The Dutch winning streak came to a dissapointing close against the Russians in the Euro.
Not since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the thawing in the Cold War or the break up of the Soviet Union has Russia threatened the latter stages of a major international football tournament. The last time was 1988, when in the midst of Glasnost and Perestroika the USSR was defeated by Holland in the final of the European Championships by Marco Van Basten's wonder goal. Revenge was dished out in kind Saturday night however as a young, aggressive Russian side produced a brand of breathtaking attacking football to knock the now Van Basten led Netherlands out of Euro 2008. What's more, the architect of Russia's victory was Guus Hiddink – a Dutchman.
The truth is though that the Russians have been coming for a while now, their success in reaching the semi finals in Switzerland and Austria is something that has been threatening to happen for a number of years now. Russian football is a growing force on the international scene, fuelled by the millions produced form the harnessing of the countries great natural resources and handled by the supremely rich class known as the oligarchs. The Russian game is awash with cash, and substantial investment has gone into many of the sides competing in its domestic championship. We have seen just this season the impact that Russian sides are now having in Europe with the outstanding victory of Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final in Manchester just under two months ago. This came on the back of CSKA Moscow's triumph in the same competition in 2005.
So what does this mean? It means the Dutch were greatly outplayed. The Van Basten side, with the substitutions of Van Percy and others, were greatly ineffective. And the Dutch, who are known to be a team with great pace, were greatly outclassed and outpaced. The Dutch, recently just dropping out of the top 10 rankings in the world, have clearly been descending into a downward spiral. On the other hand, the Russians, have been rising.
Perhaps it is time for a change in football scenery? Will the Russians win the Euro, and be a Cinderella story like the Greeks? And what changes will occur for the Dutch? (Robben did not receive any playing time...)
However, it is safe to say that both countries have large futures ahead. With rising stars in both countries, both Russia and the Dutch look to perform in the upcoming World Cup in Africa.
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2 comments:
Legit
Yo kelvin,
I'm finally glad to see that there are avid soccer fans.
Legit
I say Van Basten is to blame. Should have sub off the either Van der Vaart or Sneijder for Robben. Robben would've been more effective in terms of attack, working with Van Persie and running down the wing and sending balls in. Instead Van Basten puts in Affelay who didn't contribute a whole lot to the dutch side throughout the tournament.
The poor performance of the dutch defence could also be another reason for the loss. Yet through qualifying and the group stage they looked solid only allowing a goal through the first 3 matches of the tournament. Perhaps the fact that Italy, France and Romania were just very weak in defence compared to the Russia could explain why the dutch had so much success against the former but very little against Russia.
That's just my two cents.
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