|
Olympic team beat Belgium 0-1
Wednesday 23 July 2008
By a late and typical Roy Makaay
goal the Dutch Olympic team beat Belgium tonight in
the Cristal Arena in Genk (B).
The victory was far from deserved
as Belgium were the better team for all of the first
and most of the second half.
The home team had two handfuls
of chances but squandered all.
Holland had two chances, both for
Makaay, and scored one.
In his typical style the Phantom
first quietly sneaked away from his marker on the left
to see his close range lob being cleared off the line.
A few minutes later Jonathan De
Guzman found his Feyenoord team mate with a magnificent
through ball from the left.
On the edge of offside Makaay finished
clinically from about ten yards out with a diagonal
shot to the far corner.
The Netherlands did not start with
all of their best players between the lines.
Ryan Babel is still recovering
from the injury he sustained with the Dutch national
team preparing for Euro 2008 and came on at half time
He said tonight that he thinks
he is at 85% of his strength.
"We'll carefully bring him
back in," Foppe de Haan said.
Royston Drenthe is also not fully
fit and only played some twenty minutes in the second
half.
The entrance of Babel, De Guzman
and especially Evander Sno after the break had a positive
effect on the play of the Dutch.
In the first half forwards Makaay
and Gerald Sibon were isolated because Holland were
speechless in midfield.
With Sno in central midfield Holland
had more control which resulted in more time on the
Belgian half and in Makaay's chances.
Holland will start their Olympic
tournament on August 7 with a match against Nigeria.
Holland: Velthuizen (46. Vermeer);
Zuiverloon (46. Sno), Jaliens, Marcellis and Pieters;
Beerens (46. De Guzman), Maduro, Bakkal and Emanuelson
(46. Babel); Makaay and Sibon (75. Drenthe).
|
