Netherlands 4-1 Ghana - Match Report
Netherlands 4-1 Ghana - Match Report
By Amit Katwala
The Netherlands continued their fine form in the lead up to the World Cup with a 4-1 demolition of Ghana in a friendly in Rotterdam last night. The African team are their continent’s great hope ahead of the Finals, despite being weakened by the loss through injury of Chelsea star Michael Essien, but they failed to deal with the fluency and interchangeability of the Dutch attack. They again lined up in coach Bert van Marwijk’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, with van Persie operating in front of the trio of Kuyt, Sneijder, and Affelay to good effect early on, creating space for his midfielders to shoot from range. It took half an hour for the Europeans to open the scoring, and the forward quartet were instrumental in creating the goal. A quick interchange of passes released van Persie in the right channel, and Richard Kingson in the Ghana goal could only parry his right-footed drive to the feet of Kuyt, who had the simplest of tap ins to give the Dutch the lead. The goalkeeper looked culpable again for the Netherlands’ second goal, on 73 minutes, rushing out too hastily to meet Rafael van der Vaart as the Dutchman raced onto Mark van Bommel’s clever flick over the Ghanaian back line, and leaving the Real Madrid striker with a relatively simple finish into the empty net.
