Coach happy but Dutch hot shots fail to spark

IT looks like we are relying on Brazil’s Samba stars to put some pizzazz into this World Cup after the Netherlands, the team tipped by many to provide the most entertaining football in the tournament, needed an own goal to edge Denmark in their opening game and failed to reach the heights expected of them.

The Dutch were the first European team to qualify for South Africa 2010 and having demolished Hungary 6-1 in their final preparation game in Amsterdam there was real hope they could light up the finals with the kind of entertaining and inventive football that has become synonymous with the orange shirt.

Instead, however, they appeared to suffer a similar bout of tension to tournament rivals England and France as they laboured to a rather nervy 2-0 victory in Johannesburg’s Soccer City in a manner which is becoming increasingly regular here.