Portugal vs Netherlands August 14, 2013
Wednesday brings us a friendly of two international powers Portugal vs Netherlands Live Stream, as Portugal host the Netherlands at Estadio Algarve.
The Netherlands roll into this match fifth in the world soccer rankings, and Portugal football is just behind them at seventh seed. Also, they both have been in good form as of late. Portugal football club has won three straight, and the Netherlands football have won four.
The pitch will be full of stars in this one. Most notably is a battle of strikers that is as good as it gets. Cristiano Ronaldo is set to go for Portugal, while the Netherlands will counter with Robin van Persie.
This match will have special significance for Van Persie. Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal left former captain Wesley Sneijder off the roster for this match, so Van Persie will assume the role of captain in this clash.
These two last met at Euro 2012 in a Group B match. Portugal edged out the 2-1 victory on the strength of two goals by Ronaldo.
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| Portugal vs Netherlands August 14, 2013 |
Van Persie’s appointment as captain is well deserved. The 30-year-old earned his first of 76 caps in 2005 and has 35 goals in that span.
That's not all that surprising. Van Persie is a tremendous striker of the ball and is creative in possession; he is always one of the premier players on the pitch no matter how talented those around him are.
He also isn't showing any signals of offseason rust. In four games started this summer (including international and club play), Van Persie has already scored three goals.
He is focal point of the Netherlands' attack, and Portugal will undoubtedly pay extra attention to him in the hopes of stifling the opposition attack.
As great as Van Persie is, he is not piling up his impressive stats on his own. He is surrounded by talent, and he enjoys the impressively accurate crosses of Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben.
Robben plays with tremendous smarts and pace. He can break down a defense, create space and fashion opportunities for his teammates.
Robben's power allows him to score a few goals on his own, but his real value to the Netherlands is his ability to create. If Portugal wants to succeed in Portugal vs Netherlands, they will have to keep Robben from feeding Van Persie excellent looks on goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo needs no introduction, but I'm going to give him one anyway.
There is no denying he is the heart and soul of this Portugal team. Even when he isn't scoring goals, he is a benefit to his team simply through the amount of defensive attention he commands.
The 28-year-old has "just" 39 goals in 102 career caps. I put "just" in quotes because for most it wouldn't apply. However, considering Ronaldo's prodigious goalscoring throughout his career, this is a bit underwhelming.
This has been more due to the defensive attention paid to him and the lack of talent around him, than his own performances.
However, he had no such problems against the Netherlands the last time these two met. We'll see if he can duplicate the brace he picked up in that contest.
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