After the Netherlands’ demolition of holders Spain in their opening FIFA World Cup Group B match, Australia will have to plug the dyke if they want to avoid a flood of Oranje goals in their group clash in Porto Alegre today.
The Dutch side stunned the world with their 5-1 victory over a hapless Spain that was highlighted by a sensational headed goal by Robin van Persie and a swaggering, two-goal display from Arjen Robben.
With the 30-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder Robben playing like a man on a mission to prove cement as one of the stars of the tournament and Manchester United striker Van Persie — the same age and also on fire — the Oranje are set to give the Socceroos a tough afternoon.
“It was an amazing start for our World Cup and I think we’ve made a lot of people very happy,” Netherlands skipper Van Persie told FIFA media. “Now the focus is on Australia and I think that will be completely different to the game against Spain.”
A victory would leave the three-time World Cup runners-up poised to reach the last 16 of the tournament in Brazil.
Since their humiliation of Lo Roja, there has been much talk of a return to the Total Football of the great Netherlands teams of the past, but this is still an uncompromising side and today’s match could be a crunching encounter.
While their rivals are riding high on the wave of Friday’s victory, Australia come into today’s game having to pick themselves up from a 3-1 defeat by a tough, talented Chile side, but Aussie bravura defiantly was on show.
“We just need to be confident and show we can play football like we did for 70 minutes [against Chile],” striker Matthew Leckie told reporters. “Chile is a world-class team and they couldn’t handle us at times.”
Coach Ange Postecoglou must do without defender Ivan Franjic, who was ruled out of the tournament with a torn hamstring and with no other right-side defender to call on, his replacement will be Ryan McGowan, who came on for Franjic in Cuiaba.
Though soccer lags behind cricket, rugby and Australian-rules football in popularity Down Under, this is the Socceroos’ third consecutive World Cup appearance and the team, still rebuilding with the passing of their “Golden Generation,” will not surrender easily.
They also have statistics on their side, having never lost against the Netherlands, drawing twice and grabbing a 2-1 win in Eindhoven in 2008 in their previous meetings.
Australia can also take heart from their national squad beating the Netherlands 6-1 to win the hockey World Cup on Sunday, but that could be clutching at straws.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was