Robben lifts Netherlands over Slovakia
For the Netherlands, Arjen Robben's return couldn't have come a moment too soon. The Dutch superstar, who plies his trade with Bundesliga during the club season, scored in his first game back in the tournament to lift the Netherlands over Slovakia 2-1 in Group of 16 action Monday. The win means the Dutch get the unenviable task of playing Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIFA South Africa World Cup.
The Dutch used the tenacious defence that let them go undefeated and un-scored upon in all of their group matches to stymie the Slovakian offence until the 93rd minute, when Robert Vittek scored a goal on what was literally the very last play of the game, a penalty kick. By then, the Netherlands' advance into the quarter finals was completely assured, with the only bright spot for the Slovakians being that Vittek's goal made him the team's all-time leading scorer, and the tied leading goalscorer of the tournament thus far with four.
Rather than using their trademark precision passing style and control of the midfield to score goals, it was individual efforts that twice put the Netherlands' on the board. Robben took a pass from Wesley Sneijder, but then looked fantastic cutting in to take a shot to put the ball behind the Slovakian goalkeeper. Their second goal came off of some nice work around the net by Dirk Kuyt, feeding Sneijder beautifully in the 84th minute, who gave the Dutch their second goal of the game.
Slovakian offence goes silent
The offence of Slovakia became the talk of the tournament after they scored three goals on soccer giant Italy to knock the Azzurri out of the World Cup in the group stages. What made it even more impressive is that the Italians had previously been famous for their defence, to the point it was nicknamed the "Berlin Wall" during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which Italy won.
But the offence that looked so effective against the defending champions looked completely different against a tenacious defence from the Netherlands. Most of their shots came from far out, around the 35-minute mark and the Slovakians failed to create many chances around the Dutch box, with a couple of exceptions.
In the 67th minute the Slovakians finally made Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg work, with a shot from Miroslav Stoch going straight towards the net before being deflected by a lunging Stekelenburg. In the 78th minute, Vittek nearly scored but fired the ball over the net. Overall though, it was the Dutch who controlled the pace of the play, something the Dutch coach, Bert van Marjwik was quick to point out.
"They could have made an equalizer and we might have even lost, but I think if you look at the whole match, I think we deserved to win by far," van Marwijk said.
The question will now be whether they'll be able to continue their defensive mastery to frustrate the best team in the world, Brazil, in their next game.
Robben's return pays off
After the match, Slovakian coach Vladimir Weiss had nothing but praise for Robben.
"We were preparing for the past three days for Robben, for his way of playing, but he's an absolute genius," said Weiss. "He really knows what he's doing, and that's why he's played for the clubs for which he's played."
Robben looked explosive from the first minute, and nearly scored later in the game. But he's got a bigger prize in mind than simply making the quarter finals.
"I think in the past, everybody said about the Dutch team that they play nice football but never win something," Robben said. "That's also something we know and want to improve."
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