Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk has openly condemned English referee Howard Webb over his performance in the World Cup Final on Sunday night.

The Netherlands were left reeling after they were turned down a free kick after a foul on Elia which lead to the Spanish breakaway and Andres Iniesta’s goal which separated the two sides at the end of extra time.

Thirteen players were booked, nine for the Dutch including two for Johnny Heitinga leading to a dismissal which ultimately tipped the balance of the game to Spain.

“I don’t think the referee controlled the match well,” said Van Marwijk.

“Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. But the best team won the match.”

Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen was booked for protesting the goal and afterwards goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg continued the condemnation of Webb, saying: “You blame the referee. Everybody outside the stadium can see it was a corner but he didn’t and the assistant also.”

Arjen Robben, who missed the best two chances of the match for Holland, also joined in the criticism.

“It is very clear,” said Robben. “He has to send him off and he has to give a free-kick. In the end there was no advantage. It cost us because I didn’t go down.

“We were 10 minutes before the end of the game. If we score a goal there we can win the game. But I couldn’t score because the goalkeeper was too close.”

Van Marwijk added: “We made a real game out of it and we had two great chances through Arjen.

“I’m not someone to look back on what the referee did. I think the best team usually wins the match.

“But if you look at the second chance of Robben, the referee should give Puyol a second yellow card, which would have meant him being sent off.

“It was a crucial moment just before the end of the 90 minutes. It is very bitter, but that is sport. It is harsh. And as I said, Spain were the better team.”

But the Dutch coach defended his side, saying: “It was still our intention to play beautiful football, but we were facing a very good opponent.

“Spain are the best footballing country in the past few years, so we needed to have a top day to beat them.

“We did a good job tactically on them. We got into good positions at times. It’s not our style, but you play a match to win.

“It’s a World Cup final, and there’s a lot of emotion out there. You saw that with both teams. I would have loved to have won that match, even with not so beautiful football.”

And while admitting that Spain are “a terrific side”, former Chelsea star Robben felt Webb’s performance was not up to the required standard.

“It was a World Cup final,” said Robben. “You are talking about two aggressive teams who want to win. It was for the referee to control the game.

“It is wrong when you sit in the dressing room together and you are only talking about the referee and his very bad points.

“There were some strange decisions and for me, honestly, if you play a World Cup final, you need a world class referee. I don’t know whether that was a world-class performance from the referee.”

Jon Osterland