Gomez double leaves Dutch in peril
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E-mail Xinhua, June 14, 2012
Germany nearly booked the last-eight ticket after beating the Netherlands 2-1 in an enthralling Group B encounter on Wednesday.
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Mario Gomez opened the scoring for Germany. |
Mario Gomez's brace in the first half put the Netherlands on the brink of an early exit despite Robin van Persie's rebirth in the 73rd minute.
With two wins in a row, Germany, the three-time winner of the tournament, topped the "death group" after Portugal outscored Denmark 3-2 in the afternoon, both having three points.
The Netherlands, who have never failed to progress from the group stage since their triumph in 1988, now have lost control of their fate and might only fight for glory against Portugal in the final round.
It is another chapter of one of Europe's most enthralling footballing rivalries, who just finished their 39th time contest. Germany extended their advantageous record to 15 wins, 14 draws and 10 defeats.
The Netherlands were desperate for goals when Premier League's top scorer Robin van Persie found two clear chances in the opening ten minutes but the forward's volley and right-footed effort both missed the target.
Gomez, who headed in Germany 's only goal in the 1-0 victory over Portugal in the opening match, continued his top form to break the deadlock in the 24th minute when he beat the keeper Maarten Stekelenburg calmly in the box after running onto a neat pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The same Bayern Munich combination doubled the German lead after 16 minutes when Schweinsteiger fed the central forward on the right side of the area to send the ball to the top left corner.
The Netherlands had no choice and brought all their high-profile attacking talents onto the field to change the starting 4-2-3-1 formation to a more offensive 4-3-3.
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Lukas Podolski of Germany and Mark van Bommel of Netherlands comforted Wesley Sneijder after the game. |
Van Persie finally found his 30th-league-goal feeling in Arsenal with 17 minutes left by scoring a powerful goal from the edge of area to the bottom right corner, igniting the Dutch passions in all round attacks.
However, Germany, who are unbeaten in three games again the rival since a 3-1 friendly loss in 2002, kept the edge with solid defence.
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