End of road for entertaining Ivory Coast

Holland vs Ivory Coast

Holland 2 – Robin van Persie (23), Ruud van Nistelrooy (27)
Ivory Coast 1 – Bakary Kone (38)

In the second Group C match tonight, an entertaining and hardworking Ivory Coast were eliminated from going any further by an attack-minded Holland team.

What a game did Arsenal’s Robin van Persie had. He was instrumental in most of Holland’s attack and his goal, from a free kick, was simply superb. In van Persie and Arjen Robben, Holland have speed upfront and these players can and will cause havoc in most defences. This is their second victory following the 1-0 win over Serbia & Montenegro and they now join Argentina in the second round.

And what about Ivory Coast? Is this their first World Cup campaign? They didn’t play like novices. Their players were skillful and appeared to be at ease playing against top class opponents. Even in the first game against Argentina they only lost narrowly by 2-1 and with today's defeat, it is sad that they won’t make it to the second round but I am sure this country has a big football future and we will see them in future World Cups.

Mexico vs Angola

The last game of the day involved another African team, another debutant, Angola, playing Mexico. This end-to-end game ended goalless and along the way just added to the reputation of African football.

Angola still stand a chance of qualifying for the second round, depending on how the final round of matches next week goes.

Mexico has a good hardworking team but today they failed to break down the African defence despite trying hard.