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Holland 0 Denmark 1: Wasteful Dutch punished by Krohn-Dehli strike

Robin van Persie’s Holland side are already in danger of being ousted from Euro 2012 at the group stage after crashing to this defeat against a dogged Denmark in Kharkiv on Saturday night.

The decisive goal was well taken by Michael Krohn-Dehli in the first half but it arrived against the run of play in a match where his side were swamped for long periods.

Wasteful: Van Persie had a bad day at the office

MATCH FACTS

Holland: Stekelenburg, Van Der Wiel (Kuyt 85), Heitinga, Vlaar, Willems, Van Bommel, Nigel De Jong (Van der Vaart 71), Robben, Sneijder, Afellay (Huntelaar 71), van Persie.
Subs not used: Vorm, Mathijsen, Bouma, Schaars, Strootman, Luuk De Jong, Narsingh, Boulahrouz, Krul.
Booked: Van Bommel.
Denmark: Andersen, Jacobsen, Kjaer, Agger, Simon Poulsen, Kvist, Zimling, Rommedahl (Mikkelsen 84), Eriksen (Schone 74), Krohn-Dehli, Bendtner.
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Christian Poulsen, Bjelland, Okore, Silberbauer, Pedersen, Wass, Jakob Poulsen, Kahlenberg, Schmeichel.
Booked: Simon Poulsen, Kvist.
Goal: Krohn-Dehli 24.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Attendance: 34,973.

Holland had 28 attempts on goal and fluffed a lot of them - with Van Persie guilty on multiple occasions.

But the Dutch were left fuming at the officials as well as themselves after a hand-ball by Lars Jacobsen went unpunished with just a minute remaining.

Jacobsen took the ball away from Klass Jan-Huntelaar with the goal at the striker’s mercy, but referee Damir Skomina said no penalty and the chance of a draw vanished.

So it was the Danes who struck the first blow in Group B - tagged the ‘Group of Death’ because it also includes Portugal and Germany.

These four teams are all among the world’s top 10 according to Fifa’s current rankings. Germany are at No 3, the Dutch at No 4, Denmark at No 8 and Portugal at No 10.

Yet despite the star names on display in Ukraine’s second biggest city - Kharkiv has a population of almost 1.5million - there were large numbers of empty seats in an arena that holds 39,000 people.

Holland now go into their next game against Germany in the same venue on Wednesday badly in need of victory.

Winner: Krohn-Dehli beats Stekelenburg

 

The Danes had the first attempt on goal in the third minute, Daniel Agger’s header directed straight  at Maarten Stekelenburg. This prompted 20 minutes of almost continuous pressure by the Dutch.

Gregory van der Wiel and Robben combined to set up Jetro Willems, who blasted over the crossbar.

Willems - at 18 years and 71 days of age - became the youngest man ever to appear at a European Championship, beating the record set by Belgium’s Enzo Scifo in 1984.

Van Persie then cut back a ball to Ibrahim Afellay, but the Barcelona player could not control his volley. Van Persie himself then sidefooted past the post.

Great Dane: Krohn-Dehli is mobbed after his strike