News & Sport: Holland's Disaster

Robin Van Persie missed a great chance as he slipped?
Image from Lars Baron / Getty

Alright!!!! How can Locky's English Playground not write anything about soccer when Euro2012 has come!!!

I must say that the first round of matches with The Netherlands VS Denmark is the one that shocked a lot of viewers, fans and pundits.

Holland was highly regarded as one of the teams which should naturally become one of the finalists in this competition following the first runner-up they achieved in World Cup 2010. Even if they don't make it to the final, they definitely have more world-class names than their second-tier (or even third-tier) opponent Denmark, thus having the abilities to brush them off. Robin van Persie (aka RvP) is said to shine in this competition.

However, just the opposite happened. Holland lost to Denmark 0-1, not because they didn't have the attacks, but they didn't have any goals. The Mirror describes the performance of RvP and Robben as "total nightmare", captioning the above photo "Really Very Poor".

The Dutch didn't all performed badly, Wesley Sneijder, my favourite playmaker from Inter Milan, continuously supplied pinpointed passing to his team-mates from all angles and from as far as 40 yards, including one which ESPN Soccernet describes as "a stunning outside-of-the-boot pass from the influential Sneijder".

(Watch 2:20 and 3:17 for Sneijder's amazing pass)

Still, one Sneijder couldn't turn the luck around for the extremely poor performing RvP.

As for Robben, since he was booed ever since he missed a penalty in the final match of the UEFA Champions League, he was basically unwanted by his club and Sneijder took the opportunity to recommend him for a move to Inter Milan. According to Passione Inter, the chairman seems seriously interested, not sure if he will still feel the same after watching this match.

Sneijder
Image from The World Link

Anyway, the Dutch has little room for any mistakes if they want to qualify to the next room. Hope they will be able to recoup their loss in the next game.


Vocabulary:
pundit -- (n)[C] a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and is therefore often asked to give an opinion about it
tier -- (n)[C] one of several layers or levels
brush sb/sth off -- phrasal verb to remove dust or dirt from someone or something by using your hands or a brush
recoup -- (vb)[T] to get back money that you have spent or lost

Resources:
Holland 0-1 Denmark: Total nightmare for RvP and Robben @ The Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/holland-0-1-denmark-total-nightmare-869456

Dutch shocked in opener @ Soccernet
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=334182&cc=4716

Rumors – Moratti chiama Wes: “Parlami di Robben” @ Passione Inter
http://passioneinter.net/rumors-moratti-chiama-wes-parlami-di-robben/

EURO 2012 Netherland vs Denmark Goals + Highlights @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Nr0VlbZds

[HD] Arjen Robben missed a penalty vs. Chelsea (Champions League final 2012) @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-5tgvFyBxE

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pundit?q=pundits#pundit__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/tier_1?q=tier
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/brush-sb-sth-off#brush-sb-sth-off__2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/recoup?q=recoup