Final "Violence"

But still made strong contact with his studs above Busquets' knee, with Sneijders foot raised at about hip height. Was not Roy Keane famously sent off for exactly that kind of tackle? Yet Sneijder wasn't even booked (largely helped by the fact he rolled on the ground pretending to be injured immediately after the tackle, which also suggests what he himself thought of the tackle).

Its funny, today I learnt van Bommel use to do the exact same thing for Barcelona in 05/06.Michael2010-07-14 20:13:29

I think you're giving Sneijder way too much credit there. He himself thought he was in a heap of trouble - his reaction after the tackle said it all really. But anyway, moving on.

In reality, it was 2 bad fouls in 30 minutes of football (and a lot of other ones, some not even given) - and it was the yellow cards dished out that allowed some sort of sanity to return after the halftime. The point isn't even the 'really' bad tackles - just the Dutch continuance of cheap shots. Countless times they had a bit of a whack or kick at Spanish players after they'd gone past them, completely unnecessarily (and completely avoidable, these weren't mistimed challenges) other than to establish their 'physical' presence and make Spanish players think twice before receiving the ball or doing anything with it. It was just so, so ugly - something that's tolerable I guess in Capital Premier, but not really in a World Cup final. And I don't want to hear how it's to be expected that the Dutch wouldn't simply let the Spanish go around uncontested - of course that's a given, but it can be done much more effectively, and without resorting to such tactics. Like I previously said, the first half Paraguay played against Spain was a perfect example of that.

I guess one thing that I hadn't seen before is the giving out of cards didn't stop the fouling or change the behaviour, the Dutch seemed determined to carry on with the way they were playing (whether that was brutal or merely cynical is open for debate) until someone got sent off.  That to me doesn't show a lot of confidence in your own football, although they did have the better chances. james dean2010-07-14 20:37:53

maybe I am giving Sneijder too much credit, but I miss the old days when you could you tackle opposition players, and if you mistimed a couple, that is ok.  Nowdays players give away freekicks when they tackle someone, because there is contact with the opposition player after they have won the ball - I heard Graham Poll state this is how refs see it, and it made me a bit sad.

sorry if the post above doesn't really make much sense - I am on a conference call and people keep asking me questions (which I answer with statements like "Iniesta dived" and "I still blame Webb").

Webb is a terrible ref and he does the same thing in every big match - calls up heaps of fouls early meaning the game gets scrappy, I've seen him do it twice in FA Cup finals