netherlands take germany down a peg published: sunday 5 october 2003, 14.57cet
the holders crushed injury-ravaged germany, but the world champions forged on regardless.
injury-ravaged germany could not recover from an early dutch assault in the sides' final 1992 uefa european championship group b game, but scotland's 3-0 win against the commonwealth of independent states (cis) in the section's other fixture spared berti vogts' side an early exit.
after just four minutes, frank rijkaard's looping header converted a free-kick from ronald koeman, who was expected to take the next one but left it to rob witschge, who shot all along the ground from 25 metres on the quarter-hour mark. jürgen klinsmann reduced the arrears after half-time, though dennis bergkamp restored the netherlands' two-goal lead.
with guido buchwald and stefan reuter injured, andreas brehme had to switch flanks to the right to accommodate michael frontzeck, and thomas helmer came in to cover bergkamp's runs from deep. two oranje goals in the opening 15 minutes reflect that the new-look german defence did not exactly gel immediately, but as marco van basten hit the bar with a splendid overhead kick, it could have been worse.
klinsmann, dynamic and irrepressible as ever, headed in thomas hässler's corner after the break, but rinus michels pulled rijkaard back into defence to counter the aerial bombardment. the general also refreshed his ranks, sending on aron winter, who duly shot up the right to pull back a cross for bergkamp to step in and score with a low header across goalkeeper bodo illgner.
after the match, michels warned "we do not think we have seen the last of germany." indeed, many expected the final to be a repeat of this absorbing encounter – only one team would keep their end of the bargain.
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