t0y said:
Sorry for the burst, but we're not taking the blame. We made 10 fouls during the game and got 9 yellow cards and 2 red ones.
Behold the world cup most violent team.
Ehm. Aren't those two lines contradictory?
Very obviously, both teams were to blame. There were a fair number of ridiculous acts on both side. One of the lows on the Dutch side imho was not giving back the ball after the referee's toss. Although it's not really necessary after a toss, in the context of the injury it would have been the nice thing to do and it was a good indication of how sore the whole thing had become.
I also found these comments interesting, from Ivanov:
"You would expect some dirty tricks from the Portuguese. They are known for time-wasting or hitting from behind," he said. "But I was unpleasantly surprised by seeing such things from the Dutch. More so, they were the instigators."
(This was, however, before he had seen the camera replay of the match ...)
For the record, a lot of people in the Netherlands thought that, whether it was just a late tackle or not, the first tackle on Ronaldo could easily have received a red card. And should have.
If I would like to change just one thing about soccer, it would be that every foul should be punished. Let a team of referees watch the game on TV and report to the main referee on every incident that happens, have a computer continuously record and recreate the whole field in 3d, and so on. Use anything you've got.
Right now, players are starting to resemble Sam Fisher's and Snake's with all their stealth kills and fake moves. This is soccer, and when a foul happens, it should first of all be the result of an honest mistake, and second, even then, properly punished. Always.
(I can't believe how many times this world cup penalties have not been awarded when they should have. It is very clear that the referee just can't properly tell a fake from a real tackle on his own, and often whistles on reputation of the involved player because he simply has nothing else to go on)