Posted on 06/13/2014 2:21:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Netherlands earned sweet revenge on Spain on Friday at the Fonte Nova in Salvador, hammering Spain 5-1 to put an emphatic coda on their loss in the 2010 World Cup finals.
Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben both scored twice, and Stefan de Vrij added one to pace the Netherlands after an early and controversial penalty had staked Spain an early lead. And believe it or not, the Dutch could have had a few more. It was the heaviest loss ever suffered by a reigning champion, and it leaves Spain staring at an early exit.
Spain hadn't lost in a Cup match in such a shambolic fashion since 1950 -- fittingly enough, that was against hosts Brazil.
This was the first group stage meeting between the previous World Cup's finalists in history, a seemingly dry fact belied by the rancor of that game. Then, Spain needed extra time to down a Dutch side that should have been reduced to ten men after Nigel de Jong infamously delivered a karate kick to Xabi Alonso's midsection in Johannesburg, South Africa. That was a dirty show from Holland, and no one had forgot it; the question coming in was whether or not they could overcome that bitter history.
Indeed, they could.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
“Just out of curiosity, which city and state?”
Not where I live but Bend Oregon. Beautiful place, amazing nature and super friendly people.
, a few even called it the best team in history.
that has largely been true the last decade or so, but the Netherland has been a much better side than they have shown in major championships, infighting has a cost
No, round robin. Everyone in each group plays each other and the top 2 in each group advance to single elimination.
People are right they are a little long in the tooth... That said, one game is not a statistic. Netherlands is a great team and Spain was dominating for most of the first half, maybe they just had a lousy game, happens to everyone. They will almost certainly advance unless Netherlands loses one.
Went to a real soccer game once. It was as confusing for me to watch, score-wise, as bowling! {^)
I’d rather watch paint dry! Give me a 400 lb. defensive player smashing into a quarterback any day!
Me too, fuuuutball, the game of fruits and nuts. Perfect for Kaleeforneeuh!!!
Are they running the games on tape delay? I’d like to see this one. I caught the end of the Chile Australia game. The socceroos put up a good fight. Their quick-strike offense had a lot of chances.
ESPN is running extended highlights: some program with "Encore" in the title.
http://eloratings.net/Netherlands.htm
One may see their recent results here, in fact every result they have had within reason.
ELO Ratings #5: http://eloratings.net/Netherlands.htm
ELO system is the same as what Chess Players have long been rated by.
If one draws Estonia and Japan, even in friendlies, I guess your rating might drop a little.
FIFA ratings for comparison: http://www.soccerway.com/teams/rankings/fifa/
Longest header in World Cup play since 1970 in regards to Van Persie’s first goal. That was a thing of beauty, most of the Dutch playing was in fact. They got away from that style for awhile.
Here is a fairly simple look at the World Cup groups, table-wise from a website that largely comes out of Holland (and England):
http://us.soccerway.com/international/world/world-cup/2014-brazil/group-stage/r16351/
Here is our group G table: http://us.soccerway.com/international/world/world-cup/2014-brazil/group-stage/group-g/g4841/
Discussions on our USA soccer team, http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/usa-men.131/
I don’t participate their but you might find some interesting reading.
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