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Howard Webb has been chosen by Fifa to officiate the 2010 World Cup final between Holland and Spain. The English referee, who is based in Yorkshire and normally takes charge of English Premier League fixtures, was chosen ahead of nine other candidates to be the man in the middle at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Webb, together with his assistants Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey, were kept on in South Africa by the governing body prior to the semi-finals, with nine other refereeing teams sent home. He will become the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since Jack Taylor took charge of the 1974 match between West Germany and Holland.
Having not been selected to take charge of either a quarter-final or semi-final game, Webb’s hopes improved considerably and his appointment was confirmed on Thursday afternoon. His main challenger, Hungarian Viktor Kassai, was instead designated to the last four game between Germany and Spain.
Webb, who will turn 39 two days after the showpiece, has shown no red cards in his three World Cup games to date, nor has he awarded any penalties. He has however shown the highest amount of yellow cards at the tournament, 16, dishing out seven in Slovakia’s 3-2 group match win over Italy.
The referee’s other two games at the 2010 World Cup prior to the final were Spain’s 1-0 loss to Switzerland and Brazil’s 3-0 second round victory over Chile.
The honour comes in the same season Webb was chosen to referee the Uefa Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Internazionale. That fixture passed without any controversy, Webb showing three yellow cards in the game, including one to Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel.
Webb’s assistants both impressed Fifa with two correct offside decisions in their games involving Italy and Brazil. Fabio Quagliarella had a crucial strike disallowed by Cann in the Italians’ 3-2 loss to Slovakia, which eliminated them from the competition. Mullarkey then made the correct decision to allow Luis Fabiano’s goal against Chile in the last 16, with opposition players all calling for offside.
Controversial calls dogged a number of the officials in South Africa, none more so than Uruguayan Mauricio Espinosa and his team, who failed to spot Frank Lampard’s ‘goal’ which crossed the line in their last 16 game with Germany. On the same day, Argentina’s Carlos Tevez was wrongly awarded a goal by Roberto Rossetti, when replays showed he was standing in an offside position in a game with Mexico.
Well chuffed for him, Rotherham lad himself so it might do the place a bit of good!
He is the best Referee in the world anyway and deserves this chance.
Hats off to Howard Webb
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