matchreport - 22-Aug-09 - hollandse v. german as
Team Hollandse
Author Partick Pieket Weeserik
line up
 Prophet, Vd Merwe, Rave (65. Chin), Busser, Pieket Weeserik (45. Van Zinniq Bergmann), Van Zadelhoff, Jansma (55. Petersen), Saarloos, Huisman, Wentink, Van Eekeren (45. Flierman)
Another defeat for the Dutch; improvements visible
 A good and encouraging training session in a new set up left us well-prepared for the always exciting match against the Germans. With last year’s game in mind, we were determined to keep it more friendly, but also to give much more resistance. In the goal we welcomed our new first goal keeper Ian.

Match kicked off at a stunningly hot 3pm. Pitch conditions were fair though, as mostly is the case at SJI. Due to the weather, the match developed in a slow pace, where the Germans took the slight upperhand in the first quarter of the match. A good first save from Ian around the 20th minutes made sure the match was still even. In the meantime, the Dutch improved their play, with a good and aggressively playing Philippe drawing the lines, together with an equally well playing Stephan. This resulted in a few changes for the Dutch, but unfortunately without really testing the German goalkeeper. Then, in the 44th minute, a miss-timed challenge in the air after a corner ball, resulted in a German header bouncing off the cross-bar; perfectly ready to be slotted home by a white, black & grey midfielder: 0-1.

Second half kicked off, with veteran Chris replacing Patrick and veteran Arjen replacing Bas. As the heat was getting slightly less severe, the match moved into a higher gear. Again, the following quarter was for the Germans, with more pressure on our goalkeeper. And unfortunately, after a few good stops he had to surrender finally: 0-2. In the final part of the match, we saw some great long balls from Jamie chipping it over the German defense. Two memorable events came from such a ball with Ard playing the leading role. The first one occurred when he was set free behind the German defense, but the linesman decided to raise his flag for off-side. The second one brought Ard freely in front of the goalkeeper. And where the execution was nearly perfect, a nicely placed diagonal shot, just underneath the falling goalkeeper, the angle of the shot was just not right. Ball ended up at the wrong side of the post: match over.

All in all a very good game, with a strong keeper (good debut for Ian), a defense as steady as a rock (Gijs has found his new position within the team), an aggressive midfield and a very active attack. If we can continue this improving line, and I’m sure we’ll be benefiting from our new training set up, I’m sure it will be a good season for the Dutch. Thanks go to the Germans for making it a good game.  
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