FIFA 2010 World Cup final: Van Persie defends Holland’s tactics
Van Persie has leapt to his team’s defense after they discarded their usual strategy of playing attacking football for a tough tackling approach to the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Spain. Spain reached the final after defeating Germany in the semi-final by a goal to nil.
The only goal in the semi-final for the Spanish was scored by their defender Carles Puyol. Holland defeated Uruguay in the semi-finals to reach the final match of the tournament by three goals to two. Van Bronckhorst scored the first goal of the semi-final match for the Dutch, who ended up as comfortable winners after the match.
Holland’s aggressive strategy in the final resulted in the suspension of one of their central defenders, John Heitenga. Heitenga was sent off after he was shown his second yellow card for a tug on Iniesta’s shirt just outside the Dutch penalty area. A total number of 14 yellow cards were shown during the match by the English referee Howard Webb, who has been blamed by a variety of Dutch footballers for Holland’s failure to win the final match of the tournament.
Spain’s only goal in the final was scored by Iniesta in the second half of extra time. The Barcelona midfielder was put in by Arsenal’s captain and Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, Fabregas’s pass was put into the back of the Dutch net with relative ease by Iniesta.
Almost a week after the final match, Van Persie has come out and said that, people have criticized the Dutch team for giving up their usual attacking style for a more violent one. He said that, it was not as easy on the eye as it usually is with Holland in the final. He asked questions such as, is it more important to reach the final and get results, or play attractive football and get knocked out in the first round?
The Arsenal striker went onto say that, former gunner’s captain Patrick Viera had told him that it is not necessary for a team to play well in the group stages or even the second round of the competition just to win it in the end. He said that, a team only has to grow together in the latter stages of the tournament to get to the final of the World Cup.
Van Persie remarked that this is exactly what Holland did as well. He said that his team’s performance in the second half of the quarter-final match against Brazil was absolutely brilliant. Van Persie also added that, he has experienced playing attractive football and not winning anything with Arsenal. He hinted that maybe he has seen such a thing happen too often at the London club.
The Dutch striker also said that, when Arsenal plays good football against teams like Blackburn or Bolton, their opponents usually score off a free kick or a throw inn. He said in the end that the criticism that the Dutch are suffering from right now is quite associable with what happens at Arsenal. He further added that when someone plays in the final of the World Cup, they are not supposed to go down without a fight.
Tags: