Supposedly, Cristiano Ronaldo promised that he would score three in his next game, after playing so badly against Denmark.
Well, he didn't score three, but he came damn close.
If Ronaldo played every game like this one, maybe he would be the best player in the world. (In my humble opinion, Messi is still the best.)
He scored two goals, hit the post twice, and played a perfect pass to Nani, at 1-1, that should have resulted in another Portuguese goal (- not even to mention that every time he got the ball in the Dutch half there was danger).
But let's start from the start.
Van der Vaart. Why was van Bommel inserted in the Dutch starting eleven instead of van der Vaart, in the matches against Denmark and Germany?
Rafael van der Vaart scored the first of the six goals on this day. And he would almost equalize at 2 for Netherlands, in the second half, with a similar effort that hit the post.
But, getting back to the first goal, it was a great shot from outside the box. And the Dutch began hoping. (This was just eleven minutes after kick-off.)
They needed a second one, and a German victory in the other match, to go through.
The Germans seemed on track for that scenario, too. On his 100th appearance in a Germany jersey, Lukas Podolski (in minute 19) took advantage of bad Danish defending to slot the ball into the top of the net from a few meters out. All three bottom teams, Portugal, Denmark and Netherlands were on three points at that stage, but the Portuguese and the Danes had identical best head-to-head records, 3-3, against Netherlands, leaving Holland, with 1-1, at the bottom of the group. Portugal would have advanced, because of better UEFA national team coefficient, the next tie-breaking criterion that could have been applied to separate them from Denmark's team.
But Denmark hit back. Only five minutes after Podolski's strike, the Danes showed great aerial agility in the German penalty box, and Krohn-Dehli used his head to deflect another header from a team-mate past the helpless Neuer. At this point, Denmark was through to the quarter-finals.
However, Portugal was pressing. And, in the 28th minute, Ronaldo finally got in behind the Dutch defense. He defeated Stekelenburg with a cool strike. Portugal was back in second place, again, just like at the start of the match.
Portugal continued to press, because they knew a Danish goal could eliminate them. And, obviously, the Denmark players could score on Germany.
But a 2-1 victory for Denmark could also eliminate the Germans, on the other hand, if Portugal also happened to win.
And, what do you know, after a few huge chances missed for Portugal, they did finally take the lead. In the 74th minute, Ronaldo again was found in the Dutch penalty area, with room to maneuver, and he had no problem scoring.
Now, at 2-1 for Portugal, and the Danes pressing in the other match, just one goal could have seen the Germans forced to pack their bags.
One goal did come, but it was scored by the Germans, though.
It was heartbreak for Denmark, as they were caught too advanced, and Lars Bender (80) obtained the victory for Germany. So, Denmark was the team that was going to go home.
2-1 in both matches. But not for the teams that desperately needed to win.
And these results clearly divided the four teams into four separate classes: the team that beat everybody else (on 9 points), the team that only lost to the best team but beat the other two (with 6), the team that could only beat the bottom team (with 3), and, of course, the team that lost to everybody (on 0 points). Or Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Netherlands, in that order.
Netherlands: what a disappointment!
Highlights from Denmark - Germany 1-2:
Дания - Германия 1:2(1) by landsgraaf
Highlights from Portugal - Netherlands 2-1:
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