Kuyt blames Webb for World Cup woe

12 July 2010 08:24
Dirk Kuyt pointed the finger of blame for Holland's World Cup final defeat by Spain at English referee Howard Webb.[LNB] Webb brandished 14 yellow cards and one red - a record for a final - in a fiery encounter which saw Andres Iniesta's extra-time goal secure a 1-0 win for Spain.[LNB]The South Yorkshire official was booed by Dutch fans at the final whistle and Liverpool forward Kuyt said: "We are angry that we lost because we came so close. I know you cannot blame others, but the referee favoured Spain.[LNB]"We had many more yellow cards than we deserved. That ultimately cost us the cup."[LNB]Holland coach Bert van Marwijk suggested Webb might have been influenced by Spanish media blaming the referee for Spain's defeat by Switzerland in their opening match.[LNB]The Holland coach said: "I don't think the referee controlled the match well. But let me be clear about this: the best team won the match.[LNB]"I'm trying to analyse the match as best as possible. But I read a few things today about how angry Spain were at the refereeing in the first match against Switzerland.[LNB]"If you view the performance (of the referee) today, you'd almost think now that that first match had an influence on this game now."[LNB]Van Marwijk admitted some fouls had been "terrible" but said both sides were responsible, although challenges by Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel were particularly X-rated.[LNB]He added: "It's not our style. Let me put it this way, it's not our style to commit horrible fouls. It's not our kind of football.[LNB]"It was a World Cup final and people were tense. Look at the rest of the tournament. I think both sides, also the Spaniards, committed terrible fouls.[LNB]"I'm on the bench and I haven't seen any replays. I'd have to see the replays. The way I saw it from the bench was very different."[LNB]Van Marwijk said the Dutch had done well to reach the final and could have won it.[LNB]He continued: "No-one expected us to be here, in the final. We came very close to a penalty shoot-out. We could even have scored through Robben.[LNB]"Whether we would have deserved that, I don't know. But it's a final. It's very disappointing. You want to win it, and we might have done. I think we performed really, really well to get this far."[LNB]Van Marwijk also defended Holland's attempt to 'win ugly' and said that had not been the plan from the start.[LNB]He added: "It was still our intention to play beautiful football, but we were facing a very good opponent.[LNB]"Spain are the best footballing country in the past few years, so we needed to have a top day to beat them.[LNB]"We did a good job tactically on them. We got into good positions at times. Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. It's not our style, but you play a match to win.[LNB]"It's a World Cup final, and there's a lot of emotion out there. You saw that with both teams. I'd loved to have won that match, even with not so beautiful football."[LNB]

Source: Team_Talk