Holland 3 Uruguay 2
Van Bronckhorst 18, Forlan 40, Sneijder 70, Robben 73, Maxi Perreira 90
Really enjoyed this one.
A very good contest.
And broadly typical of a World Cup played between organised teams who show flashes of flair.
I’ll settle for five goals in a World Cup semi-final.
And winning the safest bet on offer : Holland to qualify.
Uruguay played well and their most interesting player was Edinson Cavani, the lanky 22-year old Palermo striker, who had replaced the suspended Luis Suarez.
Cavani was interesting because he was much better off the ball than on it.
His energetic movement pulled the Dutch defenders around, stretched them, created some openings for Forlan, who will run anywhere and shoot from anywhere.
Zonally, the Uruguayan defence and midfield were excellent. Occupying the important spaces, keeping a good shape, the underdogs were not able to go forward as incisively as the Germans do. If they’d been able to do that they might have won.
Holland started brightly with a Kuyt shot over the bar and a Sneijder shot that hit Robin van Persie above the hip.
Then RVP was in a good position in the box, dithered and lost the ball.
Then Gio Van Bronckhorst scored a wonder goal after a shocking foul that the referee ignored.
The ball was played infield by Kuyt on the right and it was a risky pass, a 50-50 between Mark van Bommel and little No.5 Gargano. Knowing that Sneijder was behind him, MVB decided to dummy the ball and take out the Uruguayan, so he ran past the ball and crunched the studs of his left boot into Gargano\’s left leg at mid-shin height.
It was a leg-breaking challenge and the only reason that assault did not break Gargano\’s leg was that, as the replay showed, his weight was not on his left foot because he was just putting that foot down on the ground. His leg buckled but he got up quickly and bravely.
Meanwhile, the ball was switched between Robben and Sneijder, and then to Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, who fired a scorching shot into the top corner. Keeper Fernando Muslera got a touch but the ball hit the inside of the post high up and went in.
A brutal foul had made a great goal possible. Happens quite a lot. That’s football.
Just before that, Jan came in and sat on the sofa with me.
“Who do we think\’s going to win?†she asked.
My reply was ungrammatical.
“They\’re gonna score Holland and that will be it.â€
It was a bit weird for those words to be in the air while the shot was in the air.
I didn’t think it would be a goal.
I didn’t believe GVB could score from 40 yards.
Lots more to say about Holland but I have 4 days. And there is another Holland.
In today’s Guardian, John Fordham reviews Dave Holland at the Barbican.
I had a one-word email from Dave once.
The word was : yes.
My email to Dave Holland was : Did you play elecric bass with Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight because your double bass would not fit into the helicopter?
—————————
Good piece here on the extraordinary Diego Forlan.
URUGUAY (4-4-2): Muslera; Maxi Pereira, Godin, Victorino, Caceres; Perez, Gargano, Arevalo, A Pereira (Abreu,78); Cavani, Forlan (Fernandez, 84).
HOLLAND (4-2-3-1): Stekelenburg; Boulahrouz, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst; Van Bommel, De Zeeuw (Van der Vaart, h-t); Robben (Elia, 89), Sneijder, Kuyt; Van Persie.
Referee : Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan).
Booked : Maxi Pereira, Caceres, Sneijder, Boulahrouz, Van Bommel.