Netherlands Line-Up: Stekelenberg, Heitinga, Vlaar, Willems, Van Der Wiel (Kuyt, 85'), Van Bommel (c), Robben, Afellay (Huntelaar, 72'), De Jong (Van Der Vaart, 72'), Van Persie, Sneijder
Denmark Line-Up: Andersen, Jacobsen, Poulsen, Kjaer, Agger (c), Zimling, Kvist, Bendtner, Rommedahl (Mikkelsen, 83'), Krohn-Dehli, Eriksen (Schone, 74')
The heavily favourited Netherlands team started their campaign with a defeat against a well oiled Denmark outfit. The Dutch won the possession game but Michael Krohn-Dehli's first half goal was enough to give Denmark the victory.
The game started with Netherlands in full control of the ball without really testing Stephan Andersen. The shots that they did muster up were either easy for the keeper or way off target. This pattern continued until the 24th minute when a deflection fell to Krohn-Dehli who then ran past a poor challenge from Johnny Heitinga and then smashed the ball through Maarten Stekelenberg's legs.
Denmark were perhaps a little lucky to avoid a penalty shout four minutes later when Simon Poulsen swivelled which caused his hand to hit the ball in the area. Netherlands' best chance in the half fell ten minutes before the break when an Andersen pass went straight to Arjen Robben, the winger then turned inside of a defender before curling a shot against the post.
The second half was again full of woeful Dutch shooting while their defending also left a lot to be desired. Andersen's biggest involvement came five minutes after the kick-off when he smartly pushed Robin Van Persie's shot over the bar. But the Oranje still couldn't break the Danish defence down enough to get that equaliser. Denmark got very lucky again in the final minutes though when another, clear, handball decision wasn't given and Denmark secure the three points. In the group of death, Netherlands now face an uphill battle to get out of this group.
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