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…)