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Originally Posted by nicfit
Sounds familiar.... 
great great match yesterday, holland played a wonderful game, kinda unexpected. |
I definitely hadn't expected it... I thought a 0-0 would've been a good result.
Kuyt's often slagged of for his lack of skill compared to the other Dutch forwards (ball bounces 1-2 meters from his foot etc), but he's got a work rate that is exceptional. As long as he, Sneijder and Van der Vaart are prepared to run back all the way to their own box to defend when needed, then the Dutch defence doesn't have to be as weak as we all thought it would be. Before the tournament started, Sneijder and Robben were the players who looked in great shape. Sneijder played very well (it was his 24th birthday too) and Robben can now work on his comeback (likely to be the Romania game) without having too much pressure on it. Van Persie didn't look bad either for someone who hasn't played since April.
In the Italian team Ithink Materazzi and Barzagli were the weak links yesterday. I would say Pirlo even played a great game. he almost scored twice, but was unlucky that his efforts were saved and Holland scored immediately after both times. Donadoni surprised me a bit when he took off Di Natale while being 2-0 down. In between the 70th and 80th minute I wasn't confident yet on a Dutch victory. If Italy had scored 2-1 then I don't know if Holland's defenders would've kept their nerves.