The officiating in the World Cup has been dreadful and embarassing. The bad call on the free kick, that should have lead to a corner kick for the Netherlands, lead directly to Spain’s goal.
Virtually all games in this Cup have had important goals awarded or taken away by bad calls. Until they institute instant replay or add 3 more referees on the field soccer will never be more than a minor sport in the US....
It was an ugly match, but the more deserving team won. The play was very rough and Howard Webb, the Referee did an outstanding job managing a very difficult match to officiate. All the yellow cards were deserved. A couple of missed calls on corners/goal kicks but all-in-all, a very well officiated match.
The players for the Netherlands played very roughly. The semi-final between Germany and Spain was a much better match and they were the two best teams. Both of those teams played very hard and with virtually no rough play. Probably one of the easiest matches to officiate during the entire World Cup.