Holland against Denmark, arguably the biggest and most even match in the Group Stage so far. It was played on a sunny Johannesburg afternoon. However, just like what the commentator, who seemed to be shivering as he occasionally seethes throughout the match that even though it's sunny, the match was played at an altitude and that it's winter time in South Africa, unlike summer time in the northern hemisphere. The first half started in a very uneventful way as both teams failed to break the deadlock in the half. The only notable exception in the first half was the fueling of the continuation of the Jabulani debate in which both Holland and Denmark always blast the ball over the bar in long shots and most notably during direct free kicks in which it is almost impossible to get past the opponent's defensive wall and to get it on target at the same time.
Nevertheless, Holland looked the better team in the first half as Holland looked like a very well drilled team even though they had to make do without Arjen Robben who won't feature in this match but they seemed to have no problems getting their acts together besides scoring a goal of course. Their general domination was shown by their 60% share of possession of the ball on the first half. Dirk Kuyt also showed how he has been successfully converted to a good right winger as he sent quite a few decent crosses into the Danish penalty box throughout the first half. Meanwhile, Denmark played the dreaded 4-5-1 formation in which Nicklas Bendtner is the lone ranger up front with no support whatsoever when he does get the ball. Clearly, in the first half at least that Denmark are already focusing on Japan and Cameroon and only play this game to snatch a point against Holland, the strongest team in Group E.
As the second half started, Holland shifted into the high gears as they attacked right off the bat and caught Denmark flat-footed and shocked. A cross into the Danish penalty box was headed by S. Poulsen the Danish full back into his own net. His header was so perfect just like a great targetman, just that he scored at the wrong end of the pitch. An interesting thing to note was how S. Poulsen managed to have the guts to smile after the atrocious own goal. We could imagine how the press in Denmark, a country ranked first in the Free Press Index would roast him in tomorrow's papers.
By the time it was 60th minute, Nicklas Bendtner was withdrawn for a winger Beckmann. It showed that Denmark had thrown in the towel and simply looking forward to the Cameroon match which is the next match and the Japan match, the last one for them in Group E. Thus, they had to save Bendtner for those two matches by bringing him off early. On the other hand, the Dutch looked for the second and killer goal by bringing in the livewire Eljero Elia for the static and rigid van der Vaart, and the Dutch was augmented by the electric pace of his.
Eventually at the 84th minute, after Sneijder had hit the bar a few minutes before, Eljero Elia managed to wriggle through the Danish penalty area, hitting the post before Dirk Kuyt scored a tap-in from the rebound to make it 2-0 and just like how the commentator put it, “Good night Denmark”. At the 87th minute, S. Poulsen managed to make amends for his earlier mistake by saving a certain goal acrobatically. Nevertheless, The Dutch won by two clear goals and are now at the top of Group E. Now, the matches with Cameroon and Japan will be very crucial for Denmark if they are to go through from the group. Another trivia to note is that the record continues for Denmark that until now, they have yet to play out a goalless draw in the World Cup finals.
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