Netherlands beats Armenia 2-0 in World Cup qualifying

AP Worldstream
Mar 30, 2005

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Romeo Castelen scored first-half goals
Wednesday to give the Netherlands a 2-0 win over Armenia in a World
Cup qualifier.

The Dutch lead Group 1 with 16 points, one point more than the Czech
Republic and two more than Romania.

Castelen opened the scoring after three minutes, shooting from close
range after Armenian defenders failed to clear a Mark van Bommel
corner kick.

Half an hour later, Van Nistelrooy collected a pass by Van Bommel and
rounded goalkeeper Roman Berezovski before making it 2-0.

Armenia had its best chance when Armen Shahgeldyan launched an attack
by stealing the ball from Netherlands defender Wilfred
Bouma. Netherlands ‘keeper Edwin van der Sar deflected Ara Hakobyan’s
shot with his legs.

Steady rain made the field slippery and led to clumsy play by both
sides. Armenia played an increasingly defensive game in the second
half.

Berezovski dived to stop a Van Nistelrooy header in the 63rd and slid
into the post. Giovanni van Bronckhorst then hammered a long-range
volley off Armenia’s crossbar.

“We had more shots in the second half even though we played worse,”
Van der Sar said. “The best chances literally slipped away.”