Holland vs Slovakia

Holland advanced to the next round with a fine overall performance against Slovakia in a predicted victory in Durban.Vintage performances from Arjen Robben,Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneider helped take the Dutch to third gear and i say third gear because there is still alot more to come.With the form he is in at the moment he is most certainly up there with Ronaldo,Messi and Ozeil.How fitting it is that he opened the scoring when Sneider played a fine ball for the ongoing Robben to sprint,collect the ball,come onto his favourite left foot and drill the ball home.Van persie made an intelligent run across Robben to divert attention and despite it being Robbens preferred move it still worked and kept them comfortable for most of the game in a 1-0 lead.For Slovakia, head coach Vladimir Weiss selected his son of the same name, with the Manchester City youngster coming in for Zdeno Strba.Slovakia enjoyed a confident start to the fixture as a bright counter-attack in the second minute saw Weiss pass to Erik Jendrisek, whose strike from outside the box zoomed over the bar.A managers dream is to have a player that will give everything he can and drop every last drop of blood on the field knowing there is not much more you could have give.Dirk Kuyt is not the most technically gifted or talented footballer but one thing he does portray is heart and determination to produce the type of performance that will complement the technically gifted Dutch sides who have produced skillful players generation after generation e.g Ajax Academy

Holland boss Bert van Marwijk opted to keep Kuyt in the team despite the class of  Van DerVaart and that shows his importance in the Dutch side.. The Liverpool forward got his head up and rolled across goal for Sneijder who buried into the exposed goal and ensured of Holland’s progress.But there was to be some cheer for Slovakia when Vittek grabbed his fourth goal of the tournament in the fourth minute of injury-time, dispatching from the penalty spot after a foul by Stekelenburg on Martin Jakubko in the area. Yet it proved nothing more than a consolation.The only sour point for the dutch was on 80 minutes when Van Persie was substituted and couldn’t hide his frustration remonstrating with the coach.This could be analysed in two ways: 1-being that its petulance and signs of the old VanPersie that was temperamental yet individually talented 2-The blessed gifted footballer that has channeled his aggression and hunger to make him a winner despite being plagued with injuries ,showing the drive lacked in the over priced game… Holland 2 Slovakia 1