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During the second match of Group C held on Sunday, Dutch footballers narrowly defeated the team of Serbia and Montenegro. The only goal of the match was scored by Arjen Robben in the 18th minute after a gross mistake by the defenders.
Leipzig Zentralstadion, 37216 spectators Referee - Markus Merk (Germany) Netherlands 1 - 0 Serbia and Montenegro 17' [1 - 0] Arjen Robben
Netherlands: Van der Sar, Heitinga, Mathijsen (86' Boulahrouz), Ooijer, Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder, Van Bommel (60' Landzaat), Cocu, Van Persie, van Nistelrooy (69' Kuyt), Robben. Serbia and Montenegro: Jevric, Dragutinovic, Gavrancic, Nenad Djordjevic, Krstajic, Duljaj, Stankovic, Predrag Djordjevic (43' Koroman), Nadj, Kezman (66' Ljuboja), Milosevic (45' Zigic).
As expected, the Dutch played in a 4-3-3 formation. They started the match more actively and could have scored in the first minute, but Arjen Robben's header, following Wesley Sneijder's lifted free-kick, was an easy task for the Serbia and Montenegro goalkeeper.
Later, the Dutch launched several attacks, but the Serbian team defended well.
Serbia and Montenegro had their first opportunity before the 10th minute, but Dejan Stankovic's shot was weak and didn't trouble Edwin van der Sar. Later, the Serbians tried several more times to threaten the Dutch goal, but without success.
Around the 15th minute of the game, Arjen Robben received a perfect pass from the midfield and found himself in front of the goal. However, the linesman flagged for offside.
Two minutes later, A. Robben took advantage of a rough mistake by the Serbian defenders, received a practically identical pass from van Persie, and, finding himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, skillfully sent the ball into the net.
Four minutes later, the same A. Robben had another opportunity, but his powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area was parried by Serbian goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric.
Later, the Dutch launched another attack, and Robin van Persie had a dangerous header.
With about 15 minutes remaining in the first half, the Serbians probably had one of their most dangerous attacks - Savo Milosevic broke through excellently on the left side, entered the penalty area, but his pass didn't reach any player.
The Serbians started the second half very actively. Especially daring and dangerous were Ognjen Koroman and tall striker Nikola Zigic, who appeared on the field towards the end of the second half.
These two players significantly enlivened the Serbia and Montenegro team's attacking game. Midway through the second half, the Serbians replaced Mateja Kezman with Danijel Ljuboja.
At the end of the game, the Serbians tried to press the Dutch, but the latter managed to defend well and even launched some dangerous counter-attacks - van Persie's penalty was particularly dangerous.
Match statistics Netherlands - Serbia and Montenegro Ball possession 66.1% - 33.9% Goals 1 - 0 Attempts on goal 18 - 10 Shots on goal 5 - 4 Shots off target 7 - 4 Blocked shots 6 - 2 Corners 4 - 6 Offsides 3 - 2 Yellow cards 2 - 4 Red cards 0 - 0 Successful tackles 13 - 13 Accuracy of shots on goal 84.6% - 92.3% Pass accuracy 80.9% - 62.7% Total passes 528 - 271
