Ruud’s Dutch treat

Pre-tournament friendly defeats by Romania and Hungary were hardly an announcement of Germany’s intent but, as Voeller acknowledged, such matches are far from the real thing.

‘‘Physically we went to the limit and that is something that you definitely don’t do in friendly games,’’ he said. Until the latter stages the Dutch were unimpressive, struggling to provide the isolated Van Nistelrooy with the opportunities the prolific striker thrives on of their wide players were unable to push beyond the German midfield.

After coping with early Dutch pressure, Germany, well-balanced and co-ordinated in every area, dominated the first half of the Group D Match.

The Defence was well marshalled by Christian Woerns, Dietmar Hamann sat in front of the back four soaking up whatever pressure the Dutch mustered and the two runners, Torsten Frings on the left and Bernd Schneider on the right, were lively and inventive. While all the traditional qualities were present Germany were much more pleasing to the eye than the team that reached the World Cup final.

‘‘It wasn’t just order and discipline,’’ said Voeller. ‘‘We dominated which is not easy against the Dutch.’’

It was the impressive Frings who gave the Germans a deserved lead on the half hour with an inswinging free kick from the left which sneaked in off the back post. Both teams played with the increasingly fashionable system of a lone striker but it was Voeller’s side who showed how such a system can work, with Kevin Kuranyi rotating the Dutch defenders as Schneider and Frings moved into the space.

Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat’s decision to introduce Wesley Sneijder for the ineffective Edgar Davids and replace Zenden with the more direct Marc Overmars worked in adding purpose to their attacks.

‘‘There was more penetration with Sneijder and Overmars and we were able to get to our forwards more easily,’’ said Advocaat.

But for the most part the Germans coped well even if the service to Kuranyi and the contribution of their main creative midfielder Michael Ballack faded.

‘‘We were put under some pressure after the break and we weren’t able to liberate ourselves or get the second goal,’’ said Voeller.(Reuters)