GROUP OF DEATH? Holland may feel that way this morning, although there was nothing moribund about this game. Match of the tournament so far? Perhaps. Although neither contestant will be entirely happy about the defensive flaws they revealed to the rest of the competition, Holland and the Czech Republic entertained royally throughout an evening that never lost its fizz.
On this form, both would be good value in the quarter-finals and possibly beyond, and the Czechs confirmed their place there as group winners. If the Germans can beat the Czechs on Wednesday, Holland go home.
Dick Advocaat’s side led by two goals early on, both set up by the excellent Arjen Robben, £12m of new Chelsea stock, and scored by Wilfred Bouma and Manchester United’s Ruud Van Nistelrooy, his second of the tournament.
The comeback began quickly with Jan Koller’s goal and was completed as time began to run short for the Czechs, Liverpool’s Milan Baros striking the equaliser and Vladimir Smicer finishing it off two minutes from time.
Advocaat had stuck with the idea of wingers, though there was no place for Boudewijn Zenden nor Marc Overmars on the left but a start for Robben. Clarence Seedorf, injured in midweek, took Rafael van der Vaart’s midfield place and again Holland had a single spearhead to their attack, Van Nistelrooy.
Advertisement
They also pushed Phillip Cocu back from midfield as an auxiliary defender, to combat an aggressive forward line. Most of the Dutch homework had been done months ago: they met the Czechs in qualifying for this tournament and came off the worse.
The first two minutes hinted at why. First the towering Jan Koller and then Marek Jankulovski found space to shoot from promising range. These were tasters for a vivid first 25 minutes, but red herrings. It was Holland’s half.
Once Pavel Nedved had conceded a free kick wide on the Dutch right and Robben floated it towards the head of an unmarked Wilfred Bouma, the Dutch had the initiative. Van Nistelrooy’s finish for their second goal was almost as straightforward, the Manchester United man nudging home a Robben cross after Edgar Davids had given Robben a through-ball to enchant any winger.
The kindest mark you could have given the Czech defence at that stage would have been one out of ten, and that for Petr Cech’s tidy save when the exciting Robben drove at him, right-footed. The 20-year-old made the most of the freedoms the Czech Republic gave him and might have set up a third goal in the first half when Davids struck his angled pass against a post.
Seedorf, given room to lengthen in stride in midfield, fired two drives just wide of the Czechs’ goal, and Johnny Heitinga volleyed narrowly beyond the junction of post and crossbar.
Advertisement
The Czechs still unnerved Holland, though. Nedved, darting down the left flank, drew Seedorf and Heitinga into clumsy, late tackles — both were booked — and Koller proved an awkward adversary for Jaap Stam. He hauled his side back into the match halfway through the first period. Bouma was responsible for a sloppy pass across the Dutch back line and Baros pounced, sweeping forward with only Stam giving chase. The defender kept his cool, disturbed Baros’s momentum and made a saving challenge. He could not, though, clear the danger. Baros regained possession, and fed Koller, who side-footed the ball home.
Koller versus Stam became quite a duel. The Czech measures over two metres tall, a height advantage even against the obelisk that is Stam. At times, they stuck so close to one another they looked like Siamese twins. The giant required this tight policing. Stealing a pace on Stam, he tucked a Karel Poborsky centre just the wrong side of the post.
It might have been 3-1 after 50 minutes; it might equally have been 2-2. At one end Van der Meyde broke away, pursued by Marek Jankulovski, and had his final flourish on a long run saved by Cech. A quick clearance and Nedved was away, squaring to Poborsky, whose effort Edwin Van der Sar could only parry.
Robben had more to contribute even before his early departure. A feline run in which he carried Martin Jiranek almost to the byline and then sent him one way before leaning the other to deliver a fine centre would have created another Dutch goal but for Cech’s response. Van Nistelrooy met the cross fiercely, Cech flung out all four limbs and made enough contact.
With Nedved dynamic, the Czechs gathered strength — Heitinga was sent off for a second foul on the Czech captain 18 minutes from time — Van der Sar saved well from Smicer and got a hand to Baros’s equaliser, struck on the rise after Koller knocked down a Nedved cross. Smicer then seized on building pressure and a Van der Sar parry to complete the Czech revival.
Advertisement
Holland Van der Sar, Heitinga, Stam, Bouma, Van Bronckhorst, Seedorf (Van der Vaart 86), Cocu, Davids, Van der Meyde (Reiziger 79), van Nistelrooy, Robben (Bosvelt 58).
Czech Republic Cech, Grygera (Smicer 24), Ujfalusi, Jiranek, Jankulovski, Galasek (Heinz 62), Poborsky, Rosicky, Nedved, Baros, Koller (Rozehnal 75).
Ref: Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).