Oranje 1 - 3 markje (390306780)

A scorching day at sv Oranje Vogels Arena, where 33268 spectators were in place for today's match. Magnus ''Kapparn'' Kihlkvist was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Joe Teale and Alexander Orth. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Oranje. The following players had been chosen: Pacholski - Gabryelczyk, Coremans, Loriaux - Piutula, Elburg, Novotný, Maglio, Pot - Celmiņš, Catarecha.

markje tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Bækgård - Bormans, Farenhout, van Wanrooij - Stamsneijder, van Vliet, Nürmberg, Fogh Andersen, Blangé - Tankink, Nasti.

Oranje seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Many thought P. Catarecha ought to have been awarded a penalty 8 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around T. Bækgård after a determined run through the middle. S. Bormans came close to putting the visiting team one up 23 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but E. Pacholski managed to tip the ball to a corner. Oranje were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Oranje's C. Loriaux tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. The referee showed Oranje's R. Coremans the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 32 minutes allowed J. van Vliet to score for markje. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Oranje equalised after 39 minutes after a brilliantly placed penalty by J. Novotný. Halftime score was 1 - 1. Oranje enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 55 percent of possession.

R. Coremans wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat. Oranje's H. Pot got himself booked for a foul. Due to a severely mistimed tackle, B. Nasti of markje spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game. markje took the lead 59 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. B. Nasti was the scorer. The bench was restless, and with 60 minutes passed Oranje's coach gave E. Almblom the opportunity the player had been hoping for. T. Maglio reluctantly left the field. F. Tankink came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over E. Pacholski but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. Oranje had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. Some fine movement on the left led to a markje goal after 87 minutes, making it 1 - 3. P. Fogh Andersen was noted down as the scorer. After 89 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Oranje found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to passable. Possession in this half belonged to markje, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

A. Celmiņš performed admirably for Oranje. However, E. Almblom made a disastrous appearance. Most important markje player was F. Tankink. T. Bækgård turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 3.