Dutch egos no match for unified Germany

When Holland’s divided and reportedly dysfunctional team lost to Denmark at Euro 2012 a tabloid newspaper back home in the Netherlands ran a headline that read ‘Legoland beat Egoland’; so goodness knows what kind of abuse is heading Bert van Marwijk’s way today after his team lost 2-1 to Germany to stand on the brink of elimination.

The mighty Dutch, who were World Cup finalists in 2010 and regarded as one of the biggest favourites here in Poland and Ukraine, have to beat Portugal in their final game, pray that Denmark lose to Germany the same day — and also improve their goal difference — to stand any chance of reaching the quarter-finals; and the inquest could well be ugly.

Once again the spectre of in-fighting and oversized egos has damaged Oranje hopes of glory as they went into this match dogged by stories of problems in the camp; and then failed to recover from a first half in which German striker Mario Gomez scored two stunning goals to take his tally to three for the tournament already.