Germany Surprises Netherlands with Draw

The stadium in Porto was covered in a sea of orange-wearing Dutch supporters, who outnumbered German fans three to one. But that and the star-packed Dutch squad didn't intimidate the German players, as they immediately took the fight to their opponents.

In the first opening minutes both sides pushed forward, but the Germans quickly managed to get the upper hand and increase the pressure on the Dutch defenders. It was a surprisingly strong performance for a German side that was considered average at best by many observers.

Then Philipp Lahm was fouled by the Dutch captain Philip Cocu on the left flank resulting in a yellow card for the Dutchman and a free kick for the Germans. That set up the German goal in the 30th minute as Torsten Frings put the ball past teammate Bernd Schneider, a number of Dutch defenders and the keeper Edwin Van der Sar.

The Dutch began to fade somewhat after the Germans took the lead and Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy had few chances as halftime came. As play restarted the pace slowed, but the Dutch eventually began to assert more control over the match.

As the Dutch pushed forward, German keeper Oliver Kahn was forced to make a few saves. Marc Overmars came in for Boudewijn Zenden and placed his first shot so that Kahn, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Tuesday, had to leap athletically to punch it away.

Then just as the Germans were daring to believe they could wait out the 90 minutes, Andy Van der Meyde won the ball near the right corner and sent a beautiful cross into the box. Van Nistelrooy managed to horizontally connect to put the ball behind Kahn in the 81st minute.

"When you are up for so long, a draw is frustrating,
especially since we played very well in the first half and
had the Dutch under control," said Germany coach Rudi Völler.

Though the result was likely bitter for the Germans, at least they managed to earn the respect of their traditional rivals. "That really was a hard game, we had to fight to the end," van Nistelrooy said.

After beating Latvia 2-1 earlier in the day, the Czech Republic now top Group D. The Czechs will next face Holland on June 19, the same day Germany will take on Latvia.

Lineups:

Germany: Oliver Kahn; Arne Friedrich, Christian Wörns, Jens Nowotny, Philipp Lahm, Frank Baumann, Bernd Schneider, Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Kevin Kuranyi.

Netherlands: Edwin van der Sar; Johnny Heitinga, Jaap Stam, Wilfred Bouma, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Boudewijn Zenden, Rafael van der Vaart, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy van der Meyde.