He's not looking and putting up a high studded boot. He blardy should be off the field!

You know, tackling high studs up without looking is very dangerous and he did that to get away with a yellow card...

from another angle

Simulations? Lets have someone running and have a kick on you wearing that kind of boots and see what happen, hmm?

Nah, if shots on goal is a tiebreaker it will be wierd.

It's like saying a person who scores 5 goals in 9000 shots on goal is better then someone who scored 5 goals in 5 shots

i kinda feel bad for the dutch side. How the heck did the referee/linesman not see the deflected free kick on fabregas before iniesta scored ?

wasn't entirely connected, the Spanish did not benefit from that incident, the Dutch had more than enough time to cover the defense and to be honest, it was 90% Spain football, if there's anyone to blame, why not blame Arjen Robben for not making the most out of the 2 one on one situations? I know Puyol interfered with the 2nd one, but it was a 50 50 challenge to my eyes, Robben out-muscled Puyol and had adequate time to score on that situation if he was more determined in scoring the goal instead of hoping for a red card for the Spanish. Oh yea, Villa, Iniesta and Fabregas had tons of chances for the Spanish national team as well.

If anyone wanted to complain that Puyol should have gotten sent off, De Jong's sending off could have change the whole game and not forgetting how much privilege did Van Bommel get, and both incidents happened way before Puyol's 50 50 foul on Robben.

As the maker of the gif states, Dutch Norris.

De Jong gets a card for it. Puyol escaped. Double standard, no? I'm not saying De Jong is right for kicking Alonso on his chest. Seriously, a touch on Iniesta's back got Heitinga sent off. A clearly pull made by Puyol on Robben and he escaped. Stop saying Van Bommel's tackle was harsh, who's isn't?

i believe several zidane mashup gif are in the work at this very moment

Zidane's head vs De Jong's boot??

Winner will clearly be Mame Biram Diouf.

spain almost blew it...to be honest....

putting all the red card and cynical fouls aside...there were at least 4-5 chances that should have been put away....Villa's chance, Fabregas 1-1, Sergio's header, Iniesta's run into the penalty box and yet went for glory himself ...

Spain was very lucky...you dont miss chances like that in a World Cup final and still go on and win it...

This post has been edited by nando: Jul 12 2010, 03:43 PM

A pull or muscling out each other? After watching the video, there was no signs that Puyol pulled him. Pure pressure plus hand tangling so it was 50 50. Okay, so Robben did not get a 2nd yellow for time wasting, deliberately playing on after the whistle, double standards? Ok, Heitinga's sent off was harsh, but then again, he had no intention to play the ball, not a red, but not a sporting behaviour as well.

By the way, Van Bommel's tackle was harsh, 2 foot from behind and no touch on the ball, no red? Fine....constant harassing and fouling? No 2nd yellow? It makes me wonder if you did really watch the match.

Though I do think that Iniesta should have gotten a yellow much earlier before his goal celebration as well as Xavi for his revenge tackle, maybe a red?

Though I hate to make assumptions, but since you like to assume so much and play the blame game, eat this. "I doubt that the game would be this ugly if De Jong got sent off in the early minutes."

Robben tried to stay on his feet to unleash a strike....if he did some stimulation and fell...wonder what would Webb do?

To be fair Puyol had no intention playing the ball as well as his hands was across Robben. His intention was to try and stop Robben who managed to wriggle out of it. Just because he managed to wriggle out of it, does not make it a non-foul.

Puyol and De Jong should have both gone, no two ways about that. That cynical trip, who was it?? Xavi or Iniesta?? Beckham got sent off for something similar didnt he??

As I said in another thread, Spain without question was the better team on the day but very, very poor winners throughout. Disgrace of a final littered with cynical foulings and dives by both sides.

Fair enough on Puyol's part, hence I said 50 50, up to personal point of view as well as one's level of partiality towards the teams.

Sorry it was Iniesta, should have gotten a yellow card at the very least. It was no trip, haha, it was a push in fact.

The final score is up 1-0 to the Spain, one can whine however much they want, but in the end it wouldn't have mattered as De Jong's red card would only benefit the Spaniards

what

It's an assumption though ain't it?? Didn't work that way for Barca didn't it as Busquets playacting got Motta sent off yet Inter still managed to go thru. These what-if's, it's never a foregone conclusion. One could even go and say then had the ref caught Ramos' last man foul on Ozil, gave the peno and sent him off in the semis Spain wouldn't have even been in the final?? Who's to know though.

On the partiality matter, I think I've explained it in one of the threads. I'm impartial towards neither. It's just a case of the lesser of 2 evils for me. Robben and Van Bommel vs Busquets, Capdevila and Torres. So Holland edges it for me, just a little more likeable. Given the choice I would have preferred if both teams lost and the Cup be given to New Zealand.

Very brutal...Alonso could've died! What was De jong thinking? Could not tell if it was intentional though. Hated the game last night. Both teams were appalling. If Netherlands played like they did with Brazil & Spain as they did with Germany, it would be quite entertaining.

trivia: spain just scored 8 goals in 7 games, which is the fewest goals scored by world champions. in fact, they amount they scored is half than the german's score which is 16

Assumptions, yes, but as I've said earlier, some people prefer to lay blames entirely on the referee, hence my tendency to assume. I would very much prefer De Jong to be sent off by any means. The game against Germany, I have no idea as I did not watch the game so it would be unfair to justify it.