Dutch Soup

The Dutch team, until today, my favourites to win the Euro 2008 were outplayed by the Russians.
The following were the reasons they lost
- Arjen Robben didn't play (I am not sure whether he was out injured)
- Robin Van Persie didn't start. The Dutch as a result played like a crippled team making attacks only down the right side. The moment he came on, there was some action on both fronts.
- Nistelrooy should have been replaced. Bouhlarouz got substituted when he was playing well
- The Russians marked their men perfectly except for the solitary goal they conceded and the Dutch seemed to have no clue how to react
- The Russians also played their own version of Total Football by having only 2 men manning their D for most of the time, while the Dutch had as many as 7 men at one point in time handling the mercurial strikers Andrei Arshavin & Pavlyuchenko who toyed with the Dutch defence especially after the exit of Khalid Bouhlarouz

Tragedy. But the Dutch have only themselves to blame. The young Dutch team also looked deflated from the beginning as if they were coming off a viral attack while they were supposed to have had an extra day's rest. Am sure there must have been something wrong in planning as well :(

I guess I will now watch only the highlights and goals