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The first round of the European Championship group stage matches has ended. In the second match of Group D, the Netherlands and Germany played to a draw and shared a point.
Germany - Netherlands 1 - 1
30' [1 - 0]
81' [1 - 1]
In the first half, the Dutch players started off quite sharply. The Germans took the initiative and halfway through the half, scored the first goal after a penalty kick. The goal was scored by the twenty-second number, Torsten Frings. He kicked the ball into the penalty area after the penalty kick, but neither the German nor the Dutch national team players touched the ball and it ended up in van der Sar's goal. After this goal, the Dutch should have exerted pressure, but they did not.
The Germans continued to try to press the opponents, while the "Oranje" responded only with a few counterattacks. The most realistic chance in the first half fell to Rafael van der Vaart, but he could not beat German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
The second half was again actively started by the Germans, but little by little the Dutch national team took the initiative and besieged the German goal. Mark Overmars greatly contributed to this, tearing apart the German defense.
The result became level in the 81st minute of the game when van der Meyde wrested the ball from a German defender and almost from the corner of the penalty area sent it into the box. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was in the box, proved to be a top-class forward. He was hindered by a defender, but the angle from which the striker struck was sharp.
As the result became level, both teams tried to change the situation. Closest to the goal in the Dutch squad was Wilfred Bouma, after whose shots Kahn had to save the situation.
Young Bastian Schweinsteiger looked great in the German ranks, shooting several times at van der Sar's goal, but lacked accuracy.
After these drawn matches, the situation in the group became interesting. Especially today, after seeing the Latvian game, it is possible to think that our neighbors can take points from both the Germans and the Dutch. The next matches of Group D await us on Saturday.
