**The Netherlands were pushed all the way by a tenacious Japan side before finally prevailing 1-0 in a Group E match at Durban.
Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder crashed home the only goal of the game with a fierce drive on 53 minutes that Japan 'keeper Eiji Kawashima was unable to cope with despite the ball being hit close to his body.
The Asian side pushed hard during the final minutes and created several good chances but the Netherlands were able to hang on and consilidate their place at the top of the group.
Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder crashed home the only goal of the game with a fierce drive on 53 minutes that Japan 'keeper Eiji Kawashima was unable to cope with despite the ball being hit close to his body.
The Asian side pushed hard during the final minutes and created several good chances but the Netherlands were able to hang on and consilidate their place at the top of the group.
Team Line-Ups:
Netherlands: Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, Mark van Bommel six-, 10-Wesley Sneijder (20-Ibrahim Afellay 83) , 8-Nigel de Jong, 23-Rafael van der Vaart (17-Eljero Elia 72); 9-Robin van Persie (21-Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 88).
Japan: 21-Eiji Kawashima; 2-Yuki Abe, 22-Yuji Nakazawa, 4-Tulio, 3-Yuichi Komano; 5-Yuto Nagatomo, 16-Yoshito Okubo (11-Keiji Tamada 77), 7-Yasuhito Endo, 17 - Makoto Hasebe (9-Shinji Okazaki 77), 8-Daisuke Matsui (10-Shunsuke Nakamura 64), 18-of Keisuke Honda.
0 comments:
Post a Comment