Netherlands defeat Slovakia in friendly

Portugal's Group B rivals register a win but at what cost?

Portugal’s Group B rivals the Netherlands continued their preparations for Euro 2012 on Wednesday night by beating Slovakia 2-0 and ending a run of two consecutive defeats.

What turned out to be a routine victory for the Oranje could have been very different when Napoli star Marek Hamsik saw a header strike the crossbar within the first five minutes.

However, just a few minutes later it was the Dutch who took the lead through a slice of good fortune, when Barcelona winger Ibrahim Afellay produced some trickery on the left before delivering a cross that took a cruel deflection off Kornel Salata before skewing into the net.

Slovakia were presented with more chances to score, particularly when Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg handled a back pass, but Miroslav Stoch could only find the side netting from six yards out.

As the game wore on the Netherlands began to find their rhythm, but suffered a blow when their playmaker Wesley Sneijder was forced off after fifty minutes with an ankle complaint. The injury is not thought to be too serious, although the Inter Milan star will undergo a scan today to assess the extent of the problem.

Sneijder was replaced by Rafael Van der Vaart, and the Tottenham midfielder wrapped up victory after 76 minutes with a low right-foot shot from just inside the penalty area.

The Netherlands will play their final warm-up game on Saturday against Northern Ireland before travelling to Poland and Ukraine, where they will play Portugal on Sunday 17^th June in the final round of matches in Group B.

by Tom Clee

Watch the match highlights from the Netherland’s 2-0 victory over Slovakia here:


Netherlands 2 - 0 Slovakia footyroom.com por Futbol2101