International Friendly – Full time review: Netherlands versus Turkey
The match kicked off brightly at the Amsterdam arena in Holland as it was Turkey who made the home side do the early running. The Turks were on the offensive in the 11th minute of the match as Burak Yilmaz was found
in space in front of the Dutch goal by his midfielders. However, Burak’s finesse shot was brilliantly saved by the Dutch goalkeeper who was on hand to save his team some early blushes. The first half of the encounter was played at a ferocious pace between
the Dutch who made it till the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and Turkey, a team which didn’t even qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
In the 13th minute of the match, Rafael Van Der Vaart played a finely timed pass over the top for his team’s strikers but the Turkish defence was at hand to clear the ball away. Van Der Vaart started the match for
the Dutch due to his brilliant run of form for Tottenham Hotspurs, an English Premier League side that he joined in the summer transfer window for eight million pounds from the Spanish giants, Real Madrid.
Holland had two free kicks in quick succession in the 18th and 20th minutes respectively. The first one was taken by Rafael Van Der Vaart, the Hotspurs player took the set piece but his delivery
was left wanting as it was way off target. The second free kick was taken by the FIFA World player of the year nominee, Wesley Sneijder who couldn’t make the set piece count as well as the score line remained at nil all.
Netherlands controlled the possession early on and the Turks had to resort to anti-football tactics to deal with the quick movement of Huntelaar and Sneijder up front. Whenever Turkey got the ball they tried to find N. Sahin or their winger,
Hamit Altintop with their passes but mostly Dutch had both the skilful players marked.
In the 30th minute of the match, Ibrahim Afellay was on hand for the Dutch to get his shot off on target for his national team side. The young striker who will join Barcelona in the January transfer window as a
deal has been agreed between Ajax and Barcelona already, missed the target by just a difference of inches as the Turks breathed a sigh of relief. The first half of the match ended with both the teams’ level at the score line of nil all.
Netherlands began the second half of the match with a host of changes as Theo Janssen replaced Wesley Sneijder in midfield, Peter Wisgerhof replaced Mathijsen in defence and Robin Van Persie replaced Jermaine Lens in attack for the 2010
World Cup finalists. In the 52nd minute, Dutch took the lead as Hedwiges Maduro played in Huntelaar for Netherlands. The ex-Real Madrid striker finished the chance off perfectly as the score line was brought to 1-0, in favour of the
Dutch.
Umut Bulut had one of the best chances of the second half in the 61st minute to give his side the equalizing goal but the Turkish player was wide of the mark with his header after connecting effectively with a cross
from the right hand side of Turkey’s attack. In the 78th minute, Turks had another chance to pull a goal back but this time Engin Baytar’s shot was off the target as the Dutch were left off the hook for their shabby defending. After
taking the lead, the Dutch gave up their initiative in the match as Turkey saw much more of the ball in midfield.
In the 87th minute, S. Inan got booked from the Turkish national team for a late challenge outside his own penalty area. Nonetheless, the match came to an eventual conclusion with the score line at 1-0 as the Dutch
ended up as final winners of the friendly encounter due to a fine goal by Huntelaar.
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