i thought the ref was absolutely awful. he missed what should have been a red card, de jong's horribly dangerous kung fu challenge, while half the yellows he gave out were frivolous. the van bronckhorst phantom tackle and robben yellow for arguing--about a play on which a genuine foul had been committed against him (puyol pulling him back from behind) were ridiculous, as was giving iniesta one for saluting a dead comrade after his goal. i was keeping track, and figured 4 dutch and 2 spanish yellows wouldn't have been called by the much better refs from the two semi-final matches. the rest were deserved, and the better team still won, but still...call everything and it does become a pussy sport.
an unfortunate spot on an otherwise fabulous tournament.





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