June 26, 2010
World Cup 2010 - Netherlands defeat Slovakia in second round game
By Stephen Lars
The Slovakian squad had all its hopes on yet another upset, perhaps like their great 3-2 win over the italians in the Group Stage round robin. And then came Arjen Robben for the Netherlands with his early score. At the end, despite the great effort by the Slovakians, the Netherlands won 2-1 and secured a spot against Brazil in the quarterfinals of South Africa World Cup 2010.
The Netherlands has managed to remain undefeated throughout this whole tournament, qualification stage included. Arjen Robben was finally allowed to be part of the 11 starting players in the Dutch team. He made a great shot into the goalkeepers right hand to complete the goal after 18 minutes of play.
The Clockwork Orange had a good game. They were calmed and well paced through most of the game, and despite being held to a couple fastbreaks by the Slovaks who were hoping for their star striker Robert Vittek to take advantage of his fast pace, the Netherlands was a solid team that proved they might be able to get Brazil into some trouble.
Yet, it seems that the best player in the squad was the veteran Wesley Sneijder, who has managed to bring on to the national team the great performances he has shown at Inter Milan. He completed the pass to Robben for the first goal, and then he was key to much all that was good in the Netherlands offensive end. He was there for the Netherlands right when his team needed him most, and finished off the game with a nice goal 6 after 84 minutes of play.
Slovakias head coach, Vladimir Weiss, made just one change to the squad that defeated the Italians. But it is quite evident that the Netherlands was much more of a Championship team then the Italians could ever wish in this tournament. There was an early chance for the upset. The Slovaks were fairly close with an opening shot by Erik Jendrisek left footers shot, but the shot was aimed a bit high and it barely missed the goal. But then not much else happened for the Slovaks. They took 12 shots in the whole game. Only three of those were on goal.
The Netherlands on the other hand had plenty of chances to score. Robin van Persie should had scored when he took a clear shot just meters away from the goal, but it went wide. Still, the Netherlands managed to shot 12 shots on goal, that is, 3 times more then the Slovaks. The Dutch and the Slovaks kept good control of the ball. It just seemed as if the Netherlands needed fewer passes to open up the Slovakian defense and take a clear shot on goal.
From the sports betting point of view, the favorites have not disappointed just yet. The Netherlands was a ML -245 while they draw came back with ML+305, while the Slovak upset would have paid a nice ML+690. Things are still good for Brazil and the Netherlands who will now place in the quarterfinals. As of press time, it is still uncertain what the odds are going to look like for both. One thing is for sure, it is going to be on heck of a game.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on regular 2010 South Africa World Cup news, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.