A moving sea of orange ceaselessly breaking on the doorstep waiting it to fall. But it did not happen as the Netherlands just could not put the ball into goal. Robin Van Persie was particularly egregious, his touch unsure, his finish woeful.
How did Paul Wilson come up with the analysis the Dutch did not win because RVP was stranded alone with the midfield not effectively linking up with him.
A more pertinent question would be how many chances do you need to score? This was finishing that let them down, not wrong tactics or a lack of them. The Dutch had 16 shots on goal, RVP had three of those. There were 20 off target. They also poured in 15 corners. This was no mean offensive output. The Dutch were also ill served by Arjen Robben's worst ball hog proclivities.
The Danes weathered the storm with a compact defense and in a rope a dope sequence came back through Michael Krohn- Dehli's stunning nutmeg off an out of position Maarten Stekelenberg.
The Dutch have dug themselves a hole. They can obviously still advance but their road now goes through Germany and Portugal. The Game of Thrones just began.
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