Robben confessed penalty unfair, says Mexico captain

Dutch forward in the midst of controversy after team reaches quarters .

FORTALEZA: Mexico’s captain Rafael Marquez said Arjen Robben had admitted to him that the Dutch forward should not have been awarded the penalty that decided Sunday’s last-16 clash.

With extra time looming, the pacey Robben went down in the box under a challenge from defender Marquez, giving the Netherlands a penalty that won the game 2-1 but brought accusations of play-acting from Mexico.

Robben told him after the game in the players’ changing area “that it wasn’t a penalty, though one of the previous [tackles] was,” Marquez told journalists in comments that were translated from Spanish.

The Dutch forward went down several times in the box during the match with replays suggesting at least one of the incidents could well have been given as a penalty.

“I believe it was not a penalty,” added Marquez of the last-gasp action that lost his team the game. “I felt I touched the ground but I didn’t touch him, maybe he touched me.”

The Mexico captain said Robben, 30, who has had a brilliant career but often been accused of diving, had abused the spirit of the game. “For 10 fouls that he receives, he lets himself fall over for five, and that’s not fair play.

“That has to change. Unfortunately in this World Cup, it wasn’t just once or twice that these things affected us. But I don’t want to make excuses.”

Meanwhile, Robben will not face any disciplinary action after admitting to diving during his team’s last 16 victory with Mexico, confirmed Fifa.

Van Gaal world’s best tactician: Kuyt

Dutch winger Dirk Kuyt hailed Louis van Gaal as the most tactically adept coach in the game after he masterminded the comeback against Mexico that saw the Netherlands into the quarter-finals.

Kuyt played in three positions throughout the 90 minutes on his 100th appearance for his country. He started in an unfamiliar role at left-back before moving to right-back and eventually up front as the Netherlands played catch up after Giovani dos Santos had scored for Mexico.

“He’s maybe the best tactician there is in the world,” said the 33-year-old.

“It doesn’t matter what system we are playing, the players know exactly what to do. He told us before the game already that we could switch systems if we were 1-0 down.

“We switched to 4-3-3, then 15 minutes before the end of the game, he decided to put an extra striker to play longer balls and we managed to score a goal, so his tactics were once again spot on.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.

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