The Hindu : Netherlands holds French; Ireland stuns Czech republic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 02, 2004

Sport

Sport - Football

Netherlands holds French; Ireland stuns Czech republic

LONDON, APRIL 1. The Netherlands dashed French hopes of a world record 15 wins in a row with a 0-0 tie on Wednesday while Ireland ended the Czech Republic's 20-match unbeaten streak with a 2-1 victory.

On a night of games building up to the Euro 2004 finals, some of the leading contenders had results and performances they didn't want.

England went down 1-0 at Sweden to make it a disappointing return to Goteborg for Sven-Goran Eriksson. Host Portugal tumbled 2-1 at home to Italy after taking the lead.

But there were victories for three-time European champion Germany, Spain, Greece and outsider Latvia.

In Rotterdam, European champion France had Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires missing through injury and Thierry Henry was on the bench. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has a knee injury, wasn't even on the Dutch bench but the home side created most of the chances and Jacques Santini's men were fortunate to avoid a rare loss.

Now the French hold the record of 14 victories in a row along with Australia (Oct. 1996 to Nov. '97) and Brazil (June '97-Dec. '97).

Although Dutch 'keeper Edwin van der Sar pushed a shot from Sidney Govou over the top, Pierre van Hooijdonk skimmed the French bar with long range free kicks and Johnny Heitiga almost snatched victory for the Dutch near the end.

At Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Robbie Keane scored an injury time winner for non-qualifier Ireland to end the Czech Republic's 20-game unbeaten streak.

Although Milan Baros had canceled out an Ian Harte free kick, Keane was first to react to a panicky moment in the Czech defense to fire the Irish winner at Lansdowne Road.

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