Men of glass should not throw stones

In Spain, during and after his injury plagued spell with Real Madrid, they use to call Arjen Robben the “man of glass”. Now, despite this, and ignoring the sort of strange facial winces he tends to put out there, I think he is dynamite.

Robben has an explosive turn of pace and wonderful control and the Netherlands really only looked like a chance of making the finals of the World Cup in 2010 when he rejoined the squad for their second game in the tournament.

The amazing thing about Robben is that even though every defender knows he will make a run from the right then cut in and have a crack with his left, no one can stop him. And if he’s not scoring with that left foot, he can even put that very unique noggin of his to good use as he showed in the Germany game; I just wish he had wiped off all the specks of grass that were left on his face after his goal celebration.

Robben is animated, he’s passionate and he’s eccentric. He also tends to milk things and carry on a bit, sort of like Drogba.  Perhaps it’s all a mark of his genius.

The sad thing for him and Didier is that they both risk soaking their names in thick, oozing, sticky mud if they keep getting excessive in both their calls for free kicks or even their post match brain explosions. I wonder if Jurgen Klinsmann, one of Germany’s greatest players, is remembered more for his brilliant work on the pitch or for his diving?

I get that “man of glass” was upset after the game and needed to vent, but I was still surprised because he should know better by now.

Earlier in the year when his Bayern Munich coach, Luis Van Gaal subbed him during the 2010 Champion’s League campaign, Arjen went “off” and the result was that Van Gaal gave him a huge serve on the sideline, reminding him to keep it together and who really was the “king of the castle” at the club. It worked for a bit.

The problem I have with Arjen’s – and, for that matter, any of the Dutch squad’s -  brain explosions directed at Webb for the way the game turned out is that everything that went wrong was their fault, not his.

That first half saw the Dutch flex their muscles and keen to stamp their presence on the game by literally stamping on their opposition; in fact, Xabi Alonso probably realised the pain Materazzi went through in the last World Cup in his efforts to secure a date with Zidane’s sister. How was that kick in the chest by De Jong not a red and did any Dutch player thank Webb for protecting their interests?

 The Dutch’s physicality must have been part of the game plan because they sought to unsettle the Spanish for 45 min. It also seemed to me that at half time, Van Marwijk gave them a different brief and that’s when they finally came out to play and present Spain with problems of the ‘beautiful game’ kind.

The truth is that Spain created quite a few chances for themselves, despite the Dutch sitting back. At the very least, Ramos should’ve scored in the first half and Cesc should have scored in the second. In fact, how the hell did he miss?

The other obvious one, of course, is that “man of glass”, who received a glorious through ball from Sneijder, also missed a sitter. That would have hurt. It’s also why he just should have taken the loss, as shattering as it was, quietly. Don’t you think?

Vinnie Venezuela