FIFA World Cup 2010: Holland and Slovakia go head-to-head in Final 16- match preview
Holland gets ready to take on Slovakia in the fifth match of the round of 16 in the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Holland has a mixed world cup history. They are at times known as a team who do extremely well in group stages, but when it comes to knockout stages they just do not have the same ability to make it through.
But putting history aside Holland certainly is looking like a team in form. Three out of three in Group Stages is not a bad start to the World Cup. To add to that now it has been a run of 22 matches unbeaten for the Dutch. Bert van Marwijk's team is definitely favourites against Slovakia.
Holland has been to the World Cup final twice but did not manage to get past the final hurdle on both occasions. The last two big events, 2006 World Cup, and 2008 Euro Championship, both saw the Dutch easily make it past the Group Stages. But were sent home on both occasions in the first phase of the knockout stages. Will they do anything different this time? Well signs are good and they certainly cannot repeat the same mistakes again.
Slovakia, on the other hand is making their first appearance in the World Cup, but should not be underestimated. Vladimir Weiss's team started the tournament with a draw against New Zealand, followed by a loss to Paraguay, but a complete turnaround in the 3rd match saw them beat Italy 3-2, which also saw the defending champions crashing out and paved the way for Slovakia into the Final 16.
Slovakian Robert Vittek, with 3 goals is one of the highest goal scorers in the World Cup. While the young captain Marek Hamsik was just phenomenal against Italy in his overall game play.
The winner of the Slovakia and Holland match up will take on either Brazil or Chile. Slovakian Coach says his team has to forget what they did against Italy and go out against the Dutch with a whole new mindset. The approach should be the same but they should not forget that Holland play a much more attacking game than the Italians.
Netherlands Coach Bert van Marwijk does not have any injury worries and has all the squad to choose from. Arjen Robben is once again expected to start from the subs bench. Gregory van Der Wiel is expected to reclaim the right-back spot and replace Khalid Boulahrouz.
Vladimir Weiss, the Slovakian Manager, is expected to keep the same team that overhauled the defending champions in their final group game. But there will be one change, which is a forced one, Zdeno Strba will have to miss out due to suspension, and Kamil Kopunek will be taking his place. Slovakia should be careful not to get too many yellow cards, because should they progress they may have a number of players missing, since Durica, Sestak, Weiss, Vittek, and Pekarik, Mucha all are just one booking away from suspension.
Holland are no different, they have no less than 6 players one booking away from suspension (De Jong, Van Persie, Van der Wiel, Kuyt, Van der Vaart, Van Bronckhorst).
The Netherlands have not come across Slovakia yet, but when it was Czechoslovakia, Netherlands did lose 6 out of 9 encounters.
Netherlands are obviously clear favourites to win; there is too much class in the squad with players like Robben and Van Der Vart on the wing, Van Persie and Huntelar upfront, Van Bommel and Sneijder in the centre. Slovakia would really have their work cut out for them.
It will be the Dutch flair against the determination of Slovakia, but if the Netherland’s paid any attention to the Slovakia-Italy game, they would know what not to do against their un-fancied opponents.
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