Nigel de Jong has admitted he was lucky not to be sent off in Sunday's World Cup final.
Nigel de Jong has admitted he was lucky not to be sent off in Sunday's World Cup final.
Referee Howard Webb has been roundly criticised for not showing De Jong a red card for his woeful chest-high tackle on Xabi Alonso during the first-half of Spain's 1-0 win.
The incident has been viewed as the height of the thuggish tactics that were employed by Holland in a bid to stop their opponents' stylish passing game.
Tackles from Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder have also been highlighted, whilst of Holland's starting line-up, only Dirk Kuyt, Sneijder and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg were not yellow-carded.
Everton's John Heitinga eventually became the fifth player to be dismissed in World Cup final history.
But De Jong accepts he is fortunate not to have preceded him.
"Yes, I was concerned it might be worse than a yellow," said the Manchester City midfielder. It looked worse, although to be honest I didn't see the opponent coming in from the side. I was really focused on the ball and I caught him on his chest.
"It was a bit curious but he gave the yellow card so for me it was a little bit of luck."
Maybe that knowledge is why De Jong was not as condemnatory about Webb's performance as some of his Dutch teammates.
The 25-year-old claimed Webb did not have a great game. However, he has seen enough of the Rotherham official to feel he is better than one single performance suggests.
"It is easy to blame the referee," he reflected.
"There were some strange decisions and everyone, in the stadium and on TV, could see we should have had a clear corner when he gave a goal-kick to Spain. On the next attack they score. What can you do about that? He will realise what he did when he sees the replay.
"But I am not saying the biggest fault was with the referee.
"I know him from the Premier League and have never had a problem with him.
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