A moment of individual skill by Ruud van Nistelrooy spared the blushes of a desperately disappointing Dutch side who made a mockery of the "total football" tag associated with Dutch sides for the past 30 years. They allowed Germany to dominate for most of the game, and the Germans took a deserved lead before half time. We waited for signs of a Dutch response, but it didn't come. Part of the problem was that they allowed Germany to dominate the midfield, and thus dictate the game. There was no cohesion, their workrate was poor, and they looked like a collection of individuals who had been given an orange shirt and told to get on with it.

A lot of the blame must lie with coach Dick Advocaat. I have never been a fan of his, and I think he's overrated. But he is handicapped by the attitude of some of his players, as other Dutch coaches have been in the past, and no doubt will be in the future. To achieve anything, you have to be totally committed to each other and to the coach. On this display, the Dutch squad is not pulling together as one, and is relying on moments of individual brilliance. I genuinely feel for the Dutch fans, always loyal and positive. Their players let them down time after time, but they still keep believing. So van Nistelrooy's equalizer on 82 minutes was the very least they deserved, and it keeps them in with a chance of progressing beyond the group stage. But on this performance, they're not going to progress very far.

And yet, when they're in the mood the Dutch players can beat anyone. Their problem is that they aren't in the mood often enough. Why not? A good question. And if I knew the answer, I'd be applying for Dick Advocaat's job!

10:59:17 PM    

There wouldn't be any point in having these contests if every game was predictable. Three-quarters of the way through the Group D tie between 500-1 outsiders Latvia and the Czech Republic, a major upset looked on the cards, with Latvia leading 1-0. This wasn't good news for me because the Czech goalkeeper Peter Cech will be joining Chelsea immediately after the tournament. But the side that stand in 11th place in the FIFA world rankings spared themselves some embarrassment, and broke Latvian hearts, by scoring twice in the last 20 minutes.

The game was also notable for a comment by the traffic reporter on BBC Radio 5 Live who remarked that "the lawn looks lovely." She was, apparently, referring to the pitch.

7:50:22 PM