Portugal 1 Netherlands 0
Most entertaining game so far. It wasn't the best soccer, and the referee was crazy, but for sheer entertainment value, wow. I have yet to see an explanation for the failure to use RvN - there seriously must have something bad that went down between MvB and RvN, since I think it was obvious to the entire world that RvN should have been in there. Kuyt simply wasn't getting it done, and for all of RvN's faults, he can score with the best of them. Hell, he started the first three matchs. What happened since then that caused him to be benched in favor of Kuyt AND Vennegor of Hasselink? It will be interesting to see the fallout.
Holland a think were to the worse in dealing with such a rough game - they don't have the players for it. And the initial early tackle on Christiano Ronaldo to the upper thigh set the nasty tone. Both teams were going all out and playing as nastily as possible. The ref was going to have a rough time of it no matter what he did, although his inconsistency was also to blame for how the match fell apart. How exactly was it not a penalty kick when Robben was spiked in the shoulder in the box, for crying out loud! Utterly ridiculous.
The best defender we've seen so far in the Cup has got to be Miguel.. He owned Robben himself and pushed up extremely well. Indeed, the entire Portugese plan against Robben was excellent - even if Robben could get by Miguel, he had two or three other guys to beat, which clearly wasn't happening. With Kuyt clearly not a threat, and van Persie frozen out after taking a few questionable shots, where was a goal coming from? I am extremely impressed with the Portugese.
As for the Dutch team - they are strange. So much attacking talent, so few results. I guess you see what happens when a team doesn't play together.
Lost in all the melee was a very nice goal by Portugal. Also, it was nice to see van Brockhorst and Deco sitting together on the sideline at the end - two guys from opposite sides who were both kicked out of a brutal game and yet could sit down next to each other to watch the end.
Here's a cool picture of the Ironbound section post-match:
Holland a think were to the worse in dealing with such a rough game - they don't have the players for it. And the initial early tackle on Christiano Ronaldo to the upper thigh set the nasty tone. Both teams were going all out and playing as nastily as possible. The ref was going to have a rough time of it no matter what he did, although his inconsistency was also to blame for how the match fell apart. How exactly was it not a penalty kick when Robben was spiked in the shoulder in the box, for crying out loud! Utterly ridiculous.
The best defender we've seen so far in the Cup has got to be Miguel.. He owned Robben himself and pushed up extremely well. Indeed, the entire Portugese plan against Robben was excellent - even if Robben could get by Miguel, he had two or three other guys to beat, which clearly wasn't happening. With Kuyt clearly not a threat, and van Persie frozen out after taking a few questionable shots, where was a goal coming from? I am extremely impressed with the Portugese.
As for the Dutch team - they are strange. So much attacking talent, so few results. I guess you see what happens when a team doesn't play together.
Lost in all the melee was a very nice goal by Portugal. Also, it was nice to see van Brockhorst and Deco sitting together on the sideline at the end - two guys from opposite sides who were both kicked out of a brutal game and yet could sit down next to each other to watch the end.
Here's a cool picture of the Ironbound section post-match:
posted by Al at 1:52 AM
2 Comments:
You figured out how to do photos! See, that makes the blog much more engaging.
It was and with me. Let's discuss this question.
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