Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netherlands. Show all posts
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal booked their Euro 2012 quarter-final place with a 2-1 win against Netherlands in Kharkiv.
The Portuguese captain defied criticism of his performances with a magnificent display to secure second place in Group B and a last-eight meeting with the Czech Republic.
The Dutch suffered a third defeat in as many games, wilting after Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring with a superb goal on 11 minutes.
Thereafter Portugal - in particular Ronaldo - ran riot. The Real Madrid forward scored on 28 and 74 minutes, and struck the woodwork twice for good measure.
He has now scored in three European Championship finals, and made amends for his wayward shooting against Germany and Denmark.
Knowing his team had to win by at least two goals to have any chance of going through, Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk bowed to public pressure by bringing Van der Vaart and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar into an attacking formation.
He sacrificed skipper Mark van Bommel and Ibrahim Afellay, while Ron Vlaar replaced Johnny Heitinga at the back.
The change appeared to pay immediate dividends, as the Dutch tore into their opponents from the off, with Robin van Persie operating as a deep striker behind Huntelaar, and Van der Vaart even deeper in central midfield.
And it was Van der Vaart, wearing the captain's armband, who broke the deadlock with a peach of a strike, taking Arjen Robben's lay-off and curling a 20-yard shot into the left corner of Rui Patricio's net.
That goal sent Denmark through on the 'as it stands' table, though Portugal were soon back in second place when Germany took the lead against the Danes in Lviv. The table changed again when Denmark equalised, but back in Kharkiv Portugal had started to dominate.
The flipside of Van Marwijk's attacking formation was that his side looked extremely porous in midfield, and Portugal flowed through them with ease.
Ronaldo hit the outside of the post, before Helder Postiga missed a one-on-one following a terrible Gregory van der Wiel backpass.
Ronaldo went close again with a header Maarten Stekelenburg clawed to safety, but he was not to be denied.
On 28 minutes sloppy play from the Jetro Willems gave Joao Pereira possession, and the Portugal right-back slid Ronaldo through with one of the passes of the tournament - and the Portugal captain found the net at last.
Holland, clad all in black, could not stem the red tide. Nani struck a low shot just wide, before Ronaldo stung Stekelenburg's hands with a long-range effort.
The second half brought a slight tactical shift from the Dutch, with Wesley Sneijder taking a more central role, but Van Marwijk did nothing to address the lack of bite in midfield.
The otherwise wasteful Postiga had the ball in the net on the hour mark when he turned in a Ronaldo shot, but his effort was rightly ruled out for offside.
Portugal continued to dominate, and were particularly potent on the counter-attack. On 66 minutes Ronaldo teed up his club-mate Fabio Coentrao, who brought a fine diving save from Stekelenburg.
Van Marwijk responded by removing a defender and bringing on Ibrahim Afellay - succeeding only in making his side more vulnerable on the break.
Shortly afterwards, Ronaldo teed up Nani, whose close range shot brought a brilliant save from Stekelenburg - but a more precise finish would have given the goalkeeper no chance.
There was no reprieve two minutes later, when roles were reversed and Nani supplied Ronaldo, who cut inside Van der Wiel and picked out the bottom-left corner.
That goal sparked an on-pitch row between Van der Vaart and Robben as the fractious Dutch saw their tournament definitively ended.
Van der Vaart at least hit the post with a curling right-foot effort, before the out-of-sorts Van Persie missed a clear opportunity.
There was still time for Ronaldo to crack a left-foot shot against the base of the right upright at the end of a thoroughly impressive performance.
Three games, three defeats. So ends a desperate tournament for the Netherlands.
Mario Gomez scored twice in a humid Kharkiv as Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 in Euro 2012 Group B, a result that leaves the Dutch facing the exit door.
Bayern Munich striker Gomez scored two delightful goals on 24 and 38 minutes from two pinpoint passes by Bastian Schweinsteiger to add to his winner against Portugal in the opening round of games as Joachim Loew's side threatened to put the match beyond their fierce rivals before half-time.
It was a minor miracle how the Dutch remained in the match until the 73rd minute when Robin van Persie drilled the ball home from distance to give his country hope before they conclude their group matches against Portugal on Sunday evening. Somewhat astonishingly, they are facing an early exit at the Euros only two years after losing to Spain in the World Cup final.
The Netherlands need to beat Portugal by two clear goals and hope Germany overcome Denmark to reach the quarter-finals while Germany must gain at least a point against the Danes to be certain of progress.
Germany will only be denied a spot in the last eight if they lose to Denmark and Portugal overcome the Netherlands. It would then come down to the head-to-heads between the teams to decide who goes through.
With Germany on six points and Denmark and Portugal on three after Portugal's 3-2 win over Denmark earlier in the day, it is worth noting that no team has reached the knockout phase of a European Championship finals after losing their opening two matches.
History is against the Dutch, but at least Van Persie's goal gives them hope of making it through against all the odds. They improved in the second period after being pressed back by a young German side for large swathes of the first period.
As was the case in their 1-0 defeat to Denmark on Saturday, the Dutch came up with a couple of chances early on, but Van Persie screwed an effort wide of goal from Arjen Robben's pass on 10 minutes while the ineffectual Ibrahim Afellay cut the ball across goal for Van Persie but his poor delivery enabled Mats Hummels to make the clearance.
Gomez made them pay when he took one touch from Schweinsteiger's pass before beating Maarten Stekelenburg with the second in the heart of the Dutch area.
Germany should have earned a second goal when Holger Badstuber headed straight at Stekelenburg from Mesut Ozil's cross on 37 minutes.
They did not have to wait long for another uplifting moment as Gomez beat Stekelenburg with a delicious finish from another Schweinsteiger pass as the Dutch defence was cut to shreds on the edge of their own area.
It was the first time at a World Cup or European Championship finals that the Dutch national side had been two goals behind at half-time.
Coach Bert van Marwijk swapped the tiring Mark van Bommel and Afellay for Rafael van der Vaart and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at half-time, but Hummels almost added a third goal for Germany on 51 minutes when he walloped a couple of efforts at goal only for Stekelenburg to stand tall in repelling his efforts.
The Netherlands were fortunate to be alive in the contest, but gave themselves fresh hope when Van Persie thumped a shot beyond Manuel Neuer from distance after the Germany goalkeeper had denied Van Persie with a diving stop. Wesley Sneijder also lifted an effort wide of goal that might have dipped in on another day or another tournament, but these finals do not look like turning orange.
Despite plenty of huff and puff, the Dutch could not find a way to salvage a draw they were hardly worth with Robben appearing to lose his cool when he hurdled an advertising board on the far side of the pitch after he was replaced by Dirk Kuyt before walking back to the technical area via the side of the park.
It was an act of folly that suggests all is not well in the Dutch squad before they conclude against Portugal on Sunday.
Denmark
blew Euro 2012's Group of Death wide open courtesy of Michael
Krohn-Dehli's opportunistic goal in an astonishing 1-0 win over the
Netherlands at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv.
The Dutch fell to defeat despite having over 60 percent of possession and 32 shots at goal.
It
was Sparta Rotterdam midfielder Krohn-Delhi who handed Morten Olsen's
side the three points from the Group B match when he drove the ball
through the legs of goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on 24 minutes.
Denmark
next face Portugal while the Netherlands must avoid defeat against
bitter foes Germany later on Wednesday night to avoid tumbling out of
the tournament at the group stage two years after they lost to Spain in
the World Cup final.
The
Dutch went on to win Euro 88 after losing their opening match to the
old Soviet Union, but they will need to call on all their powers of
recovery with too many of their leading performers suffering form lapses
in the key moments of this contest.
Despite
being clearly superior on the ball to Denmark, men such as Arjen
Robben, Ibrahim Afellay and Robin van Persie could not unearth the goals
their country needed to avoid defeat on a hot and humid night in
Ukraine.
With
Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger in supreme form at the heart of the Danish
defence, the Dutch eventually ran out of ideas which will be the most
worrying aspect of the defeat for coach Bert van Marwijk overseeing a
country that has been littered with episodes of self-implosion over the
years at such tournaments.
The
Netherlands have made it out of the group stages in their last six
appearances at the European Championship. They are the only side to have
done this, but may need to beat Germany to salvage that record.
Having
scored 37 goals in qualifying - more goals than any other country - the
Netherlands were expected to wallow in goals against a country who had
not beaten them in open play since 1967.
But
the night became a struggle before a stadium that was disappointingly
not full as Van Persie slipped a shot wide of goal on seven minutes
before Lars Jacobsen dashed back to make a vital intervention as Robben
tried to play in Wesley Sneijder rather than opt to shoot.
Krohn-Delhi had no such issues as he bounded beyond Johnny Heitinga before finishing with some expertise.
The
chances came and went for the Dutch from that point onwards with Robben
hitting a post after an error by Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen,
who later dived to nudge a shot by Mark van Bommel past a post.
He also saved from substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar as the Dutch finished with Huntelaar and Van Persie on the pitch.
It
became increasingly silly to watch with the Netherlands dominant but
toothless. Having said that, Denmark were also rescued by two moments of
good fortune as Simon Poulsen and Lars Jacobsen avoided penalties in
either half despite clearly handling the ball on both occasions.
Sneijder
created 10 goalscoring chances for the Netherlands. No player has
produced more in a European finals match in the past 32 years, but it
meant little as he slumped to his knees at full-time.
Denmark had probably worked hard for their slices of good fortune.
England narrowly avoided embarrassment against the unfancied Netherlands in their opening World Cup game in Nagpur with a six-wicket win.
A bowling and fielding performance which descended into farce coupled with a superb century from Ryan ten Doeschate left England chasing a difficult target of 293 runs to secure victory.
Opening pair Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen put on a century partnership as they set about the total, and though wickets fell at inopportune times, England eked out a victory in the penultimate over.
The batsmen were given a task far bigger than they would have expected on a lifeless pitch after the Dutch had won the toss and elected to bowl.
A confident opening from Dutch duo Alexei Kervezee and Wesley Barresi got the Dutch off to a bright start, with Barresi crashing six boundaries in a 25-ball 29.
When the duo fell - Kervezee to a looped catch to wicketkeeper Matt Prior and Barresi to a sharp stumping as England introduced the spin of Graeme Swann - Tom Cooper and Ten Doeschate set about forming an excellent partnership.
Cooper anchored as England took pace off the ball, with none of their pacemen proving particularly effective.
Ten Doeschate, meanwhile, settled into excellent rhythm, bringing up his half-century after a getting a life when an extraordinary mix-up between Pietersen and James Anderson saw neither fielder try to catch an eminently reachable shot off Swann's bowling.
Cooper fell just short of his fifty, but Ten Doeschate persevered and plundered runs as the quicks bowled too short.
Inventive cameos from Tom de Grooth and Peter Borren gave the Netherlands innings renewed momentum as Ten Doeschate blazed his way to an impressive ton.
England's fielding meanwhile, fell apart, with the worst display for some months including simple chances dropped by the likes of Swann, and a farcical no-ball denying Stuart Broad the wicket of Borren as it transpired that England did not have three fielders in the infield, as the laws of the game required.
A total of 292 for the loss of six wickets was by some way the Netherlands' best display against an established cricketing nation at the 50-over World Cup, and made for a tricky chase.
Pietersen and Strauss made a bright reply, but Pietersen, who was tackling the role of opener in one-day internationals for the first time, found himself bogged down all of a sudden against the medium-pace attack and eventually pushed a simple catch to Borren off the bowling of left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar.
Jonathan Trott batted patiently with Strauss, and again with Ian Bell as the captain fell to a pull for an 83-ball 88.
But Trott and then Bell succumbed in the last 10 overs to Ten Doeschate - who backed up his innings with two wickets for 47 runs with the ball - to set up a tense finale.
Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara started slowly, but their class told as the game entered its final stages, and Bopara punished Bernard Loots in the penultimate over with 16 runs from four balls to take England to victory.
There was relief all-round to have avoided another upset at the hands of the side who defeated them at Lord's in the 2009 World Twenty20 at Lord's, but plenty to address after a performance which leaves them ill-prepared for facing tournament favourites India on Sunday.
Coach
* Bert van Marwijk
Goalkeepers
* Sander Boschker
* Maarten Stekelenburg
* Michel Vorm
Defenders
* Khalid Boulahrouz
* Edson Braafheid
* Johnny Heitinga
* Joris Mathijsen
* André Ooijer
* Gregory van der Wiel
Midfielders
* Ibrahim Afellay
* Nigel de Jong
* Demy de Zeeuw
* Stijn Schaars
* Wesley Sneijder
* Mark van Bommel
* Giovanni van Bronckhorst
* Rafael van der Vaart
Strikers
* Ryan Babel
* Eljero Elia
* Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
* Dirk Kuyt
* Arjen Robben
* Robin van Persie
The twenty20 World Cup new Schedule, Teams and Groups has been announced for 2009 twenty20 world cup which will be played in England. In 2009 twenty20 world cup the total 27 number of matches will be played which is same as 2007 world cup but the period is longer than the previous edition.
2009 twenty20 world cup will be played from 5th of June to 21st June 2009. Opening game will be played between host England and the twenty20 world qualifier runners-up Ireland.
During meeting on 20th August 2008 Zimbabwe Cricket board confirmed that they will not take part in twenty20 World Cup 2009. That means Scotland which are placed 3rd during twenty20 world qualifier will now play the twenty20 world cup.
Total 12 teams : India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands will participate in 2009 twenty20 cup.
The ICC has also announced top two ranked teams in each group and given them a number 1 and 2 respectively. They will retain this number irrespective of whether they finish first or second in the group.
For example if Bangladesh top ranked Group A and India finished second in the same group; India will still remain as A1 and Bangladesh will remain as A2 in Super Eights stages.If Ireland knockout Bangladesh in Group A then Ireland will become A2.
Groups
Group A: India, Bangladesh, Ireland
Group B: England, Pakistan, Netherlands
Group C: Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland
| Twenty20 World Cup 2009 : Match schedule & start timings | |||
| Date & Match | Versus | Venue | Start Time |
| 05 June 2009, M01 | Eng vs Neld | Lords | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 06 June 2009, M02 | NZ vs Scld | Oval | 10.00am UK, 2.30pm India |
| 06 June 2009, M03 | Aus vs WI | Oval | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 06 June 2009, M04 | Ind vs Bng | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 07 June 2009, M05 | RSA v Scld | Oval | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 07 June 2009, M06 | Eng v Pak | Oval | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 08 June 2009, M07 | Ireld vs Bng | Nottingham | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 08 June 2009, M08 | Aus vs SL | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 09 June 2009, M09 | Pak v Neld | Lords | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 09 June 2009, M10 | NZ vs RSA | Lords | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 10 June 2009, M11 | SL vs WI | Nottingham | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 10 June 2009, M12 | Ind v Ireld | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 11 June 2009, M13 | D1 vs A2 | Nottingham | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 11 June 2009, M14 | B2 vs D2 | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 12 June 2009, M15 | B1 vs C2 | Lords | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 12 June 2009, M16 | A1 vs C1 | Lords | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 13 June 2009, M17 | C1 vs D2 | Oval | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 13 June 2009, M18 | B1 vs D1 | Oval | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 14 June 2009, M19 | A2 vs C2 | Lords | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 14 June 1009, M20 | A1 vs B2 | Lords | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 15 June 2009, M21 | B2 vs C1 | Oval | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 15 June 2009, M22 | B1 vs A2 | Oval | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 16 June 2009, M23 | D1 vs C2 | Nottingham | 1.30pm UK, 6.00pm India |
| 16 June 2009, M24 | D2 vs A1 | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 18 June 2009, M25 | 1st Semi-Final | Nottingham | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 19 June 2009, M26 | 2nd Semi-Final | Oval | 5.30pm UK, 10.00pm India |
| 21 June 2009, M27 | Grand Final | Lords | 3.00pm UK, 7.30pm India |
