Netherlands vs Spain – World Cup 2010

You might think we are picking on the Netherlands a little here, but really, their reputation for being very bold boys in the World Cup is just as well
established as their reputation for producing magical players, teams and moments.

The Netherlands hadn’t displayed any particularly
psychotic traits en-route the World Cup Final in
South Africa in 2010. In fact, they had largely played their way through the opening rounds keeping true to the great passing and technical traditions of the Dutch teams of yesteryear.
However, it’s unclear whether their Coach Bert van
Marwijk’s motivational techniques lit the fire or that they simply decided that kicking the Spanish
players was their only hope of victory, but whatever the reasoning, the Dutch arrived in Johannesburg with all the fury of a horde of Vikings disembarking a longship.

The bewildered English referee Howard Webb just
couldn’t keep up with the brutal action unfolding
around him. And even though he issued 14 yellow
cards in all, the 1 red card in the match, shown to
John Heitinga, was a pale reflection of what actually transpired. Nigel de Jong’s infamous six-studder to Xabi Alonso’s chest wasn’t fully punished and sadly the incident is the abiding image of that final, overshadowing Andres Iniesta’s extra time winner.



West Germany vs Netherlands – World Cup 1990

When West Germany faced the Netherland in the
Last 16 of Italia 90, tensions between the nations, in football terms, had already been high. The Dutch
had lifted the European Championships two years
earlier, beating the Soviet Union 2-1 in the final on
German soil in Munich. They had come from behind to win late on in the Semi Finals against the hosts, eventually emerging victorious after an ill-tempered 2-1 triumph in Hamburg. At full time, Ronald Koeman had pretended to wipe his backside with the swapped West German jersey he received from Olaf Thon.
That didn’t go down well.
Furthermore, there was a huge inter-club rivalry
bubbling away alongside the international one.
Dutchmen Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard played in Serie A for Milan, while West Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus, Jugen Klinsmann and Andreas Brehme played for city rivals Inter. As luck would have it, the Last 16 fixture between the nations was scheduled to be played at Milan’s and inter's shared home – the San Siro. The match’s biggest flashpoint came just after the 20th minute when Rijkaard cut down Rudi Voller with an ill-timed challenge. Rijkaard was booked and ashe was running back into position behind Voller, heaimed and landed a spit into the back of Voller’s finely crafted perm. Naturally, Voller was incensed and he ran to confront Rijkaard. The referee Juan Carlos Lousta booked Voller for his protestations, but when play restarted, the visibly irate West German clashed again with Rijkaard and was sent off. The Dutchman stalked Voller, shadowing him as he made his way off the pitch and incredibly, spit at him again. This time the referee spotted the reprehensible act and sent Rijkaard off too.
West Germany battled their way to a 2-1 win
against the Netherlands and went on to win the
tournament outright, eking past Argentina in the
Final.



Chile vs Italy – World Cup 1962

This game was so utterly, deplorably rough that the referee that day, an Englishman called Ken Aston, would invent and introduce yellow and red cards to ensure football would never again see such barbary on a pitch.

The source of the loathing in the lead up to the
contest between Chile and Italy can be traced back
to two Italian journalists. While reporting on the
World Cup from Santiago, Antonio Ghirelli and
Corrado Pizzinelli depicted a largely unflattering
description of the city which stoked up the locals.
They further incited hatred by questioning the
morals of the local Chilean women and that sent the city’s inhabitants over the edge.
In an excerpt, they said: “the phones don’t work,
taxis are as rare as faithful husband. its
population as prone to “malnutrition, illiteracy,
alcoholism and poverty, entire neighbourhoods
are given over to open prostitution. This country
and its people are proudly miserable and
backwards” .

In fear of their safety, the journalists had to flee
Santiago just after their articles were published. But already the Chilean press had returned fire,
describing the Italians as fascists, mafiosos and
oversexed (that’s a thing?).

When the match itself kicked-off, the toxic
atmosphere in the stadium soon spilled over on to
the pitch. The first foul of the game came after just
12 seconds and it was quickly followed by punches a plenty, a broken nose for Humberto Maschio and a kick in the head for Leonel Sánchez. The local police had to rush in from the sidelines to separate the melee on more than a couple of occasions too. Chile eventually won the “Battle of Santiago” 2-0 thanks to late goals from Jaime Ramirez and Jorge Toro.



Portugal vs Netherlands – World Cup 2006

Dubbed “The Battle of Nurnberg”, Portugal’s Last 16 clash with the Netherlands is officially the dirtiest World Cup match in history. 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards were dished out as the teams’ attempted to kick each other into submission.

The game was just two minutes old when Russian
referee Valentin Ivanov opened his pocket for the
first time, booking Dutch midfielder Mark van
Bommel for a late tackle. After that all hell broke
loose as the players tried to write autographs on
each other’s legs with their studs. Retaliation was
met with counter-retaliation as football played
second fiddle to violence.
Ricardo, Nuno Valente, Maniche, Luis Figo and Petit
were booked for Portugal, while Deco and Costinha
were both sent off after two separate yellow card
offences. For the Netherlands, van Bommel was
joined on the referee’s naughty list by Wesley
Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart, while Khalid
Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were
sent off for collecting two yellows.
In the midst of the battle cries and skirmishes,
Maniche scored the only goal of the gamen
Portugal won 1-0.

I remember Portugal vs Holland 2006 I call it the match without joy.

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