Dutch Football - Team Bejing Olympics - Holland raise game in second preparation match

"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

Holland raise game in second preparation match

Wednesday 23 July 2008

A week before the start of the Olympic tournament Holland have picked up their game considerably compared to the poor display against Belgium a week ago.

During the pre-tournament ING Cup in Hongkong Holland beat Cameroon 2-0 by late goals from Ryan Babel and Roy Makaay.

Before Foppe de Haan's team scored they had had a handful of good chances while giving away almost nothing.

Defender Dirk Marcellis (again) and midfielder Royston Drenthe were most impressive in a team that succeeded in reaching the two forwards Gerald Sibon and Roy Makaay much better than they did against Belgium.

Holland start the tournament on 7 August with the first group game against Nigeria.

Netherlands - Cameroon 2-0 (0-0). 87' Babel 1-0, 90' Makaay 2-0.

Lineup: Velthuizen; Zuiverloon, Marcellis, Jaliens (59. Luijckx) and Pieters (46. Jong-A-Pin); Maduro (68. Sno), Bakkal (46. Emanuelson), De Guzman and Drenthe (68. Beerens); Makaay and Sibon (46. Babel).