Sensational Dutch pounce France 4-1
Table of Contents
Four days after squeezing world champions Italy 3-0, the Netherlands hammered World Cup runner-up France with another dazzling performance based on their counter-attacking game.
The Dutch qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 joining Portugal and Croatia.
The result left France and also Italy stood on the brink of elimination.
Both sides have to kill each other to have any chance of progressing for the knockout stages.
An entertaining match started with the Dutch took 1-0 ahead through Dirk Kuyt in the 10th minute when he headed home a Rafael van der Vaart corner from the left.
An the start of second half, Dutch coach Marco van Basten introduced Real Madrid winger Arjen Robben, who missed the opening match with a groin strain, for Orlando Engelaar.
Later on van Basten made his second switch, bringing on Robin van Persie for Kuyt.
His changes proved brilliant as in the 59th minute Robben combined with van Persie, who had only been on the field for four minutes, to score Dutch second goal.
France pulled one back after 71 minutes with Thierry Henry's 45th goal for Les Bleus in his 101st caps,flicking in a cross from Willy Sagnol.
Henry had fully recovered from a thigh problem that kept him out from the opening match.
But only 30 seconds later, Robben scored from a tight angle to restore the Dutch two-goal advantage, with Lilian Thuram ahead of him, Robben created space and fired the ball into the roof of the net.
Wesley Sneijder, who was picked man of the match for the second time in a row, completed France's nightmare with a stunning long-range shot in stoppage time.
It was an unhappy return from a back injury for Henry, but he insisted their performance was not as terrible as it seen.
For France, this defeat meant their first major tournament without Zinedine Zidane are turning into a terrifying dream.
The 2006 World Cup finalists, who had started with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Romania, are now find themselves in the same situation as world champions Italy.
Both sides will meet next week knowing that only a win will be enough to get through for the knockout stages and, if Romania beat Netherlands, even a victory will not be enough for both of them.
Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 21-Khalid Boulahrouz, 2-André Ooijer, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 17-Nigel de Jong, 8-Orlando Engelaar (11-Arjen Robben 46); 18-Dirk Kuyt (7-Robin van Persie 56), 23-Rafael van der Vaart (14-Wilfred Bouma 78), 10-Wesley Sneijder; 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy
France: 23-Grégory Coupet; 19-Willy Sagnol, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 13-Patrice Evra; 10-Sidney Govou (8-Nicolas Anelka 75), 20-Jérémy Toulalan, 6-Claude Makélélé, 7-Florent Malouda (18-Bafetimbi Gomis 60); 22-Franck Ribéry, 12-Thierry Henry
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
Statistics:
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The Dutch qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 joining Portugal and Croatia.
The result left France and also Italy stood on the brink of elimination.
Both sides have to kill each other to have any chance of progressing for the knockout stages.
An entertaining match started with the Dutch took 1-0 ahead through Dirk Kuyt in the 10th minute when he headed home a Rafael van der Vaart corner from the left.
An the start of second half, Dutch coach Marco van Basten introduced Real Madrid winger Arjen Robben, who missed the opening match with a groin strain, for Orlando Engelaar.
Later on van Basten made his second switch, bringing on Robin van Persie for Kuyt.
His changes proved brilliant as in the 59th minute Robben combined with van Persie, who had only been on the field for four minutes, to score Dutch second goal.
France pulled one back after 71 minutes with Thierry Henry's 45th goal for Les Bleus in his 101st caps,flicking in a cross from Willy Sagnol.
Henry had fully recovered from a thigh problem that kept him out from the opening match.
But only 30 seconds later, Robben scored from a tight angle to restore the Dutch two-goal advantage, with Lilian Thuram ahead of him, Robben created space and fired the ball into the roof of the net.
Wesley Sneijder, who was picked man of the match for the second time in a row, completed France's nightmare with a stunning long-range shot in stoppage time.
It was an unhappy return from a back injury for Henry, but he insisted their performance was not as terrible as it seen.
For France, this defeat meant their first major tournament without Zinedine Zidane are turning into a terrifying dream.
The 2006 World Cup finalists, who had started with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Romania, are now find themselves in the same situation as world champions Italy.
Both sides will meet next week knowing that only a win will be enough to get through for the knockout stages and, if Romania beat Netherlands, even a victory will not be enough for both of them.
| Netherlands |  | 4 - 1 |  | France |
| Dirk Kuyt 9 | Thierry Henry 71 | |||
| Robin van Persie 59 | ||||
| Arjen Robben 72 | ||||
| Wesley Sneijder 90+2 |
Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 21-Khalid Boulahrouz, 2-André Ooijer, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 17-Nigel de Jong, 8-Orlando Engelaar (11-Arjen Robben 46); 18-Dirk Kuyt (7-Robin van Persie 56), 23-Rafael van der Vaart (14-Wilfred Bouma 78), 10-Wesley Sneijder; 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy
France: 23-Grégory Coupet; 19-Willy Sagnol, 15-Lilian Thuram, 5-William Gallas, 13-Patrice Evra; 10-Sidney Govou (8-Nicolas Anelka 75), 20-Jérémy Toulalan, 6-Claude Makélélé, 7-Florent Malouda (18-Bafetimbi Gomis 60); 22-Franck Ribéry, 12-Thierry Henry
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
Statistics:
| Shots on target : | 9 | - | 9 |
| Shots off target : | 4 | - | 12 |
| Ball possession (%) : | 53 | - | 47 |
| Corner kicks : | 2 | - | 6 |
| Offsides : | 0 | - | 0 |
| Fouls : | 17 | - | 17 |
| Yellow cards : | 1 | - | 2 |
| Red cards : | 0 | - | 0 |
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