define "leg"

I'm all but convinced it was an intended kick on the player.

If anything that movie Chris posted shows that he is going towards the ball with his foot (especially from the first angle)

then you need to scrap De Jong for drinking because his foot was awesomely placed to hit Alonso right smack in the chest and horribly placed to kick a ball that was a meter higher and a meter behind the Spaniard

if a guy thinks "whoa! ball, me kick good " and then aims 1 meter below and in front with his foot he is dumb

if he further fails to see the spaniard running in front of the ball he is blind

I can believe that your team carried a blind dumbass wtih the physical grace of a obese man falling off a porch and the dead reckoning of a dolphin with tinnitis, all the way to the world cup final

or I can believe your guy hit what he was aiming at

THere is a difference between disrupting play and attempted murder. You are fighting a losing battle trying to claim he shouldn't have been sent off, it was amongst the worst challenges you could ever hope to make and Xabi Alonso is pretty lucky not to have broken any ribs.

Article with comment about the refereeing from other referees...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8810629.stm

Admittedly Gallagher and Poll might be "sticking up for their mate" but I agree with them completely as a neutral spectator. The biggest mistake was the goal kick/corner incident but I don't think Netherlands can complain too much about that because they easily could have had more people sent off, and earlier in the game.

I think the reputation of Dutch football has suffered severely not only from the abysmal way they played the game but also the way they complained at and tried to intimidate the referee. When really the referee had been kind to them all the way by showing restraint in the cards he gave out (which is incredible to say given how many cards Netherlands managed to get).

good thing for Europe they didn't face Germany in the final

LOL van persie should have had a red card too? for what? not participating in anything?

i am still convinced de jong did not intend to hit alonso with his leg. if you know de jong a little bit, you'll know that coordination is not quite his strong suit.
look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMEgKQ4wEKw

caceres is nowhere near the ball, but that does not mean he should have gotten a red card. (interestingly he didn't even get a yellow card for this).

and i don't seem to hear anyone about iniesta kicking van bommel while the ball is on the other side of the pitch, i don't seem to hear anyone about the countless dives the spanish took (not saying the dutch, especially robben didn't, but still). I think it goes way too far to just blame the dutch for the way the match went.

As for BBC's credibility on this...they gave Howard Webb an 8 out of 10 for his perfomance in this match, what kind of drugs was that journalist on...

if the Dutch said "ya we played very rough, Spain took it and scored the only goal, gg" then people would have a better opinion of them as tough bastards who fight forever.  You were undefeated til the final.  And like you say there's lots of "disruption" in the pros

instead they played foul, and then whined that Spain won by a fluke, that's just weak and looks mean-spirited. 99% of humanity didn't win either, guys.  If you don't like rules then don't demand the refs save you

1. Yeah, the reuters release from last night said the Dutch team objected to the refereeing esp that goal kick

2.  where I come from, if you object to the only goal in a 1-0 game, you are claiming somebody did not deserve the win.

3. at no point can anybody point to a play and say, "that's a dutch goal, we was robbed". you are basically complaining that a scoreless tie was not settled with sudden death kickoffs

4. Spain beat germany with a corner kick that hit a spaniard's head and then the net, so your quibble over corner vs goal kick is not really decisive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cK_SnunGs

Look Capdevilla leg, if he has all his weight on it it's broken in 2.
5 mn before he does the same to Busquets, for each of them in championship i already saw red cards for similar faults.

Even Cruyff that is Dutch legend said they played dirty, anti-football and that they should have had 2 sent off at half time.

I dont try criticize dutch ppl that must be sad, noone injured so it's the most important. Too bad they didnt try to play their game as they usually do, we would have seen more goals probably.

... There can be only one! Spain must destroy the Kiwis

wait...they were undefeated but eliminated on  points?? That is totally bad man

very bad

USA has channelled some 75% of our population into following college football...governed by a BCS computer that gives the same result...discounting flawless teams becasue their opposition was "weaker"--irrational math using subjective variables...

Now the Kiwi have established the opposite axis of the pole...through the earth...

at CERN they just found out that animatter-matter collisions give <1:1 energy output...clear imbalance

2012 the Mayan calendar ends...the end of rational systems of approximating the physical universe...irrational lines of flux between World Cup computing and the BCS will consume the material imbalance and restore balance...the earth will flame and the seas boil...

quit following me around talking sense X(