FIFA World Cup 2010 Final Report: Netherlands’s Path To The Final
Holland take on Spain in the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Sunday. Their path to the final has been quite difficult but with form on their side, the Dutch have done amazingly well.
Holland’s world cup squad consists of several star players, such as Robben who plays for Bayern Munich and took his club to the final of the UEFA Champions League in the last league season. Holland also have the services of Wesley Sneijder at their disposal, who has been tremendous so far in the World Cup and has continued his club form for his country.
Sneijder came to the World Cup at the back of a highly successful season with Inter Milan, a season in which Inter won the treble with Jose Mourinho as their club manager. Holland were paired with Japan, Denmark and Cameroon in a fairly tough group for the group stages of the FIFA World Cup 2010.
Holland played their first match against Denmark at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, the same stadium where they will play Spain in the final match of the World Cup. Spain’s starting eleven was devoid of Arjen Robben, as their speedy winger had picked up a hamstring injury before the World Cup even started.
The Danish were expected to give their continental neighbors a tough time but the Dutch won out easily in the end by two goals to nil. The first of the Dutch goals was an own goal by Daniel Agger in the 46th minute of the match. Holland’s second goal of the match was scored by Dirk Kuyt.
In their second group stage match, Holland played Japan at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Japan were the dark horses of the group and gave Dutch a much harder time than expected. However, near the end Dutch quality emerged victorious as their star midfielder; Wesley Sneijder scored the only goal of the match in the 83rd minute.
The third group stage match was a formality for the Dutch because they had already qualified for the knockout stage of the tournament. The match itself ended in a Netherlands win after Van Persie and Huntelaar scored for the Dutch. The final score was 2-1 as Cameroon scored off a penalty which was awarded to them in the 65th minute of the match.
Holland faced Slovakia in their round of sixteen tie. The match proved to be easy going for the Dutch who scored a 2-1 victory over the Slovaks as Robben and Sneijder scored for them. For the Slovaks, Vittek was on target with a last minute penalty.
In the quarter finals, Netherlands came up against the mighty Brazilians. In what was an eventful match, The Dutch went a goal down in the early stages of the first half. In the second half, they equalized through a Wesley Sneijder free kick which forced a mistake from the Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Caesar.
Shortly after that, Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo was sent off after stomping on Arjen Robben’s thigh. Brazil never really got back into the match after that and Sneijder scored his second goal of the match to seal a 2-1 victory for the Dutch.
In the semi-finals, Holland faced Uruguay in an attempt to seal their place in the final of the World Cup. The Dutch controlled possession throughout the match and scored the first goal through their captain Van Bronckhorst. Uruguay’s reply was swift as their own captain, Diego Forlan scored from a shot which was taken from outside the Dutch penalty area.
The Dutch came out as a much more focused unit in the second half and scored two more goals through Sneijder and Robben respectively. Uruguay attempted a late comeback when Perriera scored for them in the 92nd minute of the match but it all ended in despair for the South Africans as they lost the match by 3 goals to 2.
Brazil’s knockout at the hands of the Dutch from the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been the brightest moment of the Dutch road to the final so far. They are expected to give Spain a tough time but yet again they enter a big match in this tournament as the underdogs.
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