Holland -v- Japan, Sat 12:30pm RTE & ITV HD

redout

Holland -v- Japan

Match 25 - Group E
Durban - Durban Stadium
Saturday 19 June, 2010
12:30pm RTE & ITV HD

redout

The teams were not allowed to train at the stadium last night as officials were worried about the state of the playing surface because of rain.

These two sides only met before Xmas with Holland beating Japan 3-0.

redout

Robben has completed his first full training session since picking up a hamstring injury in one of the warmup games.

The Dutch coach has seemingly said that he wont start though.

Makes sense not to risk him against Japan - Should have enough to beat them without him.

Oat23

We all dream of a team of Eljero Elia's..

Hope he plays.

2-0 to the Dutch.

Daemos

Hope this'll be a good game, I'll have to do a review on it either way

I hope the Dutch win, they've been fantastic recently, and IMO have a genuine chance of winning the World Cup

redout

Robben has been left on the bench.

Netherlands: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 8-Nigel de Jong, 23-Rafael van der Vaart; 9-Robin van Persie.

Japan: 21-Eiji Kawashima; 2-Yuki Abe, 22-Yuji Nakazawa, 4-Tulio, 3-Yuichi Komano; 5-Yuto Nagatomo, 16-Yo****o Okubo, 7-Yasuhito Endo, 17-Makoto Hasebe, 8-Daisuke Matsui; 18-Keisuke Honda.

Referee: Hector Baldassi (Argentina

Frank Spencer

Looks like Didi Hamman is RTÉ's version of Jamie Redknapp wheeling him out for every match!! Albeit a far superior pundit.

Also has Ossie Ardilles made an appearance yet?

redout

I saw Ardiles in South Africa on the BBC about 2 days back!

_Bella_

Interesting... The incentive for the Dutch players if they get through the group stages, unlike England, is that their wives and kids are coming out for three days.

Oat23

Only a matter of time before the Dutch score.

mailburner

not a shot on target yet
japan are no mugs

Oat23

Holland were doing all the attacking for the first 15 minutes, looked like eventually they would work out a chance to score.

Sherifu

A bit of a let down so far.

mike65

Pedestrian stuff.

redout

ITV Commentator

"First Vuvuzela injury reported, a woman in Cape Town with a ruptured throat. She blew to hard on her own trumpet"

ROFL

Mezcita

God this is boring.

_Bella_

According to bbc japan have had 65% of the possession?

Oat23

Got to change something at half time.

I say bring on Elia .

Frisbee

This is poison.

_Bella_

Good break from Japan

missingtime

Pretty dull stuff alright...

EDIT - the vuvuzelas are pretty bad as well

Oat23

Poop.

_Bella_

Kuyt has hardly touched the ball

namloc1980

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......the Dutch look lost going forward.

FreeOSCAR

Fowler87

Bring on the knockout stages... at least both teams will try to win then:rolleyes: Get Robben on !

KerranJast

Holland are trying they obviously just have no guile and ability to get past their man. They're really missing the invention of Robben and Elia.

pickarooney

Wretched stuff from the Dutch. They've spent 45 minutes passing it back to the keeper. Hope they get beaten now.

Handsome Bob

It's bad when the Dutch (as well as the Spanish) can't even entertain. Bloody hell.

_Bella_

I dont think RVP will be topscorer of the tournament...

pickarooney

Shame. Things were looking up after a couple of days of good football but we're right back to this dross since last night.

KerranJast

You have to cut the likes of Netherlands and Spain some slack. They're up against well drilled and organised sides who are packing their midfield and defense. It's obvious Japan's main aim today is a 0-0 draw with maybe a nicked breakaway goal if the Dutch overextend themselves. When the knockouts start and the "smaller" teams have to attack it should open up.

Oat23

Lovely shtuff.

Headshot

he is such a class act

Gillington

Good man Wes

deisedevil

Keeper fooked up.

redout

LZ5by5 wrote: »

It's bad when the Dutch (as well as the Spanish) can't even entertain. Bloody hell.

That is a ridiculous statement to come out with.

The Spanish done everything bar score!

They just couldnt hit the target but it certainly wasnt for a want of trying.

On another day they would have had about 3/4 goals.

Pro. F

Proper order.
What a thunder bolt!
Hopefully they go on to score a few now.

Mars Bar

G'man Wes. Poor by the keeper but sweetly struck all the same.

murpho999

Great Goal from Sneijder.

Improvement in second half by the Dutch is something the English could learn from.

Should be a better game now.

redout

A Dutch win here all but secures first place unless Japan can beat Denmark by a couple of goals and hope Holland lose to Cameroon.

transylman

Japan have some good players. Hopefully they will play now.

Handsome Bob

redout wrote: »

That is a ridiculous statement to come out with.

The Spanish done everything bar score!

They just couldnt hit the target but it certainly wasnt for a want of trying.

On another day they would have had about 3/4 goals.

I don't know about you, but that performance wasn't a patch on what I saw at Euro 08. The team looked quite disjointed to me with a considerable less amount of rhythm about them.

Sherifu

transylman wrote: »

Japan have some good players. Hopefully they will play now.

They're stepping it up a bit now. What a clanger form their keeper though.

UnitedIrishman

Holland, despite looking laboured today and against Denmark, are in better shape than most of the other big sides. They're very well organised and haven't given their opponents much chance on goal which is a good sign. They also have Robben to come back.

Nobody says you have to light up the group stage to win the WC.

redout

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I don't know about you, but that performance wasn't a patch on what I saw at Euro 08. The team looked quite disjointed to me with a considerable less amount of rhythm about them.

You said they didnt entertain.

I would have to disagree and say I quite enjoyed the match.

Perhaps its not Euro 2008 level but they dominated the play.

The majority of the game was played in the Swiss half and they had the lions share of the chances.

In fact the Swiss really only had the two - the goal and the chance which struck the post.

I would have said it was one of the better games of the tournament.

Mars Bar

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

Holland, despite looking laboured today and against Denmark, are in better shape than most of the other big sides. They're very well organised and haven't given their opponents much chance on goal which is a good sign. They also have Robben to come back.

Nobody says you have to light up the group stage to win the WC.

But at half time Japan had 5 shots on goal where as The Netherlands had 3 shots on goal. And Japan have at least another 2 since the second half started.

But they do look quite composed. Very little panicking on the ball.

redout

How many assists does Jabulani have now ? :pac:

pickarooney

The hell with this. I switched back on and three times in as many minutes they've passed it back to the keeper from the half-way line. Holland are taking the piss and I'll be damned if I'll sit and watch them. Pricks.

steelcityblues

I wouldn't have put this Dutch squad in the elite group of favourites anyway, so not surprised by these average performances so far!

transylman

Japan are spent, they'll have to make do with 1-0.

Don't know how any neutral could support Holland. They are a nasty team that resort to dirty tactics as soon as things stop going their way.