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June 26, 2010Holland got their World Cup campaign off to the perfect start with a 2-0 victory over Denmark in group E.
An own-goal from Liverpool’s Daniel Agger and a late tap-in from his club colleague Dirk Kuyt sealed victory for Holland. Both goals came in the second half after an assured first half of defending by the Danes.
However, Denmark’s resistance was broken less than 60 seconds after the interval when Robin van Persie’s cross from the left was headed on by Simon Poulsen - seemingly for a corner - but struck the back of Agger and went in.
Morten Olsen, the Denmark coach, sprung a surprise by naming Nicklas Bendtner in his starting line-up despite saying yesterday that the Arsenal striker, who had been nursing a groin problem, would not play.
Both teams struggled to find any rhythm early on with Wesley Sneijder, the Holland playmaker, and Thomas Enevoldsen, the Denmark midfield player, wasting free-kicks from good positions. It took ten minutes for the first shot on target - Kuyt sending a tame effort straight into the arms of Thomas Sorensen from just outside the penalty area.
The Danes had their best opening of the half just after the midway point when Bendtner found himself in space inside the six-yard box, but he could only head Dennis Rommedahl’s cross from wide on the right.
After another dangerous ball from Kuyt was deflected wide, Rommedahl carved out another good chance when he cut in from the right, only to shoot straight at Maarten Stekelenburg. The Holland goalkeeper was drawn into his first testing save after 36 minutes when Bendtner released Thomas Kahlenberg, whose shot was acrobatically palmed away.
Just before the break, Van Persie seemed unsure which foot to use after making room on the right, before poking his effort wide.
The Danes may have been solid at the back for the first 45 minutes, but they slipped up straight after the restart to gift their opponents the lead.
The advantage could have been doubled after another mistake - this time from Simon Kjaer - saw Van Persie played in, but indecisiveness from the striker allowed Sorensen to save. Olsen then made his first substitution by introducing Jesper Gronkjaer, but it was Holland who continued to look dangerous.
Van der Vaart showed good skill in trying to cutely volley Van Persie’s pass, but Sorensen again intercepted. Mikkel Beckmann and Christian Eriksen were also thrown on for Denmark, the former for Bendtner, but they struggled to carve out any openings although Agger struck a low shot into the gloves of Stekelenburg.
Bert van Marwijk’s team were always a threat going forward, with substitute Eljero Elia causing plenty of problems down the left. Sneijder almost made it 2-0 eight minutes from time, but saw his 25-yard effort deflected onto the crossbar by Agger with Sorensen beaten.
However, five minutes from time Kuyt sealed the points. Elia’s shot from the left was diverted onto the right-hand post by Sorensen and Kuyt easily finished. It could have been worse for Denmark, but Daniel Poulsen cleared Ibrahim Afellay’s shot off the line late on.
Holland (4-2-3-1): M Stekelenburg - G van der Wiel, J Heitinga, J Mathijsen, G van Bronckhorst - N de Jong (sub: D de Zeeuw, 88min), M van Bommel - D Kuyt, W Sneijder, R van der Vaart (sub: E Elia, 66) - R van Persie (sub (I Affelay, 77). Booked: De Jong, Van Persie.
Denmark (4-2-3-1): T Sorensen - L Jacobsen, S Kjaer, D Agger, S B Poulsen - C Poulsen, M Jorgensen - D Rommedahl, T Kahlenberg (sub: C Eriksen, 73), T Enevoldsen (sub: J Gronkjaer, 56) - N Bendtner (sub: M Beckman, 62). Booked: Kjaer.
Referee: S Lannoy (France). Attendance: 83,465.
