FRANCE 98 – Match Summary n°8

Holland and Belgium fought out a dour, goalless opening World Cup qualifier here on Saturday that saw the tournament’s third red card. With frustration running throughout the Dutch team as they struggled to break the deadlock, striker Patrick Kluivert decided on instant justice after he was fouled by Belgium’s Lorenzo Staelens ten minutes from the end. The 21-year-old half-hit Staelens with his elbow, who fell as if he had been floored by Mike Tyson.

Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, who had let almost anything go throughout the match suddenly pulled out a red card. Dennis Bergkamp accused Staelens of play acting. ” It wasn’t that bad. I saw it as a push. And their guy did a little bit of play acting. ” But we’ll get Patrick back on the right track, “ said the Arsenal star.

The Dutch frustration had even spread to coach Guus Hiddink, who half-way through the second half brought on Bergkamp in a desperate attempt to breath fresh life into his side. The striker has not played for five weeks, missing out on Arsenal’s Cup Final victory, because of a hamstring injury. Bergkamp’s serious lack of match fitness was underlined when he had a golden opportunity to score but shot wide when he would normally have been expected to seize such a chance only 15 meters out.

” I’m not fit to start matches at this moment. I’ve got to work on getting myself back to match fitness. But it’s just a matter of time, “ explained Bergkamp. It was a sad end to a match that had promised so much.

For a sparkling opening ten minutes Holland brought back memories of their glory years but Belgium, too slow and too crude, quickly brought the Dutch down to their level. But Belgium coach coach Georges Leekens was happy. ” A draw against the Dutch is a pretty good result. They’re always tough to play. I took Luis Oliveira off because in Mpenza I had a young guy on the bench who was fresh and who deserved his chance after playing well in the warm-ups. We need to win the second game against Mexico — I’ve said all along that’s the important one, “ he explained.

Marc Overmars showed how he had helped Arsenal to the English league and Cup double with some devastating attacks down the left that had the Belgium defence in a panic. Twice within the opening minutes the 25-year-old sliced through the Belgium defence only to be deprived by a lunging boot. Captain Franky Van Der Elst was threatening to shout himself hoarse as he tried to muster his troops to meet the challenge.

” We tried to avoid their wall of defenders in the centre by feeding Marc Overmars on the flanks. But we could not break them down, “ said Dutch coach Guus Hiddink. ” I think we got off to a good start and played well in the first 35 minutes, but didn’t have the luck to score a goal, “ he added.

Referee Collina did not improve the quality of the match as he let the no-nonsense Belgium get away with tackles that bordered on the reckless. His notebook could have been full by half-time but, instead, only two names appeared – defenders Lorenzo Staelens and Eric Deflandre, who collected his yellow card only six minutes after being sent on to replace Bertrand Crasson.

Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar was all but redundant in the opening 45 minutes as the few Belgium attacks were quickly snuffed out. His only moment came just after 50 minutes when Luc Nilis flashed in a shot that very nearly caught him unawares.

A ten-man Holland put more pressure on the Belgium goal than when they had 11 men but as the rain poured down a draw was always going to be the final score. ” We deserved to win but they played very defensively. We wanted the three points but we can be pretty satisfied, “ said Dutch captain Frank de Boer