Webb had already given four yellows by the twenty eighth minute. Alonso got up. Twenty years earlier it might not have even been a yellow card.
In that game at that moment all that was needed was a yellow card. The game went on and didn’t spiral out of control until after the late winner.
Or to put my opinion in perspective my referee geekery is why I know what Webb said later. At the time the announcers weren’t howling for a red. Neither were the players on the pitch. A yellow kept the peace.
A much better critique of my argument would point out that the Dutch were officially the home team and that history also would have given them a better claim to home team as well.
But the Dutch did end with ten so there’s that. Yet Webb managed to disperse the first eight Dutch yellow cards to eight different Dutch starters. That’s good refereeing...keeping the peace.