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[/h][h=1]World Cup final: Sepp Blatter says Howard Webb faced 'very hard task'[/h]• 'We have to live with the errors of players and referees'
• Fifa president stresses 'discipline and respect'
Howard Webb shows a red card to Holland's John Heitinga during the World Cup final. Photograph: Oleg Popov/Reuters
The
Fifa president,
Sepp Blatter, today said he sympathised with the World Cup final referee,
Howard Webb, saying the English official had a "very hard task" keeping order during last night's ill-tempered clash between
Holland and
Spain.
Webb, the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since Jack Taylor in 1974, booked a record 13 players and sent off the Dutch defender John Heitinga after showing him a second yellow card in extra time.
Blatter refused to comment on Holland's robust approach, which drew widespread condemnation from their opponents, but said the match was not what he expected in terms of fair play.
"It was not exactly what we have expected or what I expected in terms of fair play in the final yesterday," said Blatter at today's closing World Cup press conference.
"It's not up to me to judge the performances of the officials, I can only say it was a very hard task that the referee trio had on the field of play. It was not easy, really not easy and they were really not helped in this task, I can say."
But Blatter, who was forced to reconsider his stance on goalline technology in the wake of Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany, reiterated his stance on retaining the "human aspect of our game".
"This is football. We take note of all the comments made and then in the debriefing, we will take into consideration what has been said."
Asked whether Webb should have sent off Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong in the first half, he said: "We have to live with the errors of players, the errors of
referees, the error of whoever commits an error. I don't think perfection exists in this world."
Blatter claimed not to have heard about the vociferous criticism of Webb's performance by Dutch players and media but said it was important to remember "discpline and respect" in defeat.
"We always say football is the school of life, because it is based on discipline and respect. Football is a combat game, but a combat game in the spirit of fair play," he said. "You learn to win, that is easy, but you learn also to lose. When you learn to lose you should not forget the basics, which are discipline and respect."
Blatter said he was "very happy" for questions about the officials to be raised, but that it was not his place to discuss their performance.
"Even though I have seen all the irregularities as a spectator ... I can't answer this question as president of Fifa. I could answer it as a fan of football, but today my press conference is as president of Fifa."
Blatter did praise Spain for playing "good football" and gave South Africa nine out of 10 for their organisation of the finals. He added: "I have to compliment the winners – the Spanish national team.
"Finally we had a winner playing good football and maybe from a technical point of view there are maybe some questions but it's the [coach] who decides 'do we play to win or do we play not to lose' and this will decide on whether we have spectacular or non-spectacular games."
The Fifa president apologised to England and Mexico for refereeing mistakes earlier on in the tournament – over Lampard's disallowed goal and a Carlos Tevez header against Mexico that was blatantly offside – but he refused to extend that to the Republic of Ireland for the Thierry Henry handball that led to France winning their qualifying play-off.
He said: "This was a case that has happened in a preliminary competition and now we are at the end of the World Cup, and it is odious to reopen discussions."
Asked why England had performed badly in the tournament, Blatter said: "You will have to ask the Football Association. England is considered as being the motherland of football, as Brazil is the heartbeat of football, but there are no small national teams any more.
"There are small countries but their national teams are very strong as football has developed."