Without being very convincing, the Netherlands beat Denmark by 2-0 for the first game of Group E in the World Cup 2010. Simon Poulsen scored an own goal to open the score against his national team, and Dirk Kuyt scored a second one for the Netherlands 5 minutes before the final whistle. Nicklas Bendtner managed to overcome his injury on time and start the game for Denmark, something that was not the case for Arjen Robben as expected.
The first half of the game was not really exciting, Bert van Marwijk’s players having the overall ball possession and a few chances but Denmark’s well set-up defence did not allow anything more. Denmark had a good ten minute run, made a couple of shots with Thomas Kahlenberg and Dennis Rommedahl, but goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg was having a great day on the field. Neither Denmark or the Netherlands had a classic chance during the first half, and the game had the familiar rhythm of most matches in the World Cup 2010 so far.
Holland seemed unable to pick up the pace, but the solution came from Denmark and Simon Poulsen: Robin van Persie threw a long ball in the heart of Denmark’s defence, and Poulsen sent a clumsy header in the back of his team mate Daniel Agger and basically inside the net. The goal did not change much the overall quality of the game with the Netherlands looking pretty satisfied from what they had (not) accomplished, and Denmark just being sad to go down that way.
Wesley Sneijder’s shot on the post probably woke up his team mates (as well as the fans), and the Netherlands started playing football. As a result the second goal came for the Dutch when Eljero Elia also hit the post and Dirk Kuyt picked up the rebound for 2-0.
