The first game of the day saw Holland come against Denmark. The outcome was a major shock as Nicklas Bendtner's Denmark beat a much fancied Holland side through a well taken goal from Michael Krohn-Deli. Holland, bolstered by such in form players as Robin Van Persie and Klaas Jan Huntelaar failed to take any of their 29 chances on the Denmark goal, of which only 6 were on target. All those chances would indicate that the Danes were very poor at the back. However that was not the case as Kjaer and Agger were a formidable force at the back, compare that to the Dutch who were very poor defensively. It was an extremely disappointing performance from the Netherlands with all their attacking quality, unfortunately couldn't equal that at the back. Denmark though, do have their defensive efforts to thank as the final score finished Holland 0-1 Denmark.
The second game of the day, and the second game in the supposed 'Group of Death' saw pre-tournament favourites Germany play Portugal. It was the first time for Arsenal fans to see Podolski in action since his proposed move to Arsenal, meanwhile other Arsenal player, Per Mertesacker was on the bench. Both sides failed to really get going and it took a fine header from Mario Gomez, moments before he was about to be taken off, to seal the game for the Germans. Portugal almost looked like coming away with a point as Varela had a great chance near the end but Manuel Neuer made a great stop to keep him at bay. Arguably the best player in the competition, Cristiano Ronaldo didn't have the greatest of games and will look to improve when Portugal next play. The final score ended Germany 1-1 Portugal in a far from convincing days play of football from some of Europe's big teams.
 |
| Robin Van Persie had several chances to score in Hollands game against Denmark |
No comments:
Post a Comment