleagues, players and managers before and after the final.
"It was a massive honour and a privilege to take charge of the World Cup final. It is something every referee dreams of and to fulfil that dream was a remarkable feeling."
People within the English game have been quick to leap to the defence of the 39-year-old Rotherham official amid the fallout from the game, and Webb himself has no concerns about the overall display of his team.
"Mike and Darren made some terrific calls and I thought the decisions made by my team throughout the tournament were excellent," said Webb. "It's because of the quality of the team work that we were appointed to the final.
"We leave the tournament pleased with how we performed, honoured to be given the final and privileged to have met so many wonderful people in South Africa.
"We're all looking forward to a little bit of a rest and then coming back fresh for the new Barclays Premier League season."
Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Sunday, 11 July 2010
The Final
... kicks off in about 1 minute. Good luck to all involved, especially the English one. Very proud moment for English refereeing and this final looks like it could be a classic.
No commentary tonight, just enjoyment ...
OK maybe a little. I thought this was a "proper" game of football with two very good managers trying to out-think each other. Some refereeing decisions which I didn't entirely agree with, but I could understand why they were made. I thought the teamwork between the officials was fantastic. The goal by Iniesta was sublime. Viva España - los campeones del mundo!
No commentary tonight, just enjoyment ...
OK maybe a little. I thought this was a "proper" game of football with two very good managers trying to out-think each other. Some refereeing decisions which I didn't entirely agree with, but I could understand why they were made. I thought the teamwork between the officials was fantastic. The goal by Iniesta was sublime. Viva España - los campeones del mundo!
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
A tale of two captains
The first of the two semi-finals is underway and it's no surprise that the early pressure comes from Netherlands as Uruguay rely on counter attacks to push upfield.
The first half had four interesting incidents. The first was an attack deep into the Dutch right back position. As the ball approached the goal line, it was stopped but the momentum of the attacker and defender carried them over the goal line, where they both fell to the ground. As the defender tried to get up and back on to the field of play, the attacker held him, so the referee stopped play and awarded a direct free kick to the defender. The ball was originally positioned about one yard upfield from the goal line but was then pushed 5 yards before the kick was taken. I wonder if the offence had been the other way around, would the referee have given a direct free kick to the attack, if necessary, awarding a kick from the penalty mark???
Shortly after this an overhead kick by a Careces of Uruguay, close to the edge of the Dutch penalty area, saw him kick De Zeeuw hard on the jaw. There was a brief coming together of players from both sides but it dissipated within a handful of seconds. A couple of cautions later, the game settled back into its intriguing contest.
We then had one of the finest goals of the tournament as Von Bronckhorst moved in from the left wing, from an amazing 41 yards from goal and let fly with a vicious shot which the goalkeeper could only stroke with his fingertips as the ball flew into the top corner of his goal (actually striking the inside of the goalpost on the way in).
This rocked Uruguay back on their heels for a few minutes and then they gathered themselves. Diego Forlan, who already had 3 goals from previous games picked up the ball around 30 yards out and hit a dipping, curling drive which deceived the Dutch goalkeeper, who was wrong footed, and he only managed to flap a hand at the ball before it crashed into the goal. So the game is well balanced and we might see more of the same in the second half.
A brief mention of the coverage of the game by ITV ... Adrian Chiles is an absolute gift to ITV and seems to have a cheery quip for every situation, not least when footage was shown of the crowds in Amsterdam and Montevideo celebrating the goals by their respective teams and some large bass drums appeared from nowhere in the middle of the Uruguayan fans. Fantastic to see ... roll on part two.
The second half took a little while to get going but then another four exciting incidents. The first was a through ball which drew the Dutch goalkeeper out of his penalty area meaning his goal was untended when Uruguay took their shot on goal. Fortunately Von Bronckhorst headed the ball clear.
A Forlan free kick was battered away by the Dutch goalkeeper before Netherlands swept back upfield. A clever interchange of passes saw a good attempt on the Uruguayan goal but then a moment of debate ...
Sneijder took control of the ball on the edge of the Uruguayan penalty area and his shot took a deflection from a defender's shin on the way through. It then passed very (and I mean very) close to the foot of Robin Van Persie, who was standing just about in an offside position when Sneijder took his shot. The assistant didn't adjudge him as interfering with an opponent and I tend to agree with that considering how far out from goal he was (about 8 yards), so he wasn't obscuring the goalkeeper's line of sight. The referee was right behind the shot as well so could also make a good call on that.
Then we had the killer blow for Netherlands as just 3 minutes after Sneijder's goal, a cross from the left was met by a cushioned header by Arjen Robben, which saw the ball spin away from the Uruguayan goalkeeper, stroke the base of the goalpost and nestle gently in the back of the net. So at 3-1 you would expect the Dutch to hold the ball and sit back but no, with just 4 minutes of normal time to play, Arjen Robben has just outrun the Uruguayan defence only to hook the ball into the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper from a couple of yards out.
Hmmm, could we have some excitement at the death? In the second minute of three added minutes, Maxi Perreira has just slipped a low left footed shot through a crowded penalty area to take the score to 3-2 and then we had another couple of minutes added by the referee. We had a period of pinball in and around the Dutch penalty area before the referee, Ravshan Irmatov blew the final whistle.
And there we go, we have the first of the finalists as Netherlands
The first half had four interesting incidents. The first was an attack deep into the Dutch right back position. As the ball approached the goal line, it was stopped but the momentum of the attacker and defender carried them over the goal line, where they both fell to the ground. As the defender tried to get up and back on to the field of play, the attacker held him, so the referee stopped play and awarded a direct free kick to the defender. The ball was originally positioned about one yard upfield from the goal line but was then pushed 5 yards before the kick was taken. I wonder if the offence had been the other way around, would the referee have given a direct free kick to the attack, if necessary, awarding a kick from the penalty mark???
Shortly after this an overhead kick by a Careces of Uruguay, close to the edge of the Dutch penalty area, saw him kick De Zeeuw hard on the jaw. There was a brief coming together of players from both sides but it dissipated within a handful of seconds. A couple of cautions later, the game settled back into its intriguing contest.
We then had one of the finest goals of the tournament as Von Bronckhorst moved in from the left wing, from an amazing 41 yards from goal and let fly with a vicious shot which the goalkeeper could only stroke with his fingertips as the ball flew into the top corner of his goal (actually striking the inside of the goalpost on the way in).
This rocked Uruguay back on their heels for a few minutes and then they gathered themselves. Diego Forlan, who already had 3 goals from previous games picked up the ball around 30 yards out and hit a dipping, curling drive which deceived the Dutch goalkeeper, who was wrong footed, and he only managed to flap a hand at the ball before it crashed into the goal. So the game is well balanced and we might see more of the same in the second half.
A brief mention of the coverage of the game by ITV ... Adrian Chiles is an absolute gift to ITV and seems to have a cheery quip for every situation, not least when footage was shown of the crowds in Amsterdam and Montevideo celebrating the goals by their respective teams and some large bass drums appeared from nowhere in the middle of the Uruguayan fans. Fantastic to see ... roll on part two.
The second half took a little while to get going but then another four exciting incidents. The first was a through ball which drew the Dutch goalkeeper out of his penalty area meaning his goal was untended when Uruguay took their shot on goal. Fortunately Von Bronckhorst headed the ball clear.
A Forlan free kick was battered away by the Dutch goalkeeper before Netherlands swept back upfield. A clever interchange of passes saw a good attempt on the Uruguayan goal but then a moment of debate ...
Sneijder took control of the ball on the edge of the Uruguayan penalty area and his shot took a deflection from a defender's shin on the way through. It then passed very (and I mean very) close to the foot of Robin Van Persie, who was standing just about in an offside position when Sneijder took his shot. The assistant didn't adjudge him as interfering with an opponent and I tend to agree with that considering how far out from goal he was (about 8 yards), so he wasn't obscuring the goalkeeper's line of sight. The referee was right behind the shot as well so could also make a good call on that.
Then we had the killer blow for Netherlands as just 3 minutes after Sneijder's goal, a cross from the left was met by a cushioned header by Arjen Robben, which saw the ball spin away from the Uruguayan goalkeeper, stroke the base of the goalpost and nestle gently in the back of the net. So at 3-1 you would expect the Dutch to hold the ball and sit back but no, with just 4 minutes of normal time to play, Arjen Robben has just outrun the Uruguayan defence only to hook the ball into the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper from a couple of yards out.
Hmmm, could we have some excitement at the death? In the second minute of three added minutes, Maxi Perreira has just slipped a low left footed shot through a crowded penalty area to take the score to 3-2 and then we had another couple of minutes added by the referee. We had a period of pinball in and around the Dutch penalty area before the referee, Ravshan Irmatov blew the final whistle.
And there we go, we have the first of the finalists as Netherlands
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