WC final referees had no choice ‘but to manage the way we did’: Webb

LONDON - FIFA World Cup final’s referee, Howard Webb, has hit back at his critics, saying that he has no regrets over his handling of Sunday’s game between Spain and the Netherlands.

Webb was criticised in some quarters after he showed 14 yellow cards and dismissed Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga in a match marred by frequent foul play.

“It was one of the toughest games my assistants and I will ever be involved in. We feel we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as much as possible. Whatever the match, you always hope the officials won’t need to be heavily involved,” The Sun quoted Webb, as saying.

“However, we had to raise our profile just to keep control. From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards. We tried to apply some common-sense given the magnitude of the occasion,” he added.

The 39-year-old further said that the referees did not have much choice, “but to manage the game the way we did”.

“We advised players early on for some of their tackling, sent players away when they were surrounding the officials and spoke to their senior colleagues to try and calm them down,” Webb said.We did a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities. It would have been an extremely challenging match for any referee,” he added. (ANI)