Holland put down World Cup marker by thumping Ghana
Published:The Dutch team appeared in perfect harmony during their expert 4-1 win over Ghana last night.
Frictions had begun to show in the Holland camp after Robin Van Persie outlined his preferred attacking line-up, which omitted Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt.
So it was ironic to see Kuyt score Holland’s first goal of the game by putting in a rebound from a Van Persie shot.
Indeed the team were all smiles as three of the Oranje’s supposed Fab Four hit the back of the net with Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Van Persie all notching.
Such was the level of confidence in Holland’s display, against a Ghana team fancied to well at the World Cup themselves, a marker has clearly been put down by Bert van Marwijk’s men, who have now gone 18 games unbeaten.
They are an tantalising 11/1 to break their World Cup hoodoo and win the whole tournament for the first time.
Elsewhere last night, Australia recorded a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Denmark. After a last-minute win over lowly Australasia rivals New Zealand the team had come in for criticism, but Josh Kennedy’s second-half strike will now restore belief that Australia can progress beyond Group D – they are 2/1 to so.
Switzerland meanwhile slipped up against a Costa Rica side who were beaten to World Cup qualification by the Swiss’ Group H opponents Honduras.
The 1-0 loss to a country ranked 40th in the world illustrates the limited options Ottmar Hitzfeld has up front and suggests they will struggle to score goals in their group matches against Spain and Chile.
Switzerland have only hit the net once in their last four matches and are 7/2 to score 0-1 goals at the World Cup.
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