Question Number: 23662

Character, Attitude and Control 7/12/2010

RE: Competative Under 19

Greg Weigel of Boise, ID USA asks...

World Cup Final - what an intriguing game to analyze from referee perspective. Overall I thought Referee Webb did a fabulous job managing a very difficult game. I have 3 issues; 1) he clearly missed the call in giving a goal kick when it should have been corner kick in extra time - ball went off defender in the wall. Spain scored shortly after the goal kick, that should have been corner; 2) De Jong should have been sent off for the karate kick to the chest in first period. Difficult decision, though, to send the guy off and essentially so heavily weight the outcome of the game in the first period, when 1 billion people watching were anticipating something better; 3) even though advantage was rightly given to Robbin in extra time when Puyol had his arm and leg wrapped around him and Robbin admirably fought through it to take the advantage with a chance at goal, it looked like it should have been a caution for Puyol, which would have sent him off for 2nd caution. But another tough decision, to send a player off on the superior team, when the other team had been the aggressors with ugly fouls throughout the game. Anyway, I'm wondering if you think these things went through Webb's mind in deciding not to send off players. And if these factors did play into Webb's decisions, is that appropriate in terms of referee game management?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

I don't know Mr. Webb, but I've observed his work for many years. I do not believe for a second that he lacked the courage to make a hard decision or that he considered the PR reasons for not sending off a player. OTOH, in a world cup final, the referee may want to be 100 percent certain before sending off a player and he may not have been 100 percent certain. We have the benefit of 17 camera angles, replay, and slow motion. He had less than a second.

As to your second question, I believe those factors are irrelevant. If the referee observes 100 percent misconduct, the player should always be sent off. Always.
(Of course, no one in their right mind would assign me to a World Cup final.)

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Greg
Thank you for your observations and questions. The WC final was indeed a very difficult game to referee with a clash of football styles, two very committed teams, strong characters and a huge international stage. Behind the scenes here are a great many meetings, policies, directives etc that referees have to factor in to game plans and pre-match briefings. For instance in this WC deliberate handling seemed to result in a caution in a great many occasions which seemed to be a directive to referees?. Howard Webb was certainly was on top of the game in the 1st 15 minutes which I thought was excellent. There is then a period of 10 minutes in which five players were booked for challenges, two of which could have been dismissals for SFP. Spain certainly took exception to every single challenge and harried HW on his disciplinary decisions. Certainly the De Jong challenge was serious foul play and a dismissal while circumstances perhaps contrived to allow him to stay on the FOP. That to me was the defining moment in match control. However one can only speculate if the player was dismissed what would have happened. I suspect what was seen as trying to keep 22 players on the FOP would not have been as obvious as it was after that.
The ball hitting off the wall was missed and with the benefit of technology we could see it. HW did not and that does happen. Team have to accept that no all contact of the ball is seen and the restart in this case was a GK rather than the corner kick it should have been. Same can be said of the free kick that Holland claimed before the goal. It was not given so the team gets on with play. Subsequent play IMO is not related if teams are disciplined enough and get on defending.
On the Robben incident there was indeed a foul but the player managed to break free and continue with his attack. When he breaks free Puyol is on the ground and Robben tries to go round Casillas who steals the ball in the challenge. It would have been a very difficult call to then go back and award the FK. That decision would also have meant either a 2nd caution caution dismissal for Puyol or a dismissal for a DOGSO. Had Robben scored HW would have been praised for allowing play to continue resulting in a goal.
Taking everything into account Howard Webb did as well as the match circumstances allowed him. He made what he believed was the 'best' decisions for the game.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I truly would like to know just what Mr Webb saw and thought about the DeJong foul. He was near to the incident. Our benefit of replay and slow motion make it clear that the challenge was very severe indeed. I'm not sure why it did not appear to be so to him on the field, or to the AR's and 4th Official.

But what would all the pundits be saying had DeJong been sent off and the Dutch forced to play short for an hour? 'He's ruined the game!' I'm sure that thought goes through Mr Webb's mind, but one expects that all referees at the World Cup have the integrity to make the hard and unpopular decisions when needed. I don't think that he shied away from a send-off because of the game situation; rather I think that for some reason he did not see the incident as those of us who watched on TV saw it.

As for the record number of yellow cards, one of which resulted in a send-off for second yellow, they were all deserved by the players. Indeed, I think Mr Webb showed some restraint; the yellow count could have been higher but I think he was trying to get the players to cooperate and play some soccer. Sometimes that just doesn't work for the ref, and the players continue to hack and maim. This certainly wasn't an easy game for the officials.