Red Devils World Cup Matches
Last updated: Monday 15 June 1998
Mail to : marc.delperdange@student.kuleuven.ac.be
Saturday 13 June :
Belgium - Netherlands
0 - 0
Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Paris)
Attendants : 80.000
Referee : Collina (Italy)
yellow cards : Staelens, Deflandre
red cards : Kluivert
Starting line-ups :
BELGIUM :
Nilis - Oliveira
Boffin - Van der Elst - Clement - Wilmots
Borkelmans - Verstraeten - Staelens - Crasson
De Wilde
Substitutions :
22th min : Crasson > Deflandre
59th min : Oliveira > E. Mpenza
NETHERLANDS :
Hasselbaink - Kluivert
Overmars - Seedorf - R. De Boer - Cocu
Winter - Stam - F. De Boer - Numan
Van der Sar
Substitutions :
65th min : Seedorf > Zenden
65th min : Hasselbaink > Bergkamp
79th min : R. De Boer > Jonk
Match Report
The team that started the match against the Netherlands was the same as the one in the last preparation match for the World Cup against Paraguay.
Only the injured Vidovic didn't start the match, he was replaced by Verstraeten.
The plan of coach Leekens was clear :
defenders Staelens and Verstraeten had to make sure that Kluivert and Hasselbaink didn't get before the goal of De Wilde.
But that was easier said than done.
The Netherlands started the match at an incredible speed, and Belgium had trouble to keep up with them.
After just 5 minutes, Netherlands got their first big chance :
keeper De Wilde couldn't hold on to the shot of Ronald De Boer, but Hasselbaink couldn't put the ball into the goal.
The Netherlands kept on passing the ball around very well, and especially the quick Overmars was difficult to stop by the Belgian defense.
Coach Georges Leekens had seen that, and replaced Crasson very early in the match by Eric Deflandre to cover the Dutch left wing.
The Netherlands were still clearly the best team, but didn't have any good chances anymore :
free kicks of Frank De Boer and Seedorf were not very accurate.
Clement, who was assigned to play in midfield, always had to get back into defense.
The consequence was that Franky Van der Elst couldn't stop the Dutch midfield on his own, and they kept on coming.
After half an hour, the Dutch pressure started to get a bit less.
Just before half-time, Belgium had their only big chance of the first half :
Boffin centered, but Wilmots was not able to head the ball very good and Van der Sar could stop the ball of Wilmots.
In the second half-time, the Netherlands started to come forward again.
De Wilde was able to save a powerful shot of Hasselbaink and the rebound of Winter,
and the belgian keeper got some help from Deflandre, who saved the header of Kluivert on the line.
But in the second half-time, the Belgian team played much better, and had a few nice chances as well.
A very beautiful shot of Nilis only just went over the goal of Van der Sar.
Leekens then brought in Mpenza in the place of Oliveira, but he didn't get any real chances.
There still were some chances on both sides, with shots of Boffin and Borkelmans for Belgium, and also dangerous shots of Bergkamp and Stam for the Netherlands.
An important moment in the match was the red card for Kluivert :
he elbowed Staelens as a revenge for a tackle and some provocations of Staelens a few moments earlier.
At the end, there was still a free-kick of Frank De Boer, but the shot was deflected by De Wilde.
The corner that followed was still very dangerous, and again Deflandre was able to save the shot on the line.
The score stayed at 0-0, a very good result for the Belgian team, and Belgium was very happy with that score.
This draw resulted in festivities all over Belgium as if we had won.
The Netherlands were seen as a possible candidate for the World Cup Finals, and they did indeed play some very nice soccer.
And the attractive and attacking soccer of the Belgian team in the previous matches was suddenly gone.
Perhaps that will be something for the next matches on the World Cup.
The next match against Mexico now becomes very important, because they have won their first match against South Korea.
image1 : Crasson was not able to stop Overmars
image2 : Kluivert receives the red card
image3 : Borkelmans tries to stop Seedorf.
Mail to : marc.delperdange@student.kuleuven.ac.be
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