Netherlands Vs. Denmark: Danes Earn Shock Win

If we ignore everyone on the pitch but the six central midfielders, we’re presented with two interlocking triangles, with Wesley Sneijder picked up by the Zimling-Kvist pivot while Eriksen is marshalled by de Jong and van Bommel. The shapes are similar, but the style is not - the Danish players are all-arounders, while Holland’s deeper midfielders are particularly skilled destroyers who aren’t particlarly capable going forward.

Dealing with Kvist and Zimpling, however, required a work-heavy technique known as pressing. Since those two are essentially the water-carriers of the Denmark play, it’s possible to cut off the supply at the source by preventing them from having the time to execute attacks. At that point, play is forced to one of Simon Poulsen and Lars Jacobsen, and the Danes become far less dangerous. The problem is that it’s very difficult to press effectively for ninety minutes. Even the fittest teams have to choose a time and a place to put that effort in, because otherwise they’ll exhaust themselves.

The first seven minutes of the second half were a bit shaky for the Danes. The Netherlands looked like they were going to be able to create a goal in that opening sequence of the half, but they couldn’t convert their chances. Van Persie’s two biggest miscues came during this period, including a comical slip on what should have been a shot on target. Andersen’s 51st minute save seemed to be a wake-up call for Denmark, and they began to play better after that.

You can find previous coverage of this game in our Netherlands vs. Denmark, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

We’ll have live coverage of this game in our Netherlands vs. Denmark, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Of course, the Netherlands still have some great attacking players and are by no means boring, but they’re not the free-flowing, attacking side that everyone is used to when they hear the name of the country. They look a lot like the team they’re going to play on Saturday, Denmark. Just with bigger name players who play for bigger clubs.

Go talk to a football fan who grew up in the 1970s and they’ll wax poetic endlessly about Johan Cruyff and the ‘Brilliant Oranje’. Even though the Netherlands has never won the World Cup and Cruyff’s team never won the European Championship, they’re still talked about endlessly as one of the most brilliant groups of players ever. The likes of Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit played the same beautiful football en route to a 1988 European title. That football is dead.