World Cup 2010: Group E Recap
Monday, June 14, 2010 at 7:01PM 
By MIKE DICK
One Great Season
In the first half of Monday's Group E opener, Denmark did exactly as they needed to do. They soaked up pressure early, then gradually came out of their shell on the counter attack. In spite of the overwhelming Dutch advantage in possession, the Danes created the best chances. Bendtner should have done better with his free header, either taking it to the opposite corner or heading to the back post to Enevoldsen. Stekelenburg also made a couple of good saves to keep it nil-nil. The Dutch had tons of ball, but lacked the cutting edge in the final third.
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All the Danish organization went out the window at the start of the second half. An incisive ball from inside the Dutch half to van Persie caused all kinds of problems. Keystone-cops defending by the Danes led to a panicked header by Busk Poulsen, which went into their own goal off of Agger's back. Advantage Netherlands, and they would not look back. Van der Vaart nearly scored one of the better goals of the tournament with a cheeky flick, but Sorensen did well to save it. Later, Sneijder unlocked the Danish defense with a killer through ball to the very dangerous-looking Elia. Sorensen got a finger to his shot to push it onto the post. But Kuyt, whose tireless work at both ends of the pitch was obvious throughout the match, was first to the ball in front of a napping Kjaer to push it across the line. Later, another great chance for the Dutch, but Busk was able to acrobatically hook it off the line with the ball going in.
All told, the Dutch deserved the three points, but they will be looking for a sharper effort going forward. One of the few matches thus far where we saw good goalkeeping at both ends.
Japan 1, Cameroon 0
Ugly first half of play. Shaky goalkeeping at each end. Cameroon were totally disjointed. Sloppy at the back, virtually no link play through midfield, little threat up front. The Japanese were barely better. But as the half neared its end, the Blue Samurai began to show a little bit. Matsui's fine cross, combined with slack defending, found an unmarked Honda at the back post. Honda had the time and space to pick his spot, and slotted home inside the near post.
Within the first five minutes of the second half, the Indomitable Lions nearly equalized. Eto'o was in the corner with three Japanese defenders around him, but managed to power through them and pull it back for Choupo-Moting. He should have done better, as he pulled his first-time shot high and wide. Cameroon's passing perked up with the addition of Emana in the 63rd minute, but Japan was getting plenty of blue shirts back. The Lions then were resigned to a series of long balls and speculative efforts. None produced much until a thunderbolt by Mbia nearly earned a draw.
Needless to say, Cameroon are in big trouble and face a huge match against Denmark. Neither the Danes nor the Dutch will be quaking in their boots at taking on either of these two teams on the evidence from this match.
Click here for Mike's bio and an archive of his previous stories.
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