Dutch Masters

[eiffel_71]

Oh, what a night.

Before the Oranje kicked off against Italy I noticed Van der Vaart was wearing 23, when the away shirt I bought off ebay has his name and number 10. With that, and the little numbers on the front being simply laid over the thin red, white and blue stripes rather than the stripes being broken to accommodate the number (as the picture on ebay had!), I'm now thinking the shirt is either a reject or a snide. And I shelled out £31 plus p&p to win a bidding war for it!

All that was forgotten once we took the lead against Italy on 16 minutes. At first I thought Sneijder's shot had gone straight in and didn't notice the ball touch van Nistelrooij. Neither did the ref, since he gave the goal. I was too elated to care about Ruud being clearly offside; as the commentators constantly repeated that little detail, I found myself saying 'Shut up!'

Even if the Netherlands were a little lucky with that one, nobody could complain about our second or third, both beautiful Total Football goals built up all the way from the back. The Oranje played fine football all game, and I'm confident we will go through to the next phase *crosses fingers*

After we'd gone 2-0 up, Clive Tyldesley mentioned that the last time the Oranje had beaten Italy was 30 years ago. Naturally that got my hopes up that they'd show us Arie Haan's magical goal. After the match, not only was there the pleasure of hearing Steve Rider and Andy Townsend, who'd dissed the Dutch on Saturday, now singing their praises, but Rider said "The Dutch score a classic goal that sticks in the memory every 10 years" and we did indeed see Arie's strike from 1978, plus Marco van Basten's Euro 88-winning goal against Russia and Dennis the Menace's goal against Argentina in '98.

So that's one reason why England must get to host the 2018 World Cup - so I can be there to see the Oranje's next immortal goal in the flesh :)

Comments

[kiwirazzi.livejournal.com]

I am so, so proud of the team. It was a great match, and I truly believe that Oranje can go deep in the tournament now. :o) Bring it on!

[king-laugh.livejournal.com]

It was incredibly beautiful.
And Italy being placed at a disadvantage by dodgy refereeing for once frankly made me cackle! A delicious irony.

[tonight-we-fly.livejournal.com]

Best game of the tournament so far!

[an-inside-job.livejournal.com]

First goal wasn't offside...Panucci was still in play despite being behind the goal line!!

All three goals were wonderful as well as completely 'legal'

Well Done!

[funnynamehere.livejournal.com]

Cracking match and good to see Robin Van Persie looking dangerous. And uninjured. And I can never get enough of seeing Van Basten's goal again and again and again; as for the Bergkamp strike - it's just perfection, isn't it. The man was a genius and deeply, deeply missed.

[karen1074.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the match, but I was very happy when I heard the results!

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

Yesterday afternoon I was telling everybody that Total Football was pretty much over and this Dutch side would be much the same as every other so far this tournament.

Whoops!

I put Tyldesley and Pleat on mute halfway through the second half, not for the first time. I can't stand their habit of repeating details over and over, like with that first goal. And how many times did they have to tell us it was a good game? We could see!

[moonhot97.livejournal.com]

Total Football was pretty much over

Did you read David Winner's piece in FourFourTwo saying exactly that a few weeks ago? I'd been telling myself he was wrong, out of blind optimism, ever since, but last night was glorious proof.

this Dutch side would be much the same as every other so far this tournament

Do you mean all the recent Oranje sides, which I admit haven't been that inspiring, or all the other teams in Euro 2008? The Portuguese and Germans played good football.

I can't stand their habit of repeating details over and over, like with that first goal.

Indeed, they never stopped going on about it for the rest of the first half. And as nikki1804 points out above, it was onside anyway! I miss having Eurosport.

[lorster.livejournal.com]

hey handsome... just checking in to make sure you know i haven't (could never) forgotten about you. :)

hope you get to see that goal!!

[moonhot97.livejournal.com]

Hiya babe, thanks for dropping by - I still read you from time to time too. Hope you're feeling better soon *hugs*

[lorster.livejournal.com]

I am feeling better, thanks. :)
and *hugs* right back atcha!