ARMENIA VS. THE NETHERLANDS 0:1 REPORT

Jadran Sport, Serbia and Montenegro
Sept 4 2005

– Dutch sign in all three points with minor use of their power –
by Arnoldus Holland

With the performance the Dutch presented us with this Saturday against
Armenia it’s hard likely to believe that their team is being made out
of the best European players. Luckily Manchester United’s striker Ruud
van Nistelrooy was on the right place on the right time to ship the
ball behind the Armenian goalkeeper thirty minutes before the finish
to ensure The Netherlands all three points.

Throughout the game the Dutch had more ball possession, but the bumpy
pitch didn’t really allow them to create any serious chances, neither
did they look too interested in making them. So the beginning was
mostly full of shots from distance that weren’t even close to end up
in the back of the Artmenian net.

Something finally changed when the chief Marco van Basten sent PSV
Eindhoven’s striker Jan Vennegoor up front after one hour play. The
strong player headed the ball with his first ball contact towards
Ruud van Nistelrooij. The player of Manchester United turned away
from his marker and kicked the ball diagonally into the corner of
the goal for 0:1.

After the goal was scored The Netherlands didn’t really need to do
anything more as Armenia didn’t really get past the center of the
pitch, and even when they did by accident Khalid Boulahrouz solved
things easily.

After eight wins and one draw, Germany2006 is a step closer for the
Dutch team, who of course are still in the lead in this qualification
group. Things only got better for them, when they heard that the Czechs
lost their game against Rumania with 0-2. With three matches to go for
the Dutch, they are three points in front of Romania and four points
in front of Czech Rep. Romania still have a minor chance to end up
second in the group, but this is very unlikely because they already
played two more matches comparing to The Netherlands and Czech Rep.