World Cup 2010: The World Cup Bows Out With A Whimper, and BBC Hypocrisy

Good morning. Yesterday I spoke of my hope that the World Cup Final would break the mould of clashes between the big teams at this year's tournament, and provide us with an entertaining and special match.

I professed my belief that Holland and Spain would provide us with a spectacle worth watching. I was badly mistaken.

Instead, we got a final that fit this World Cup perfectly. Spain emerged with a 1-0 win from a game that was lacking in quality, featuring poor refereeing decisions, cheating and gamesmanship on display in ridiculous abundance from both teams and of course, as dull as dishwater.

The Dutch "tactical approach" became obvious from an early stage, as they endeavoured to kick Spain off of the pitch, out of the stadium and South Africa itself.

How Mark Van Bommel avoided a red card is a mystery, and he's not the only Dutch player you could say that of.

In the end, the biggest surprise of the night was that it took the Dutch until well into injury time to have a man dismissed.

I mentioned that the refereeing was poor, but in defence of Howard Webb, who is an official I do have a bit of time for, I'd like to have seen anyone else do better with that game.

The sheer volume of dirty play and cheating (from both sides I might add, the Spanish were certainly not whiter than white) meant he was bound to get some calls wrong.

Granted, Spain's goal may have been avoided if Webb had given Holland a clear corner kick only a minute or so prior to Iniesta's strike, but on the whole, I felt he dealt well with both teams, especially in the face of constant whining from overgrown children like Sergio Busquets.

So congratulations to Cesc Fabregas, who finally got on the pitch for a game last night and nearly won it for Spain more than once, commiserations to Robin Van Persie, who to his credit didn't join in with some of the dirty play of his team-mates.

Before the game, there was a good deal of talk on the BBC of the legacy this World Cup will leave in South Africa.

If it's half as beneficial to people there as was suggested in some of the interviews, then that's a wonderful statement for the power of football.

However, purely as a football tournament, this World Cup has been, by some considerable distance the worst in my lifetime.

Empty seats, cheating, poor officiating, a joke of a match ball, lacklustre matches between so-called "big" teams and a lack of quality in general have all contributed to a World Cup that will be very forgettable outside of Africa and Spain in my opinion.

Before we move on to Arsenal matters, a couple of words for the BBC in the light of their post match analysis. Those words are "hypocritical morons."

Hansen, Lineker and Shearer spoke after the game of it being a "triumph for football" after Spain's passing game overcame the Dutch physicality.

"No place in football for the way Holland approached this game," they said.

I don't recall them saying it was a triumph for football after Arsenal overcame the thuggery of Stoke City to take all three points from the Brittania Stadium last season.

When Eduardo had his leg and ankle shattered by a vicious piece of violence from Martin Taylor, criticism that there was "no place in football" for that sort of approach was singularly absent from their commentary.
This is the same panel of pundits who wet themselves with excitement every time Arsenal are beaten by a team that sticks the boot in, and they talk of a "triumph for football"?

I'm sure Hansen will be singing from a different hymn sheet if Liverpool kick Arsenal off the park next month and get the result.

If England had reached the World Cup Final (I know, it's not really a plausible scenario but bear with me), and played Spain the same way Holland did last night, would the talk be of how there's "no place in football for that kind of approach"?

No, it most certainly would not, and it goes to show the blind support that pundits give to English thugs like Taylor and Shawcross that they'll quite happily defend the integrity of the game unless it involves criticising an Englishman.

And at any rate, holding up Spain as some sort of paradigm of good honest football is ridiculous. Spain are to fair play what Jady Goody was to good taste.

On the day, they were the better team, and probably marginally less to blame for the poor standard of discipline in the final than their opponents, but that hardly makes them footballing saints.

Anyone who's watched players like Puyol, Busquets, Xavi or Iniesta will know their track record when it comes to whinging, whining and cheating.

So all in all, a poor end to a poor World Cup. Hopefully it can be put behind the footballing world quickly as we get back to the real business of club football for the new season.

As regards Arsenal, we're heading toward the last and most bearable part of the summer now as we approach the pre-season friendlies. There's actually an Arsenal fixture on Saturday which is a relief of monumental proportions.

Granted, it's a meaningless friendly against Barnet, but when you've been starved of football for months, the World Cup notwithstanding (and personally I'd rather pretend it didn't happen), it becomes much more significant, I suppose.

In terms of news this morning, there's not much about. Apparently Barcelona's desired meeting with Arsene Wenger before last night's World Cup final over their interest in Cesc Fabregas did not happen   as Wenger and Ivan Gazidis refused to meet with them.

Good stuff, and that decision should leave Barcelona in no doubt where they stand on this issue. Not, however, that this means we've heard the last of them.

And aside from that, Arsene Wenger has ruled out a bid from Arsenal for  Yoann Gourcuff   saying we have plenty of cover in midfield already which would also seem to indicate selling Cesc is not on the agenda.

That's all for today, more tomorrow when the club news should be back up and running now that this abysmal World Cup has plodded along to its pitiful conclusion.