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Dutch really need to win in a big way this evening after Ireland drew
against Portugal this afternoon. Louis van Gaal said before the match that
he would rather have seen either Portugal or Ireland win today and that
Holland will now also need a win against Ireland in Dublin and will
still have to take part in the playoffs to get to Korea. Kevin Hofland
dropped out with gastric flu leaving Van Gaal with last minute adjustments
- Van der Sar in goal, Zenden, Mario Melchiot, Patrick Pauuwe and Michael
Reiziger, Cocu and De Boer, Kluivert and Hesselbaink up front with Roy Makaay
on the right wing and Overmars on the left. Building work has been going
on at the tiny, still half-finished Lillekula
stadium in Tallinn right up to the last minute, installing the last seats
and crowd barriers to meet the minimum standards FIFA have set. Holland
got off in a rather sloppy fashion, with too many bad balls/passes,
against a team with a wildly enthusiastic crowd behind them. The
atmosphere was really great in this cosy venue - lively is not the word.
Holland started to push Estonia back and it began to look (as we might
reasonably expect) as if it was just a question of time before Oranje
finally got into gear and put one away. Unfortunately, after numerous
opportunities to score, and 25 minutes of play there still wasn't a goal on the
board and Estonia were also starting to look more and more confident.
Makaay shot just wide from an Overmars pass but Estonia had the best
chance of the first half in the 43rd minute saved by Van der Sar who
pushed a header away from where it was headed - the top right hand corner.
As halftime drew near the home team came close to delivering a
pre-dressing room shock from two corners against a powerless, so-called
'better' Oranje who just couldn't get on target and in gear, looking
rather sleepy. So it was somewhat of a relief that it was still 0
- 0 when the whistle sounded for the break.
In the 2nd half Holland looked more
like they meant business - I'm sure Louis van Gaal had something to say
in the break about the seriousness of the situation. We want to see goals,
lots of them and a flowing Oranje at work! Van Nistelrooy replaced
Hesselbaink and Landzaat came on for Pauuwe in the 59th minute. It didn't
matter as the earthquake-shock came when Estonia broke and scored with a
great move and a great goal from Andres Opper in the 66th minute. Thank god for Frank de
Boer who got the instant equalizer (show of mental strength under the
'doping' circumstances) with a terrific 30 metre distance shot in the 70th. Pierre
van Hooijdonk came on for Makaay and Holland finally started to wake up -
de Boer is really the heart of this team, galvanising them into action
when none else can. But this incredible Estonian team, coached by former
Cruijff student Arno Pijpers, did it again in the 78th minute when
substitute Indrek Zelinski scored a 2nd and almost had a 3rd minutes later as a
shell-shocked Oranje reeled. Van Nistelrooy drew Holland level again in
the 83rd but, even though the Dutch looked far more motivated than at any
other time in the match, they were lucky to escape again in the 87th
minute. Kluivert snatched a 3rd with a clear-headed header in the 90th
and, in the aftershock, an Estonian defensive blunder gave Van Nistelrooy
the chance to make it 4 - 2 during injury time. Lucky so and so's - they left it dangerously
close to having no way back before doing the job they're paid for. Oranje
have a reputation for going to the edge, and they did so again tonight
against a brave Estonian team who can look back in pride on the first
match in this great little stadium.
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