It’s been a stormy day here in Holland. Literally: a rare summer storm sweeps across our nation today. Just as our Dutch soccer team swept the Latvians of the field: 3-0. But, as I mentioned before: this time it was not in our hands: if the Germans would win from the Tsjechs, we would loose anyway. But today the impossible became possible. Even though the Tsjechs played with, what is considered a complete B-team, they beat the Germans 2-1!
It could not be closer than this. And to tell the truth, it was a nervewrecking match. As always the Germans had a very good comeback in the second half of the match. In Holland its a well known fact that the Germans are never beat until the whistle blows and the referee says its over. I couldn’t help myself zapping from the Dutch match to the Germans, every ten seconds or so.
It is only fair to say that, in all reality, the Latvians never should have been a problem for the Dutch. They played even poorer than the Dutch throughout the tournament. But in reality the Dutch haven’t played that well either. Last Saturday they finally played a bit like they should, but we still lost. Today we dominated although there were a few scary moments. Particular after the break when the Latvians had three big chances.
When I zapped back and forth between the two matches I got more and more anxious – to my own surprise. Usually I’m not a huge soccer fan, but this kind of important match is always a different experience.
Having said that: if I would have to make one prediction, I would predict that it would not be surprising at all if the Tsjechs will become the next European Soccer Champions of 2004. They do have a hell of a team and a really smart coach.