A MESSY ENCOUNTER
The opening match to the World Cup is unlikely to boast brilliant football when Germany take on Costa Rica. The opening match for the Serbians and Dutch is unlikely to be much better. The biggest asset the Serbians possess is their incredible defence, the best thing about the Dutch is their attacking play. We've seen a match with the same outlines before when the two teams met in the quarterfinal of Euro2000 with the important differences that the Serbians were weaker than they are now, and the Dutch are weaker now then they were back then. As such that match won't be of much value when predicting the outcome of the upcoming encounter. If anything, the match that followed between Italy and Holland will be a much better example, and not just because it will also be lead by referee Markus Merk.
The Serbians conceded an amazing total of 1 (one!) goal during their entire qualification series. Not in the least because of star defender Dragutinovic, who doesn't even need to lift his game to be confident in keeping the Serbian door firmly shut.
Not that the Dutch conceded many more, but their defense is barely worthy of wearing the famous orange shirt. Their low amount of goals conceded in qualifying is due to a combination of luck and a superbly keeping Edwin van der Sar.
So what else do we know? Well, we know that Marco van Basten will instruct his team to come out storming trying to get an early goal. And they might score, but more likely they won't. With all their attacking flair, the Dutch struggle to find the net and famously need a lot of chances to get a goal. They won't get many chances against the Serbs.
Neither will the Serbs themselves, in all likeliness. They are likely to start Kezman and Milosevic, who are more than capable of finding their way around the Dutch defenders, but in order to score they will need the ball.
The Serbian problem lies in midfield. Barring Dejan Stankovic, the Serbian midfielders are inferior in individual skill to their Dutch counterparts. Assuming Cocu, Van Bommel and Van der Vaart will be fit to play as Van Basten announced earlier today. Bridging the gap and getting the ball to the forwards might be a fundamental problem for the Serbians and the Dutch defense might have it relatively easy. With Van der Sar in the goal, they could indeed succeed in fending off the couple of chances the Serbs will get.
This match might be decided in the first half hour. The Dutch will come out attacking and if they manage to get a goal they are likely to hold on for a win. However, the Dutch struggle against firmly defending sides like Italy on Euro2000 and Australia last Sunday. If the Serbians manage to sufficiently disrupt the Dutch style of play and keep it up, the game is in their hands. The Dutch will need to rise to the occasion and better their recent performances if they are going to win it, but the Serbs are lacking in midfield strength and might find it equally hard to get on the scoresheet.
Serbia & Montenegro versus the Netherlands is unlikely to feature many goals or fluent, attractive play. A messy draw appears to be on the cards, unless one of the teams can get a goal, somewhere, somehow.
The opening match to the World Cup is unlikely to boast brilliant football when Germany take on Costa Rica. The opening match for the Serbians and Dutch is unlikely to be much better. The biggest asset the Serbians possess is their incredible defence, the best thing about the Dutch is their attacking play. We've seen a match with the same outlines before when the two teams met in the quarterfinal of Euro2000 with the important differences that the Serbians were weaker than they are now, and the Dutch are weaker now then they were back then. As such that match won't be of much value when predicting the outcome of the upcoming encounter. If anything, the match that followed between Italy and Holland will be a much better example, and not just because it will also be lead by referee Markus Merk.
The Serbians conceded an amazing total of 1 (one!) goal during their entire qualification series. Not in the least because of star defender Dragutinovic, who doesn't even need to lift his game to be confident in keeping the Serbian door firmly shut.
Not that the Dutch conceded many more, but their defense is barely worthy of wearing the famous orange shirt. Their low amount of goals conceded in qualifying is due to a combination of luck and a superbly keeping Edwin van der Sar.
So what else do we know? Well, we know that Marco van Basten will instruct his team to come out storming trying to get an early goal. And they might score, but more likely they won't. With all their attacking flair, the Dutch struggle to find the net and famously need a lot of chances to get a goal. They won't get many chances against the Serbs.
Neither will the Serbs themselves, in all likeliness. They are likely to start Kezman and Milosevic, who are more than capable of finding their way around the Dutch defenders, but in order to score they will need the ball.
The Serbian problem lies in midfield. Barring Dejan Stankovic, the Serbian midfielders are inferior in individual skill to their Dutch counterparts. Assuming Cocu, Van Bommel and Van der Vaart will be fit to play as Van Basten announced earlier today. Bridging the gap and getting the ball to the forwards might be a fundamental problem for the Serbians and the Dutch defense might have it relatively easy. With Van der Sar in the goal, they could indeed succeed in fending off the couple of chances the Serbs will get.
This match might be decided in the first half hour. The Dutch will come out attacking and if they manage to get a goal they are likely to hold on for a win. However, the Dutch struggle against firmly defending sides like Italy on Euro2000 and Australia last Sunday. If the Serbians manage to sufficiently disrupt the Dutch style of play and keep it up, the game is in their hands. The Dutch will need to rise to the occasion and better their recent performances if they are going to win it, but the Serbs are lacking in midfield strength and might find it equally hard to get on the scoresheet.
Serbia & Montenegro versus the Netherlands is unlikely to feature many goals or fluent, attractive play. A messy draw appears to be on the cards, unless one of the teams can get a goal, somewhere, somehow.
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nut they lost, anyway i think serbia and montenegro altough a well organized team, very tall, dont have a leader like all great teams do. Netherlands r a very fast and wellmixed group... but not a team. ivory coast just showed they r in much better physical conditions than any other team that has played so far (including germany), but they were nervous and tried to play to something they didnt know how to. Argentina is a 2 times WC champions, well organized, has the southamerican heart and the european diciplene, but they lack a bit of focus in some crucial stages of the match. Ithink argentine and netherlands. but i think would be nice if ivory coast passes
