Only five days ago, Holland decimated one of the greatest national football sides ever to play the game of football. We’ve had to wait all that time to see these guys in action again – just how would they perform against Australia? Read on to find out!
Both sides started very slowly in their opening games – Australia particularly so – and both sides did so here too although the Aussies marginally had the best of the opening exchanges. Australia, for all their early possession, were forced to make do with it in the middle of the park as the Netherlands were happy to let them have the ball there but were quick to pounce on any balls played further forward. Australia were equally impressive when not in possession though, moving really well as a unit, pressing well and challenging the long balls that Holland were frequently being forced to play.
A mistake by De Vrij though led to the first half-chance of the game as he tried a long diagonal ball across the pitch but under-hit it somewhat, allowing Leckie to intercept and advance towards the Dutch box. Upon arrival, the midfielder squared to the onrushing Bresciano but his effort was deflected out for the corner by the recovering De Vrij.
In their last game against Spain, Holland were most dangerous when they were on the back foot and the same thing was true early on in this game as, after that half-chance, Arjen Robben did what he did in the last game and gave Holland the lead for the first time. Weaving his way past Wilkinson near the centre circle the Bayern Munich winger made it clear of the chasing defender. The remaining defenders were asked questions by Robben’s movement as he was flanked either side by Robin Van Persie and Daley Blind; the indecision from the defenders regarding who to commit to gave Robben the inches he needed to get into space and place the ball in the far corner of the net to give Holland a 1-0 lead.
One of the goals of the tournament so far followed that less than a minute later and it came from Australian talisman, Tim Cahill. The ball was played out to the rigt from the kick-off before a long diagonal ball was played in towards Cahill who was waiting on the far side of the six-yard box to strike a venomous volley at the Dutch goal, hitting the crossbar before bouncing in. An amazing finish that anyone would be proud of; Van Persie esque!
The Dutch were on the back foot again before long as Leckie and Bresciano combined once more to give the Dutch defence something to think about; cutting a ball back across the box, Leckie found Bresciano who thumped his effort just over the Dutch bar. There were questions before the game as to how the Australians would cope with the Dutch’s prowess offensively – so far they had done more than that and had even made the Dutch look pretty ordinary at times. An injury break which led to the exit of Martins Indi closed out the first half of a very entertaining game but the injury only added to the list of issues Louis Van Gaal will have likely had with that first half performance.
The Netherlands nearly had another issue to contend with at the beginning of the second half as the Australians had the ball in the back of the net, less than 30 seconds after the restart, only for the goal to be ruled out as Leckie was adjudged to have committed a foul on Janmaat. The Australians were soon ahead through other means though as they were awarded a penalty after a handball decision went against the Dutch; Jedinak stepped up to take the penalty for Australia and slotted home coolly to the keeper’s right, sending him the wrong way, to give Australia a 2-1 lead on the night.
Once again though, thoroughly on the back foot, Holland responded with a goal and this time it came from Robin Van Persie. Australians might be a bit annoyed at this one as it could have been easily avoided. Depay picks up the ball from Robben on the edge of the box before playing in Van Persie, who three of the four defenders think is offside, but Davidson out on the left is playing him onside and the finish was bread and butter for the United forward who made it 2-2.
Robben went close again moments later before the match became a very end-to-end affair. Cahill had the next clear-cut chance and it was all born from great improvisation by the former Everton man. After good chasing by the Austrlians, they dispossessed the Dutch defence in a compromising position; Oar then found himself on the edge of the box with Cahill coming in from the opposite flank. Having a ball fizzed at him at an awkward height, Cahill threw his chest at the ball in an attempt to steer it into the net but it wasn’t to be and it proved very costly to his side.
Holland 23 second later were ahead as Robben and Blind moved the ball down the left before picking out De Guzman who fed the substitute Memphis Depay. No one closed down the Dutch midfielder at all, allowing him to unleash a dipping, swerving shot from 30 yards towards the Australian goal – the awkward bounce of the shot caught Matt Ryan out and the ball hit the back of the net to give Holland a 3-2 lead.
The Dutch took control after this point with the usual suspects taking it in turns to test Matt Ryan between the Australian sticks but were unable to further their advantage and the game finished 3-2. If Brazil have disappointed in their two games so far, the Dutch have somewhat exceeded expectations. Whilst not as impressive in this game as they were against Spain (how you get more impressive than that performance, I don’t know), the Dutch showed here that they’re able to go toe-to-toe with the more stubborn, more physical sides who are able to test them in other ways than the likes of Spain and Italy are. Find out how the Dutch do in their final group game, right here at Fortitude!