- John O'Shea
- Wed, Jun 18 2014
In what was a brilliant World Cup Group B encounter, Holland came from 2-1 down to beat Australia 3-2. The result means that Holland have all but booked their place in the last 16 stage of the competition.
After beating Spain in ruthless fashion in the first game 5-1, Louis Van Gaal’s side had to show their fighting spirit in this game with the Aussies.
Holland went ahead after 20 minutes when Arjen Robben got the ball in his own half and made a fantastic solo run into the box, finishing across the goal.
Australia responded just a minute later with perhaps the goal of the tournament so far. Tim Cahill got on the end of a long ball and his outstanding left foot volley went in off the underside of the bar.
Australia showed their intent right from the start; that they were going to go all-out attack. As the game headed into the second half it was the team in yellow who were in control and they went ahead thanks to a penalty on the 54th minute mark. Oliver Bonzanic’s cross hit the hand of Daryl Janmaat and Mile Jedinak slotted home the resulting spot kick.
Their lead just lasted four minutes, as Robin Van Persie scored when he controlled the ball and then fired into the roof of the net.
The Socceroos’ again opened up the Dutch defence and Tommy Oar crossed for Leckie, who chested the ball into the hands of Cillessen, when a header would have probably resulted in a better outcome.
It was Memphis Depay who scored the winner on 68 minutes. The PSV Eindhoven winger curled a shot into the corner despite keeper Mat Ryan getting a hand to it. The win is the first win in four games for the Dutch over Australia.
Australia: Mat Ryan; James Davidson, Ryan McGowan, Matthew Spiranovic, Alex Wilkinson; Mile Jedinak, Tim Cahill (Ben Halloran 69), Mark Bresciano (Oliver Bozanic 51), Matt McKay, Tommy Oar (Adam Taggart 77); Matthew Leckie.
Subs not used: Mitch Langerak, Mitch Holland, Eugene Galekovic, Ivan Franjic, Massimo Luongo, Mark Milligan, James Troisi, Dario Vidosic, Bailey Wright.
Booked: Tim Cahill (43).
Netherlands: Jasper Cillessen; Daryl Janmaat, Stefan de Vrij, Daley Blind, Bruno Martins Indi (Memphis Depay 46), Ron Vlaar; Nigel De Jong, Jonathan De Guzman (Georginio Wijnaldum 78), Wesley Sneijder; Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie (Leroy Fer 97).
Subs not used: Terence Kongolo, Klass Jan Huntelaar, Jordy Clasie, Tim Krul, Dirk Kuyt, Jeremain Lens, Joel Veltman, Paul Verhaegh, Michel Vorm.
Booked: Robin Van Persie (47)
Referee: Haimoudi Djamel (Algeria)
Attendance: 42,877
Extratime.com Man of the Match: Robin Van Persie (Netherlands)
