Holland lost tonight against Portugal. 1-2. I must admit that Portugal was definitively the stronger team especially during the first half. Before I go on I have to say that we were dealing with a classic case of a home referee. Scandalous. Sure it is no excuse but I have never seen so many free kicks going to the home team — ass hole. All in all I think reaching the semi-final was not that bad for Holland.
Holland’s biggest problem was, as usual, playing position. We lost the ball many times in the center. Long balls to the front and fingers crossed that some player, such as Makaay (who was brought in at the start of the second half) or Van Nistelrooy might be able to control it and get a shot at the goal. It never happened. In the second half Holland played more aggressive and I really felt that things would happen. Then Portugal was unlucky and Andrade diverted the ball in his own goal. 1-2. The pressure was on, but Holland never got a good shot at it. Goalkeeper Van der Sar had some terrific saves, if it was not for him the score would have been much worse.
Now Holland needs to get ready for Germany in 2006. The world cup. We have a decent team and the youngsters will need to prove themselves. But with people like Robben, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Heitinga, Bouma and others I think we will be a team to watch. Let’s just hope we can avoid the South Korean fiasco two years ago (we did not qualify…)
Comments
15 responses to “It’s Over”
My sympathies. If only Ruud hadn’t slipped in the six yeard box. Keep looking to the Germany World Cup…
How have you managed to write about it so soon after the game? I have yet to come out of my gloom after England’s similar fate. Portugal managed to get our man Rooney out of the game, and we certainly suffered the ‘home referee’ problem – did you see our ‘winning’ goal in the 89th minute? Every two years I put myself through this. Why?
Actually, if Holland had started this game in a more offensive way, rather than waiting for Portugal to attack, things would have been much better for your team.
Let’s see what my team (Greece) will do tomorrow…
Come on – blaming refree is nonsense. Portugal was definately better tonight, that’s all – and Im writing it not as a fan of Portugal (I’m from Poland)
Better luck next time!
I thought the referee wasn’t too bad, possibly missed some bookings for diving (both sides, what WAS Robben doing in the first half?)
Totally agree that Holland should’ve started attacking earlier but I don’t think they could as Deco, C.Ronaldo and Figo were dominant early on.
What price a Portugal vs Greece final (rematch!)?!
Ohh and you are right, Holland should be a strong team in 2006.
Holland were a pretty good team around the last world cup as well, but you have to qualify to play.
Holland are a very talented team and always fun to watch but their performances are not very convincing to say the least.
Portugal who are the perennial underachievers are shining under the guidance of Luis Felipe Scolari. Coaching matters and shows. Now how for an excellent double for Scolari — the World Cup with Brazil and Euro 2004 with Portugal!
Portugal has reached its maximum. Czech are by far the best team in the Euro 04 and they will certainly win. Nedved is good as always, as well as other guys in the middle, but what is most important is that Baroš is playing extremly well. He never played like this in Liverpool, which probably proves the point that Liverpool need either different coach or different players in the middle.
My sympathies. Portugal have played well and deserve to be in the final – but so do Holland and England, who were both treated rather unfairly by ‘home referees’… there’s only ONE COLLINA…
Yes, i’m expecting great things of Holland in 2006… Holland-England final anyone? The only question is: who gets the honour of beating Brazil and who gets the fun of thrashing Germany… :)> (my only complaint about Holland this year is that they didn’t win against Duitsland)…
Ok, first, I know it’s rather cheap to blame the referee. I know we did not lose because of the referee. I also know that Frisk is usually a good referee, but in this case he really was behaving like a home referee. That said, Portigal was the stronger team.
And yes, Robben did not play his best match. He did poorly on the left side this time. Though he had two Portuguese defensers around him all the time. I also think the yellow card was justified. Dutch footballers need to learn how to make a theatrical dive. They suck at it.
If Greece beats the Czech I’m going to eat my mouse. I love the Greek but there’s no way they have to talent to beat Nedved, Barros and the like. No way. We played our best match against the Czech, heck I would even say that was the best match of the tournament so far.
Blaming the referee? I can agree with that as an England supporter. All Deco had to do was fall over and it was a freekick. And that’s without mentioning our disalllowed goal.
I didn’t watch it, but I can sympathise – as Thalwil said, there’s only one Collina (unfortunately). So damn annoying.
Oh, and any England supporters: http://www.ursmeier.ch/
This tournament was all about the referees against Holland.
To be honest, they played very bad, but Greece also played very bad. So even with some luck and very bad play, you can reach the finals. And that’s where we would have been, if it wasn’t for the stupid referees…
How did the mouse taste??
Greece is in the finals. Portugal gets a rematch, something they are dying for.
I’ll be rooting for Portugal. Holland didnt even score against Portugal, so there’s no way they should be complaining. Out of 5 games, they only won one game in the regular 90 mins. You have to be able to put away those games.
Brazil vs Portugal — World Cup 2006 finals. Scolari vs Parreira. A Brazilian showdown.
Allright, we sucked. Big time.
First of all, England vs Portugal was a fair and square win. It was a foul in the goalkeepers box, which means: NO GOAL.
Beckham said the grass wasnt good? Remember this: the portuguese also shot from the same spot!
As for Holland, like someone said before, the dutch didnt even shoot one ball at the portuguese goal, so… with or without the ref, no chance. Ah… and Figo was on fire! :)
As for Greece, never having scored a goal in a European Cup, they must feel like gods. Their soccer sucks but somehow they make it along the way. I was rooting for the chzecs, but now it’ll be a pay-back type of thing.
And like a famous brandname is spreading around: “Impossible is nothing”. Let the roteiro ball tell the story! :)
I wonder if Dan Rubin ever talk football? Americans never seem to like football. The whole world is watching the Euro Cup, and the coming Copa America as well. During those weeks, what were they doing? :-)