Germany v Holland - PREVIEW
Hostilities resume between bitter rivals
Germany and the Netherlands renew their rivalry on Tuesday in a high-octane Group D opener with both sides aware that defeat could leave them with a mountain to climb to reach the quarter-finals.
In 1974 a flamboyant Dutch side felt they had a divine right to win the World Cup with their 'total football' spearheaded by the spellbinding Johan Cruyff, but Germany erased an early penalty to run out 2-1 winners in the final.
That rivalry intensified further in 1988 when the Dutch side of Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, triumphed 2-1 over the Germans on their way to lifting the European title.
"This team is good but cannot be compared to the 1988 team," said Cruyff. "They have world-class stars but whether they will function as a team is questionable."
At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, temperatures boiled over with Rudi Voller, now the German coach, and Rijkaard involved in a distasteful spitting incident that underlined the animosity between the two nations.
ventual champions Germany won the second round match 2-1 but the dismissal of Voller and Rijkaard overshadowed the encounter.
"There is certainly a rivalry between these two sides," explained Dutch coach Dick Advocaat. "But we just want to win and improve our chances."
A tight game is expected as both sides seem to struggle to come from a goal behind so scoring first is on the minds of both teams.
"The team that scores the first goal will win the match," Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy said.
This sentiment was echoed by Germany's Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann.
"We have to keep the score at 0-0 and try to grab a goal," he added.
Both sides have shown patchy form in their build-up to the tournament but every team starts with a clean slate on this last day of opening Group fixtures.
Teams
Germany: Kahn (capt) - Friedrich, Worns, Nowotny, Lahm - Baumann - Schneider, Hamann , Ballack, Frings - Kuranyi
Coach: Rudi Voller
Netherlands: Van der Sar - Heitinga, Stam, Bouma, Van Bronckhorst - Davids, Cocu (capt), Zenden - Van Nistelrooy, Van der Vaart, Van der Meyde
Coach: Dick Advocaat
Referee: A. Frisk (SWE)