World cup final predictions:

[Savvy]

3-1 Holland and Sneijder to win the golden boot! Spain left to reflect on tippy tappy football without an end result!

[not on facebook]

heart wants dutch to win but if you gave me a score to put
a bet on the game i go for spain 1/0

[Pintolager]

oslorovers wrote:

heart wants dutch to win but if you gave me a score to put
a bet on the game i go for spain 1/0

100% agree! I would be very pleased for the Dutch if they did win the WC as I have alot of time for them, but from a footballing point of view I think the Spanish will just have the edge.

[redrover19]

2-1 Holland in 90 minutes

Robben and Kuyt with the Holland goals

torres may finally turn up for a late Spanish goal but it will be over by then.
 

[not on facebook]

well after watching last 80mins may i change my mind in saying i want spain now to win for the sake of football

the dutch have overstepped the mark far too many times in their
late tackles

and now robbin has been booked for trying to win a pen

[Thinwhiteduke]

Absolutely shite final.

The Dutch went about it the wrong way without a doubt. However, Howard Webb was abysmal throughout. Some heavy tackles not being adequately punished, missing deflections off players and giving goal kicks instead of corners.

Spain are worthy winners on account they atleast attempted to play football...but even they were no angels to be honest.

[NigelJ]

Thinwhiteduke wrote:

However, Howard Webb was abysmal throughout. Some heavy tackles not being adequately punished, missing deflections off players and giving goal kicks instead of corners.

Sometimes you talk utter garbage.

Howard Webb did extremely well, as the biggest game in football could've been ruined by him sending players off, and letting the match degenerate even further than it did. He did his best to get it across to the players that the challenges were unacceptable by booking players where necessary. The way I see it, he could/should have made three other choices:

1) Give the corner to the Netherlands, when he gave a goal kick. This was a genuine mistake, and he should have done better. However, this did not have a direct bearing on the game. I recall only one such event, so I'm not sure why you are stating this happened at least twice, which gives the impression he was making this kind of mistake all game long.

2) Send off Nigel de Jong (which is not me, by the way!) for his dangerous high challenge. Again, Webb erred on the side of caution (pun intended!), which generally I agree is the right thing to do in a situation, unless he is sure the challenege was DELIBERATELY dangerous.

3) He could've sent off numerous Dutch players for persistent fouls or infringements. Again, I think he took the most sensible course of action in talking to the players, and effectively giving them a final warning. Van Bommel and Robben were particularly leniently treated in this respect.

[grayx]

Thinwhiteduke wrote:

Absolutely shite final.

The Dutch went about it the wrong way without a doubt. However, Howard Webb was abysmal throughout. Some heavy tackles not being adequately punished, missing deflections off players and giving goal kicks instead of corners.

Spain are worthy winners on account they atleast attempted to play football...but even they were no angels to be honest.

Howard Webb abysmal?. Wow, I thought he was superb. He got most ,if not all,of the key decisions right, booked players deservedly & cannot be blamed for such a shite final. Well done, the only successful Englishman of the world cup.

[DonnyNoel]

Thought he did ok. No matter what \"form\" you're in as a ref or how many decisions you get wrong/right, if a significant number of players have a mindset to be niggly and cynical there's not much you can do about it - after all he wasn't shy in getting the cards out but it didn't seem to act as a deterrent. Thought he did well to be lenient, especially with the Robben kicking the ball away incident as he probably knew he'd get stick for that but on the other hand if he'd have sent off 4 players (and he could have) then he'd have got the opposite reaction and been accused of taking centre stage.

Sadly its possible to win football matches the way the Dutch played so teams are always going to try it.