***Official Holland v Japan Thread***

[Mark (Blue Army)]

[center]
Group E
Moses Mabhida Stadium
Durban
Kick Off:12:30[/center]



Team news

Holland have never won the World Cup although they were runners-up in 1974 and 1978, and are expected to turn on the style against Japan, as they never really got going in their opening match.

However, the Japanese may play for a point in the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and showed against Cameroon that they are confident in defence.

In their last encounter together, the Dutch beat Japan 3-0 in a friendly in Enschede in September, but the Blue Samurai dominated early on before conceding three goals in the last 20 minutes.

Arjen Robben is likely to miss out again as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury picked up in a pre-tournament win over Hungary.

Robben could return for the last group game against Cameroon, which means Rafael van der Vaart will continue in midfield.

Japan manager Takeshi Okada is widely expected to use the same first-team against the Dutch, with former Mallorca striker Yoshito Okubo and Grenoble midfielder Daisuke Matsui in support.

[dazby]

yawn. Most boring world cup ever. Right Kev?
Hopefully the second half will provide some action.

[dazlebluefrog]

0-0 at half time bit of a surprise

[Tokyo Blue]

So far, so good. A long way to go though.

For my money van Persie is the biggest cunt currently in world football, filth included. How does he get away with kicking a bloke in the face and grabbing another by the throat? I'd love to play against him. He wouldn't last five minutes.

[DelaBlue]

One nil --Sneijder

[Tokyo Blue]

If Japan show equal commitment and endeavour in the last game, they can hold their heads up high win, lose or draw.

[Trautmann]

I thought this game exemplified what is so bad about the tournament so far. We have seen a series of deadly boring games with teams taking a negative approach. Japan were a revelation when they switched tactics after the goal. If they had enough faith in themselves to take the game to Holland in the first half, they might have a very different result. Either way, it became a much more entertaining game after the goal.