The Netherlands easily beat Slovakia by 2-1 in the Moses Mabhida Stadium of Durban, and will be playing against Brazil on Friday for the opening game of the World Cup 2010 quarter-finals stage. The Netherlands won the game without really impressing, but also without any difficulties against Slovakia that looked scared to play open during the match even when they were behind in the scoreboard. Arjen Robben was in the starting 11 of the Netherlands for the first time during the World Cup 2010 finals, and marked his return from injury by scoring a goal for his national team.
Slovakia tried to surprise early in the game, but a shot from Erik Jendrišek in the second minute barely missed the target. The Netherlands took over the game after that play, and were regular visitors inside Ján Mucha’s penalty area mostly with Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie. The result from the pressure came in 18′ with…hungry Robben after a nice personal effort and a left-foot shot that gave no chance to Mucha. The Netherlands kept the ball possession for the first 45 minutes, and could have scored a second goal with van Persie one minute before half-time.
The game did not change much during the second half with the Netherlands still looking for a second goal that would secure their victory. Holland had three fantastic chances within 10 minutes with Robben, Mathijsen and van Persie, but Ján Mucha was again there. Slovakia also missed a couple of opportunities with Miroslav Stoch and Italy-killer Róbert Vittek, but it was the time for goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to come out and play. After Slovakia’s mini come back the Netherlands turned on the pressure again, and finally scored a second goal in 84′ with Wesley Sneijder after Dirk Kuyt’s assist.
The only thing Slovakia could do was score an honour goal during the fourth minute of extra time with a penalty shot from Vittek. Martin Jakubko that had just entered the game as a substitution, was brought to the ground by Stekelenburg and Spanish referee Alberto Undiano immediately pointed at the penalty spot and also gave a yellow card to the goalie.
