Holland give Italy helping hand

Tuesday 17 June 2008

By second half goals of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie Holland did what they were supposed to do and beat a lackluster Romania 2-0.

With that they did Italy a big favor.

The Italians beat France with the same score and are now also qualified for the quarterfinals in which they will meet Spain.

Holland will face the winners of tomorrow's group D game Sweden-Russia.

Marco van Basten had fielded 'Holland II' in the last group game in which nothing was at stake for his team.

Of the starting 11 of the first two games only Khalid Boulahrouz and Orlando Engelaar remained and the stand-ins needed half an hour to get the engine running.

In that half hour Romania had threatened twice through Mutu as several Dutch players struggled with their nerves (Afellay, De Cler) while others (Robben) lacked concentration.

When Italy went a goal up against France the Romanians knew a draw would not be sufficient and reluctantly they started to push more players forward.

The only effect that had was there there was more space for the Dutch forwards and it was then that the they started to find each other and cut through the Romanian defense a few times.

First Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could fire from 15 meters out after Afellay found Boulahrouz on the overlap down the right, and a little later Arjen Robben was at the end of a nice attack through the center.

The Madrid forward didn't make the most of a great Huntelaar flick and poked the ball wide with no one but Bogdan Lobont to beat.

The second half saw a more adventurous Holland that played at a higher pace and more confidence.

The Dutch had their first great chance in the 49th minute when Heitinga found Van Persie with a 50 meter pass deep into the Romanian half.

Van Persie controlled the ball athletically, turned inside and forced Lobont to make a magnificent safe.

Five minutes later the Romanians had pushed a lot of players forward and it was Arjen Robben who punished them with a fast counter attack.

His cross from the left did not find anyone in the box, yet it was picked up by Ibrahim Afellay on the right.

The PSV-midfielder played a low drive to the penalty spot where it was first missed by Engelaar and then pushed into the net by the very alert Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Although there still were 35 minutes left to play Romania seemed beaten already.

Their game is about defending and not conceding, not about creating anything themselves.

That depends solely on the quality of Adrian Mutu and although he showed glimpses of his undoubted genius his team mates simply could not provide him with anything against a Dutch defense that again was very reliable.

Holland thus come out of the Group of Death with three wins from three matches, nine goals scored scored and one conceded and full of self confidence.

Van Basten's confidence will also be up.

Although few of his reserves seem a serious threat to anyone in the starting 11, it must be good for the Dutch coach to know that his subs are up for the task.

The only tough choice might be to leave Robin van Persie on the bench again for the quarterfinal.

The Arsenal striker didn't play his best match in orange, but he seems fit to start, showed plenty of eagerness and his goal and the other two good chances he had proved he can be a star at this level as well.

The other subs on the pitch tonight showed that Van Basten need not worry about making any substitutions.

Any replacement makes little difference to the quality in the team and with three (?) tough matches ahead that is pure luxury.

Netherlands: Stekelenburg, Boulahrouz (Melchiot 58), Heitinga, Bouma, De Cler, De Zeeuw, Engelaar, Afellay, Van Persie, Robben (Kuyt 62), Huntelaar (Vennegoor of Hesselink 82).
Subs Not Used: Van der Sar, Timmer, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst, Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder, De Jong, Van der Vaart.

Goals: Huntelaar 54, Van Persie 87.

Romania: Lobont, Contra, Tamas, Ghionea, Rat, Cocis, Codrea (Dica 72), Chivu, Nicolita (Petre 82), Marius Niculae (Daniel Niculae 59), Mutu.
Subs Not Used: Popa, Stancioiu, Marica, Sapunaru, Moti, Cristea, Radu.

Booked: Chivu.

Att: 32,000

Ref: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland).