Arjen Robben says sorry for diving but justifies penalty that helped team beat Mexico
Dutch striker Arjen Robben has apologized for diving in a bid to get a penalty against Mexico but insisted he did not fake the foul that led to his side’s winning the penalty kick.
Mexico’s coach Miguel Herrera launched a furious attack on match referee Pedro Proenca for giving the injury time penalty that Jan-Klaas Huntelaar hit home to seal a 2-1 comeback victory.
Robben was at the centre of both incidents in the World Cup last-16 clash in Fortaleza.
“I really have to say and at the same time apologise in the first half I took a dive and I really shouldn’t do that,” Robben told Dutch broadcaster NOS as he celebrated the victory.
“That was a stupid, stupid thing to do but sometimes you’re expecting to be struck and then they pull their leg away at the last minute.”
But the Dutch striker insisted Proenca was right to point to the penalty spot after he was challenged by Mexico’s veteran captain Rafael Marquez. “I was fouled,” he said.
Mexico had been leading until the 88th minute when Wesley Sneijder scored and then Huntelaar put away the penalty.
And Herrera said referee Proenca should take no more part in the World Cup.
“The determining factor was the man with the whistle. He put us of the World Cup,” he said.
“Although the first goal was down to our mistake, we had the chance to reconsider during the break before extra time, but at the end when the referee invents a penalty you go out of the World Cup.
“At the very least they can look at this and this gentleman ought to be going home like us.”
Herrera claimed his side had been the victim of poor refereeing in three of their four games in Brazil and a European referee should never have been allocated the game in the first place.
“Out of four matches, we had three where the referee was disastrous.
“I don’t understand why they had someone from the same confederation. Why not an African, Asian or South American refereeIJ All the doubtful decisions went against Mexico.”
Giovani dos Santos’ strike early in the second-half appeared to have Mexico on course for their first quarter-final appearance at a World Cup on foreign soil.
The Dutch goals stunned the Mexicans however and Herrera admitted his side had lacked experience in how to see the game out.
“Maybe we were missing what teams like Argentina, Uruguay and those with experience of winning do.
“We had four minutes to go plus stoppage time and we should have put the ball in the corner, do what other teams do and perhaps we would have been faced with a different result.”
No action against Robben
Rio de Janeiro: World Cup organizers will take no action against Robben after he apparently acknowledged diving during the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over Mexico in Sunday’s second-round match.
FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer says the disciplinary committee only “will look into serious infringements.” She said a yellow card would not be issued retroactively against Robben.
She says: “We ask the players to play in the spirit of fair play. It’s up to the referees to manage a match.”
Referee should go: herrera
Playing in the round of 16 for the sixth straight tournament, the Mexicans looked like they had finally done everything right against the Netherlands on Sunday.
Their rigid defense was holding the free-scoring Dutch at bay, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made some spectacular saves, and their string of first-half chances produced a goal from Giovani Dos Santos just after the break.
It all unraveled in the 88th minute.
Ochoa couldn’t be everywhere at Arena Castelao, and Wesley Sneijder finally beat him with a shot aimed low. A few minutes later, Klaas Jan Huntelaar won it for the Dutch, scoring an injury-time penalty to make it 2-1 after Arjen Robben was taken down by Rafael Marquez.
“The boys are very sad. It was really very painful to go out this way,” Mexico coach Miguel Herrera said. “We were eliminated because of an invented penalty. We are going home now and so should the referee.” Herrera argued that Robben should have been cautioned by referee Pedro Proenca for two earlier penalty claims.