"Group heroes, knockout zeros"

Monday, 28 June 2010

Dennis Bergkamp's magnificent goal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in France provided for the last Dutch victory in the knockout stages of a World Cup

Holland will be looking for something they have rarely achieved in recent years: a victory in the knockout stages of a big tournament. The last time Holland won a game after the group stages was at Euro 2004 in Portugal, when they knocked out Sweden in the quarterfinals.

The last time Holland won a knockout game at the World Cup is even longer ago: in 1998 a team led by Guus Hiddink beat Argentina 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

Since that World Cup in France (where Holland were eliminated by Brazil on penalties in the semis) Holland have appeared at one World Cup. In 2006 in Germany they went out in the round of 16 after a 1-0 defeat by Portugal. At the 2008 European Championships Russia knocked them out in the quarterfinals (3-1, e.t.).

Holland's poor record after the group stages has dubbed them "Group heroes, knockout zeros".

In theory Holland should be able to beat Slovakia today. It's the first time they are at the World Cup, since they parted with the Czechs and became a separate nation. They played one decent game at this World Cup, when they beat Italy
3-2 in their last Group game. The matches against New Zealand (1-1) and Paraguay (0-2) were far from impressive. They did impress however during their qualification campaign, where they finished first in a group with the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. So it's up to the Netherlands to make an end to the Slovak fairytale.

After three consecutive victories in the group stages and now seven in a row in all matches played, Holland will surely want to continue their great series of 22 games without defeat. The last time they lost a game was in September 2008,
1-2 in a friendly against Australia. It was Bert van Marwijk's second game in charge. During qualifications Holland had a perfect streak of eight wins in eight games, in a group with Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Macedonia.

Beating Slovakia today would mean they face either Brazil or Chile in the quarterfinals. In the possible semifinals it will then be the winner of the quarterfinal game between Ghana and Uruguay.

With Rafael van der Vaart out with a calf injury, Van Marwijk is expected to change the team that has started against Denmark and Japan in only one spot, with either Eljero Elia or Ibrahim Afellay replacing Van der Vaart on the left wing.