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Question about the World Cup
So....who do you think played dirtier? I was positive it was the Netherlands, but now I'm realizing I am probably too biased to be sure (I live in Spain) so I wanted to get some feedback.
Who played dirtier and why? Examples would be lovely. 
Re: Question about the World Cup
I said this over on the other post on IN, but I generally dislike the Spanish teams and players because they tend to dive a lot more than others. For that reason I wasn't supporting them at the beginning of the match.
However, there is a massive difference between taking a dive (which, as much as I hate it, is a part of the game) and dangerous play that could end the career or life of someone on the opposing team. The Dutch were all about the later last night, which caused my to start cheering against them not long into the match.
ETA: That is not to say that there weren't a couple dangerous plays on the part of the Spanish. However, the Dutch seemed systematic about it. Virtually the entire team was doing it, and not just the few guys who are known for being dirty players. It gave the impression that the team strategy was to keep the Spanish from getting the ball by any means necessary--even if it meant breaking someone's leg.
Exhibit A. De Jong could have broken a rib, or judging by the location of the kick, killed him.
Other specific examples involve two-footed tackles, tackles that weren't even close to the ball, way late challenges, etc. I'm sure if you googled you can find a recap of what exactly everyone was booked for.
Here's my take, from someone married to a Dutchmen, living in NL.
The NL's playing was messy at the beginning. Spain had control of the ball a lot. From my perspective, the Dutch were scrambling and that led to some collisions. I can't say if they did things on purpose or not, but from how I've seen them play before, playing dirty isn't their thing, as opposed to how some South America teams play (in this case I am especially referring to Brazil). The thing is, when you watch replays, the men seem so intensely focused on the ball, that they even ignore their own safety many times. It's football-- feet (and bodies) collide. I esp felt sorry for the Spanish player who was kicked in the chest by our team by accident. It was clearly an accident. With Uruguay, one of our players was kicked square in the face, shoving a few of his teeth into his gums (ouch!) Also a mistake.
I wouldn't say the Dutch were playing dirty-- just scrambling and messy at some points, perhaps a little panicked and overzealous.
They did pull it together and I'm proud for the fight they gave (of course I wish they gave more and won ;-)
They're were a ridiculous amounts of yellow cards given out- to easily in my opinion (to both teams). But that's life: imperfect. And the red card given to NL-- I need to see the replay because I have no idea what our player did the second time; they didn't show it again on our station.
So that's my 2 cents.
I agree with the bold part. It was a really bad play, no doubt about, and he should have been given a red card imo even though it wasn't done on purpose. You can see in that picture and definitely on the replay that his eyes were on the ball 100% of the time. if he was purposely trying to hurt someone then his eyes wouldn't have been on the ball, they would have been on the person. He had no idea that someone was there. Stupid, yes, but on purpose, no.
That being said, I think that both teams played dirty. But seriously, it was the world cup final. Teams will win any way they can. Anyone who expects clean playing is either new to watching the sport, or has unrealistic expectations.
There were a couple of nice moments, like when NL was given a free kick after the Spain goalie kicked the ball out of bounds to make sure one of the players that had gotten hurt was ok. NL kicked the ball back to the goalie, who made contact with it before going out of bounds by the net. When NL went to corner kick it, they gave the ball back to the Spain goalie again. That to me said that the teams may want to win, but that they were still respecting the the unwritten rules of the game.
I do agree with this, though I hadn't thought about that before. But I do remember that the NL team was being courteous when they were meant to be.
Thanks for all the responses! And thanks for the pic Publius. I do still think NL played a little bit dirtier. In regards to the kick...it may have been an accident, but the fact that he was really no where near touching the ball makes it seem like something that could have easily been avoided. But, no matter, I was just curious to see what some others thought.