Sneijder fails to silence Dutch critics
Sunday 20 June 2010
The
Independent
The game between Holland and Japan
only caught light 30 minutes after the final whistle
in Durban when Bert van Marwijk, the Holland coach,
was involved in an angry exchange with Dutch journalists.
Holland had won by a solitary goal,
Wesley Sneijder's powerful 53rd-minute strike ending
Japan's doughty resistance. It took Holland to the top
of Group E and after Cameroon's defeat to Denmark, they
became the first team to qualify for the last 16.
That seemed pretty impressive from
an English viewpoint (and probably from a Spanish, French,
Italian and German one too), but in the land of total
football winning is not enough. Van Marwijk was informed
that viewers back home had deluged the media with text
messages asking why the game was so boring, why the
Dutch kept passing sideways, why they did not score
more goals.
The answer is that it takes two
teams to play an entertaining game. Japan, their coach
Takeshi Okada admitted, had come for a point. While
they were prepared to push forward on the flanks, as
soon as they lost possession they retreated inside their
own half, presenting the Dutch with a 10-man wall of
white. Having seen what happened to Spain on this ground
against Switzerland, Holland were not about to take
risks to penetrate it.
Thus Van Marwijk's brusque response:
"All you want is beautiful football, 5-0 at half-time,
but at this level you cannot score immediately. You
have to understand the difference. It is the World Cup.
The guys like to win with beautiful football but we
have to deal with an opposing team that is well organised,
that knows everything about us – there are no secrets
now.
"At this level no match is
straightforward. Look at Germany, Spain, England and
France. The same applies to us. Everyone thinks it is
straightforward and easy but Japan have been together
a long time. They were excellently organised. I enjoyed
watching Spain, but they lost 1-0. Barcelona lost the
Champions' League semi-final against Inter. My sympathy
is with Barcelona. I love that football but as I told
the team when I became coach two years ago, we have
to be prepared to win ugly games too. We are playing
to win, if we play beautiful football too, that is fine."
Such is the credo for most modern
coaches. This was confirmed after Sneijder scored. The
Dutch immediately drew up the wagons and Japan finally
opened up. They then looked a tidy side with an impressive
pair of full-backs but a lack of punch in attack. They
also very nearly snatched a point, the substitute Shinji
Okazaki shooting just over in the final seconds after
Joris Mathijsen had been caught ball-watching. The Dutch
should have been safe by then, but another substitute,
Ibrahim Afellay, missed two late chances after being
put through by Eljero Elia and then Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
He was denied both times by Eiji Kawashima which will
give the goalkeeper some succour as he ponders Sneijder's
goal.
Kawashima yesterday joined the
Jabulani victims, beaten from 20 yards despite appearing
to get both hands behind the ball. It was hard to tell
whether player or ball was at fault and Japan's coach,
fitting all the clichés about inscrutable men
of the East, was in no mood to clarify matters. "It
was a good shot and we did not really expect not to
concede against such an opponent. It was really a good
shot," he said when asked whether ball or goalkeeper
was to blame.
There was also a third party at
fault. Sneijder received the ball after Tulio Tanaka,
the Japanese centre-half, had headed Gio van Bronckhorst's
cross straight to Robin van Persie, who fed Sneijder.
The Dutch were reluctant to play
risky passes and prior to Sneijder's strike, Kawashima
had been required only to make two regulation saves.
"It is not easy to win matches
here, but we deserved to win this one," said Sneijder.
"In the first two matches we have done a great
job."
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