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 Kluivert; Holland's first goalscorer |  Drugarry and Stumpy |  Bouds scores the winner for Holland |
I suppose, on any ordinary day, this game could've been seen a being "good", producing some nice touches and (I have to say) nice football. But, after watching the extravaganza in Bruges, it was a big yawn, in my honest opinion. It seemed to me like a training match, or a friendly. Sure there was a little bit of needle, cos both teams would've wanted to finish top of the group - but it was dull, nevertheless. Dugarry had a half decent game for once though - and so did little Bouds! Nice to see him scoring the winning goal actually. (I swear he's not really Dutch!). I can't enthuse any further, I'm afraid (The Times match report below).
Teams and things
FRANCE (4-2-2-2): 1 B Lama (Paris Saint-Germain) - 19 C Karembeu (Real Madrid), 18 F Leboeuf (Chelsea), 8 M Desailly (Chelsea), 2 V Candela (AS Roma) - 4 P Vieira (Arsenal; sub: 7 D Deschamps, Chelsea, 90min), R Pires (Marseilles) - 21 C Dugarry (Bordeaux; sub: 6 Y Djorkaeff, 1FC Kaiserslautern, 68), 14 J Micoud (Bordeaux) - 13 S Wiltord (Bordeaux; sub: 9 N Anelka, Real Madrid, 80), 20 D Trezeguet (AS Monaco). Substitutes not used: 16 F Barthez (Manchester United), 22 U Rame (Bordeaux), 3 B Lizarazu (Bayern Munich), 5 L Blanc (Internazionale), 10 Z Zidane (Juventus), 12 T Henry (Arsenal), 15 L Thuram (Parma). Booked: Desailly, Dugarry.
HOLLAND (4-2-3-1): 22 S Westerveld (Liverpool) - 15 P Bosvelt (Feyenoord), 3 J Stam (Manchester United), 4 F de Boer (Barcelona), 19 A Numan (Rangers) - 7 P Cocu (Barcelona), 8 E Davids (Juventus) - 11 M Overmars (Arsenal; sub: 14 P van Vossen, Feyenoord, 90), 10 D Bergkamp (Arsenal; sub: 20 A Winter, Ajax, 78), 5 B Zenden (Barcelona) - 9 P Kluivert (Barcelona; sub: 21 R Makaay, Deportivo La Coruņa, 59). Substitutes not used: 18 E de Goey (Chelsea), 2 M Reiziger (Barcelona), 6 C Seedorf (Internazionale), 13 B Konterman (Feyenoord), 17 P van Hooijdonk (Vitesse Arnhem).
Referee: A Frisk (Sweden).
Match Report from "The Times"
FRANCE paid the penalty for fielding a second-string side against Holland last night in what they were calling La Premičre Finale, a preview of the European championship final. They slipped to their first defeat of the tournament and found themselves confronted by the prospect of a quarter-final against the unpredictable mavericks of Spain in Bruges on Sunday.
At the same time, the French, who left Zinedine Zidane, Laurent Blanc and Thierry Henry on the bench, allowed the momentum in this tournament, which they have monopolised so far, to swing back towards the Dutch. Holland's win here last night left them at the top of group D and meant that they will play their quarterfinal, against Yugoslavia, in Rotterdam on Sunday rather than having to leave The Netherlands for the first time.
By leaving out their best players, France made themselves vulnerable and permitted Holland to come from behind twice. The Group of Death has not held any terrors for either of these teams, but the French tactics in the Amsterdam ArenA only had the effect of eliciting from Holland their most fluent football so far. Jaap Stam was superb in defence and Patrick Kluivert was a constant threat in attack, but Edgar Davids, playing the Pit Bull to perfection, was the inspiration.
Roger Lemerre, the France coach, was undismayed by the prospect of meeting Spain, though. "It did not matter whether we played Yugoslavia or Spain," Lemerre said. "Our goal is still to get to the semi-finals." Nor did Bobby Robson, the former England manager, feel that France would be inconvenienced. "That was their second team tonight and look how they played," he said.
After eight minutes Christophe Dugarry gave Cocu a masterclass in the heading art, leaping so high to meet Johan Micoud's corner that he embarrassed Sander Westerveld by nodding the ball out of his grasp and straight into the empty net.
Holland equalised five minutes later. Despite strong denials later, Frank Leboeuf played Kluivert onside and the Barcelona forward took the ball to the edge of the penalty area, cut inside Leboeuf and drove his shot across Lama and into the far corner. Dennis Bergkamp hit the crossbar soon after with a volley that bounced over Lama.
France regained the initiative after half an hour, when David Trezeguet touched in Sylvain Wiltord's fierce shot, but Dugarry failed to put the match beyond Holland's reach three minutes after half-time when he shot too close to Westerveld.
Reprieved, Holland seized their opportunity. First, Frank de Boer caught the French off guard when he took a quick free kick. The shot swerved through the wall being formed by France and Lama could only push the ball on to the crossbar and watch it drop over the line.
Soon after, Holland took the lead. Their approach, again, was direct. Westerveld aimed a long kick downfield, Leboeuf missed his header and as Karembeu watched the ball, Zenden nipped in and fired his shot low past the outstretched right hand of Lama. France brought Youri Djorkaeff on and pressed for an equaliser, but their fate was sealed.
