Madferret
9-05-05, 2:30 PM
Van Nistelrooy on target as Dutch win in Armenia
3 September 2005
by Reuters
Ruud van Nistelrooy notched his 23rd international goal to guide the Netherlands to a 1-0 win over Armenia in their FIFA World Cup? Group 1 qualifying match on Saturday.
Van Nistelrooy and Phillip Cocu both went close to putting the visitors in front inside the first ten minutes. Armenia goalkeeper Roman Berezovski was forced to stretch to save a free-kick from Manchester United striker Van Nistelrooy while Cocu hit the side-netting after Berezovski dropped the ball.
Dirk Kuyt also came close to breaking the deadlock when his header was stopped by Berezovski.
Dutch coach Marco van Basten, who had selected Arsenal's Robin van Persie in place of injured Chelsea winger Arjen Robben, realised that physical power was needed up front to penetrate the Armenian wall of defence and brought on Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the 61st minute.
Two minutes later Vennegoor of Hesselink set up Van Nistelrooy, who had his back to goal before he turned to score.
The Netherlands, who stayed top of the group with 25 points from nine matches, play host to Andorra on Wednesday. Armenia are bottom with four points from ten games.
"We played a very poor first half and hardly got any better after the break," said van Basten, who remained unbeaten in his 13th match as national coach. "Everything went wrong (...) sloppy passing and poor control over the ball and we did not manage to improve that.
"I hoped by bringing on Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to change something and it felt good when it worked just minutes after he came on. These sorts of matches will always be there, you really want play your game but whatever you try nothing works out."
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/gen/fifa/20050903/i/1553949134.jpg
With the Czech loss, one more win should do it. Andorra's next up on Wednesday while the Czech's play Armenia, so hopefully we should be qualified by Thursday.
3 September 2005
by Reuters
Ruud van Nistelrooy notched his 23rd international goal to guide the Netherlands to a 1-0 win over Armenia in their FIFA World Cup? Group 1 qualifying match on Saturday.
Van Nistelrooy and Phillip Cocu both went close to putting the visitors in front inside the first ten minutes. Armenia goalkeeper Roman Berezovski was forced to stretch to save a free-kick from Manchester United striker Van Nistelrooy while Cocu hit the side-netting after Berezovski dropped the ball.
Dirk Kuyt also came close to breaking the deadlock when his header was stopped by Berezovski.
Dutch coach Marco van Basten, who had selected Arsenal's Robin van Persie in place of injured Chelsea winger Arjen Robben, realised that physical power was needed up front to penetrate the Armenian wall of defence and brought on Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the 61st minute.
Two minutes later Vennegoor of Hesselink set up Van Nistelrooy, who had his back to goal before he turned to score.
The Netherlands, who stayed top of the group with 25 points from nine matches, play host to Andorra on Wednesday. Armenia are bottom with four points from ten games.
"We played a very poor first half and hardly got any better after the break," said van Basten, who remained unbeaten in his 13th match as national coach. "Everything went wrong (...) sloppy passing and poor control over the ball and we did not manage to improve that.
"I hoped by bringing on Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to change something and it felt good when it worked just minutes after he came on. These sorts of matches will always be there, you really want play your game but whatever you try nothing works out."
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/gen/fifa/20050903/i/1553949134.jpg
With the Czech loss, one more win should do it. Andorra's next up on Wednesday while the Czech's play Armenia, so hopefully we should be qualified by Thursday.