The style of play on the pitch is not the only beautiful aspect of Dutch football! (flickr:stewied)
The first five days of matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup are in the books. More importantly for me, my three favorite footballing nations have all played already. I’m American, so I root for the USA of course. Although in football, the Netherlands are my favorite. Their attacking style and total football philosophy are just an absolute joy to watch. I also like to see Australia do well – although I focus primarily on the Dutch and Americans.
First off, the USA more than held their own against a supierior (on paper) England squad. I like England’s chances to go far this year with the way Fabio Capello has the team playing, so for the Americans to come away with a point in this match was huge. Granted, it took a horrifying goalkeeping error (although Robert Green did do well to stop Jozy Altidore’s second half near post effort) to gift us the point. That and the usual solid keeping from Tim Howard. Also impressive that the Americans kept their comosure after conceding the early Steven Gerrard goal.
Australia… well the Socceroos didn’t look so impressive against Germany. Maybe things would’ve been different had Tim Cahill or Richard Garcia found the net in that 3rd minute flurry in front of goal. After that, however, it was all Deutchland. The Germans looked very impressive, although I figured the Aussies would give them a better game.
My primary attention was directed toward the Netherlands-Denmark Group E encounter. I am happy with the win and three points, despite Oranje not playing at their best. Perhaps it is best to ease into the tournament like some countries like Italy and Brazil tend to do. I think Holland may have peaked too early at the last major tournament (Euro 2008) after starting out with 3-0 and 4-1 wins over previous World Cup finalists Italy and France, respectively, so perhaps this will be better.
General thoughts on the Dutch performance… they seemed to be a bit slow in their passing and build-up. Perhaps nerves, also perhaps due to Denmark’s defensive organization. Tactically, I don’t think Rafael Van der Vaart played his role well. He should have acted as a true winger on the left rather than drifting into center. It took space away from Wesley Sneijder. It’s tough because those two are very similar players and can be that central player who sets up the attack. I think people saw when Eljero Elia came on for vdVaart, that the Dutch were much more dynamic. The Danes crowded the middle, and Elia was able to use his speed and tricks to create more opportunities.
Some people think he should start in the next match. I’m not sure about this. He is great a great spark to bring on in the second half against tired defenders. I’d might give vdVaart another chance on the wing (he is too good not to play), or go with Ibrahim Afellay. He looked impressive in some of the friendlies leading up and seemed to have a good link-up with Robin van Persie. Speaking of RvP, I have high expectations for the Arsenal front man and think he could be a leading candidate for the Golden Boat award. Especially considering he is relatively fresh having missed a good chunk of the Premier League season and has been in good form since returning from injury. He didn’t have a great performance against Denmark, however. He had opportunities to score, but seemed to take too many touches or was making slow/poor decisions. I think the remaining matches will be better from him and the team.
I’ll probably have another update this weekend after all three teams have played their second matches. US faces Slovenia on Friday, and then both the Dutch and the Aussies play Saturday morning. Luckily my tennis match for Saturday at 8:30 a.m. has been rescheduled for Thursday evening!! Just added the three countries’ schedules on my Google calendar so I shouldn’t make that mistake again!
