2010 FIFA World Cup: Spain Wins, Critical, Controversial Calls Doomed Holland

While Spain may have won the World Cup, the way they won was distateful.

I won't say that Spain didn't win the World Cup; they did.

However, the way they won was distasteful.

The game wasn't as bad as Italy's win over France four years ago, when the team who was clearly better lost. It was, however, marred by the same officiating controversy that has eked its way into virtually every critical game of 2010.

After this, FIFA owes Holland, and the world, a serious apology.

Watching the game go along, it was difficult to know what the absolute defining moments would be. Once the end came along, it became very easy to see 120 minutes of drama boiled down to three inexplicable calls.

To be fair, Howard Webb had his hands full as the designated decider from the time the game started. There were a lot of deserved cards, and he never seemed to stop giving them.

That will be the end of the fairness, because when it came down to the critical decisions he made some of the worst blunders of the Cup.

In their defense, Spaid did look like the best team on the pitch.

The first absurd call came on a beautiful break away by the speedy Arjen Robben in the 62nd minute, who was essentially tackled from behind by Carles Puyol. It was a clear goal scoring opportunity.

As Puyol's legs wrapped up around Robben, causing a clear stutter in his step, Robben lost pace and control of the ball at the top of the opposing box; Puyol made no contact with the ball.

By the time Robben regained possession, Spanish keeper Iker Casillas had closed the gap and was able to wrap up the ball right at the 18.

The only card given on the play was to Robben, who angrily chastised Webb for his blunder. One can only assume the comments made involved some line about laser corrective surgery for the official's eyesight.

Based upon the understood rules of the game, 99 percent of the time such an act from Puyol (who already had a yellow card) would have resulted in, at the very least, a yellow card. Another 50 percent of the time the officials would have dealt out the red, as it was a tackle from behind on a goal scoring opportunity.

In this circumstance, Webb did nothing; he didn't even call a free kick.

There is no doubt that Puyol should have been sent off at that point in the game, and that would have given Holland the clear advantage for the remainder.

The second critical call came when Holland's defender, John Heitinga, was sent off deep in the 19th minute of extra time.

He was given a second yellow card and expelled on a play that was almost identical to the play Puyol made on Robben previously. Only in this particular case, it looked like a rather talented dive by the Spanish side.

They were also caught in a clear dive minutes thereafter on the same end by international television cameras.

The favorable call for Spain, which revealed a potentially unintentional bias in officiating, knocked Holland down to 10 players and eventually doomed them seven minutes later.

In the 115th, right before the Spanish goal, the third and final critical call occurred. One of Holland's players was inside of the Spanish box making a play for a cross when he was taken out from both sides by two Spanish defenders on a vicious foul.

The play, which deserved attention from Howard Webb, again went uncalled. And in a twist of irony, the resulting Spanish counter attack led to the only goal of the game.

Those three critical plays, despite the lack of intent in the referee's blunder, ended up defining what was a rather slow and at times disappointing World Cup final.

While many are claiming Spain's win was clear, what they should be claiming is that Spain's dominance as the better team was clear.

The game and the officiating bounced their way off of fortuitous circumstances.

Holland has every right to complain about the way Howard Webb called the match. If those three calls had been made correctly, there is a good chance the game would have swung the other way.

Even if one of them had been made correctly, the result would have been different.

But it would make sense, in a cup that has been defined by officiating, that the biggest game on this planet, so important as a spectacle that it is only held once every four years, was also made questionable by Howard Webb.

The ending to the tournament feels somewhat illegitimate for the second time in a row to the unbiased observer.

They'll be celebrating in Barcelona well into the night. Someone might want to make sure to buy Webb a drink or two.