"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

UEFA Euro 2012 Poland & Ukraine
Group E - Qualifications

Minimal but easy win for Holland in Moldavia

8 October 2010

The Dutch national team have won their third qualification game in Group E as well, and maintain their perfect record under Bert van Marwijk as far as qualification games are concerned. Visiting a very defensive Moldavia Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was again the matchwinner, scoring his sixth goal of the campaign.

In Chisinau it was clear from kickoff that Oranje would have to deal with a very defensive host. The home team assumed their defensive position from the start and aimed for an occasional counter attack.

After a bleak first 15 minutes the first chance was for Huntelaar. The Schalke 04-striker was put through by Wesley Sneijder, but saw his fierce effort blocked by Moldavia-goalie Stanislav Namasco. From the resulting corner came Huntelaar's second chance, which he headed over the bar.

After a little teaser by Moldavia - Anatolie Doros' spectacular effort missed the target - Huntelaar finally found the net. In the 37th minute he scored a diagonal shot from the edge of the box on an assist of Rafael van der Vaart, who replaced Nigel de Jong in Midfield.

Huntelaar's 22nd goal for Holland in only 39 matches meant his 10th goal of this young season. The former Madrid-forward has scored six for Holland and four for Schalke in all together eleven games. He scored in all three of Holland's games in this campaign.

After the break Sneijder seemed to double the lead, but his turning shot was tipped from the top corner by Namasco. John Heitinga hit the cross bar with a header from the resulting corner.

As the second half progressed Moldavia started pushing more men up front which gave Holland more room to operate in. Dirk Kuyt failed to benefit and saw a shot go wide.

With Huntelaar missing a good chance as well the home team maintained hopeful for an upset until the end, but Holland had no intentions of giving them anything worth dreaming of and kept a clean sheet without much trouble.

Moldavia	0 - 1	Netherlands
	0-1	37' Huntelaar

S. Namasco		M. Stekelenburg
A. Epureanu		E. Pieters
P. Racu		G. van der Wiel
S. Bulgaru		J. Heitinga
V. Bolohan		J. Mathijsen
V. Golovatenko		I. Afellay	90' U. Emanuelson
E. Cebotaru	69' V. Andronic	M. van Bommel
V. Bordiyan		R. Van der Vaart
A. Suvorov		W. Sneijder
A. Doros	78' N. Josan	D. Kuyt
V. Frunza	46' I. Bugaev	K. Huntelaar