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| Holland
beat Belarus 3 - 0 |
07 Sep 2002
|
After a series of less-than-satisfying friendlies
earlier this year, and the very-real disappointment of missing the World
Cup, Oranje's first real test on the road to Portugal in 2004 got underway
tonight. Belarus looked to be anything but an easy adversary in the early part of the match, tough in the man-to-mans and throwing up a defensive wall
as soon as Oranje attacked. Holland had a rather ragged start and it proved difficult for the Dutch national team
to make much of an impression on the ground or in the air. Their bestng goal-scoring
opportunity came after 20 minutes when Edgar Davids rushed into the box to pick
up a Kluivert header, but his shot went just over. The Juventus midfielder
seemed to be the element that Holland had been missing so badly, his
restless energy providing the motor that pushed the team forward. In the 27th Kluivert
picked up a Cocu pass on the edge of the box and laid it back to Van Bommel
whose shot went over. Oranje finally went ahead with a cracking 16
metre Davids
shot in the 35th and two minutes later Kluivert headed in a 2nd. It gave Holland some confidence as they piled on some
extra pressure, Davids letting fly again with a cracking shot only two minutes
later. Oranje closed the 1st half looking a good deal more impressive
than in recent matches and with a comfortable lead.
The Dutch dominated
theng quarter of an hour of the 2nd half while the Belarussians couldn't get out of their own half.
Van
Nistelrooy was unable to impress during the course of the match, showing he's still lacking the sharpness he displayed last season
for Manchester United. Later in the half Kluivert headed the ball down to him in front of
goal, normally speaking a 'can't-miss' situation but 'Van the Man' failed to slam it into the net. Hasselbaink and
Van der Vaart were brought on after 70 minutes to replace the ineffective
Van Nistelrooy and the very effective Davids. The change had an almost
immediate desired effect when Van der Vaart served up Kluivert with
a pass that the Barcelona striker fed through to Hasselbaink who notched up
his 8th international goal in 21 matches for the 3-0. Unfortunately, Van
der Vaart's appearance was a short one as a daring solo-run ended in a foul
on the Ajax-talent which put him back on the bench, to be replaced by
Reiziger. Romaschenko was sent-off for a foul on Hasselbaink which earned
him his 2nd yellow card in the 85th. Holland's squad and Oranje-coach
Dick Advocaat will be happy with the result which sees them top of group C.
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