I believe it was Nigel Powers who said, "Theres only 2 things I hate in this world...people intolerant of other people's cultures, and the dutch." But even he would have to put aside his bias after these two masterful performances against two of Europe's best from the so called "brilliant orange." Much like the Italians in their first match, France just simply could not handle the multi-pronged Dutch attack. The Dutch stars all mesh very well together. The combination of Van Der Vaart and Sneijder has been sublime and integral to their success. One of those two is the player of the tournament so far for me. Their passing is just so sharp and measured, and they don't know any two ways to play the game. They are always looking to attack or counter-attack, at any point in the match, which is what makes them such a joy to watch.
To France's credit, they did open up and play some decent football and were much more positive than their first match with Romania. It wasn't as if they had a choice in the matter after Kuyt outmuscled the undersized Malouda for the first goal from a corner. Then France were denied a penalty and a chance to tie the game, and it was 2-0 through some horsey face magic from Ruud, Robben's run and ball to find fellow sub Van Persie who did just enough to beat Coupet. Henry's squandered a golden opportunity to make it 2-1, only to convert a far more difficult one on 70 minutes with a touch of class of his own.
But before Domenech could even get his breath, Lilian Thuram was kicking himself and the turf, but not Arjen Robben and he rifled a shot past Gregory Coupet who committed the cardinal sin of goalkeeping in Aaron Segel's mind, and was beaten to his near post. It was game over at that point, Sneijder's goal was just the icing on the cake, but what an icing it was.
The Dutch were always the better team today, but you still have to ask questions of Domenech. Its almost as if he's trying to make the wrong decisions and seal his fate of being fired at the end of the tournament. Babefite Gomis? What? Maybe for the Jamacain national team, but not for France. Benzema, Anelka, Diarra, Cisse, anyone would have been better than Gomis who played like one might expect. And why leave on Maka, who seems to be getting more reckless in the twilight of his career. I just don't get it.
As for the fate of the group, it remains very much in the balance. There is no reason why the Dutch should try to come out and get a result versus Romania, they have no reason to do either France nor Italy any favors. But supposing they draw with Romania, it would let the winner, if only there is a winner progress from the World Cup final rematch. And starting on Sunday, the games are simultaneous, for reasons unbeknown st to me, so it will all be interesting to see how it unfolds.
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