The Netherlands start as strong favorites but will not be taking
anything for granted on Monday in Durban after Slovakia's stunning 3-2
defeat of Italy in group play which sent the defending champion home.Slovakia
also boasts one of the tournament's top scorers in Robert Vittek, whose
three goals place him at the top of the scoring table with David Villa
of Spain, Argentine Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez of Uruguay."Slovakia
did well," Netherlands defender John Heitinga said. "You don't just win
like that from Italy." There were signs in the last group game that the
famous Dutch "clockwork orange" attacking style of quick exchanges of
passing and running off the ball is finally starting to click.Robin
van Persie's opening goal in his team's 2-1 defeat of Cameroon was a
case in point — the Arsenal striker played a one-two with Rafael van der
Vaart and Dirk Kuyt stepped over the ball to let it run to Van Persie,
who gratefully buried his first goal of the tournament in the back of
the net.However, Van Marwijk was not satisfied. He wants the team to
control possession and patiently probe for openings in the opponent's
defense. It might not please all fans as Dutch "total football" does,
but it wins matches, Van Marwijk argues.Against Cameroon, the
Netherlands gave the ball away too often, he said, and will have to be
sharper against Slovakia."If we are as concentrated as during the
first two games and look for space with direct moves, then we are at our
best," he said. "Then we have patience, we have speed we can score. But
you cannot afford to play that nonchalantly for 20 minutes." The
Netherlands, losing World Cup finalist in 1974 and 1978, beat Denmark
2-0 and Japan 1-0 in its first two games for a perfect record in the
group phase.Slovakia drew 1-1 with New Zealand and lost 2-0 to
Paraguay before its decisive victory over Italy sent it into the round
of 16.Van Marwijk said Slovakia will be dangerous because less is
expected of them."We came here as newcomers and outsiders," Vittek
said after his two goals helped decide the upset of Italy. "But we have
already surprised once and we want to do it again.We really have
moved the limits of Slovak football somewhere else." Slovakia coach
Vladimir Weiss said his team would play with the same spirit against the
Netherlands as it did against Italy."They are the favorites but you
never know," Weiss said."They have attacking players like (Wesley)
Sneijder and Van der Vaart. It's not easy to play against these guys.They
won all their matches at the group stage. They are a fantastic team
with fantastic players." The 2010 World Cup debut of Arjen Robben as a
second-half substitute against Cameroon gave Dutch fans hope for more
beautiful football. The Bayern Munich winger crowned his first
appearance in South Africa by unleashing one of his trademark curling
left-foot shots that bounced off the inside of the post and straight to
Klaas Jan Huntelaar who calmly slotted in the rebound.Robben, who
had a standout season in Germany, injured his left hamstring in the
Netherlands' last warmup match, against Hungary on June 5, arrived late
in South Africa and sat out the first two Group E matches to recover and
return to full fitness."In the 20 minutes he played everyone could
see how important he could be for us," Van Marwijk said.But it still
seems unlikely Robben will start Monday in the Moses Mabhida Stadium."Now,
our intention is to increase his playing time," Van Marwijk said. "I
take it he can play longer from now on. I don't know about the starting
lineup." While Van Marwijk's injury problems are easing, six of his
starting lineup are carrying yellow cards into the match.Kuyt, van
Persie, Van der Vaart, Kuyt, Nigel de Jong, Gregory van der Wiel and
captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst could all miss the quarterfinal against
Brazil or Chile if they pick up another card.
