Ruud Helps Holland Into Final Four
By David Hobbs
June 27 2004
Ruud van Nistelrooy's Holland have made it into the final four of Euro 2004 after coming out on top of a penalty shoot-out against Sweden yesterday. Arjen Robben was the man who kept his cool to fire Dick Advocaat's side through to the semis.
| Ruud Helps Holland Into Final Four |
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Ruud van Nistelrooy's Holland have made it
into the final four of Euro 2004 after coming out on top of a penalty
shoot-out against Sweden yesterday.
Arjen Robben, who recently snubbed a move to Old Trafford to join Premiership rivals Chelsea, was the man who kept his cool to fire Dick Advocaat's side through to the semis. The Swedes made it incredibly difficult for Holland and limited their chances in-front of goal despite van Nistelrooy having a few half-chances to score. Neither team broke the deadlock in normal time and extra time although both sides did hit the wood-work in the latter part of extra-time. Both sides scored 4 penalties each until Aston Villa's Olof Mellberg had his shot saved by Edwin van der Saar. Arjen Robben made no mistake to book Holland a place in the semis against the host nation Portugal. In a post-match interview, Ruud van Nistelrooy said: "It was unbelievably tough. I knew I would take the first penalty and I just wanted to start the right way." "I knew we had to set the record straight because we have such a bad history of penalties." |
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