by Tom Allen
Italy didn't quite know what had hit them when defeat to Slovakia saw them
crash out of the World Cup on Thursday afternoon but their conquerors march on
and now face the Dutch.
Italy's shock elimination would have cheered Holland, the two giants looked
destined to meet in the last 16, but Slovakia will be no pushovers and the 1988
European Championship winners will need to raise their game.
Holland breezed through Group E with the minimum of fuss, beating Cameroon,
Denmark and Japan with ease, and you get the feeling they have plenty more to
offer.
Whether or not Holland have what it takes to step it up a gear or two now
that we have reached the knockout stage remains to be seen but it looks highly
probable and they are quite rightly short priced favourites to oblige.
No bigger than 4/9 shots with the likes of VC Bet and Blue Square to get the
job done inside 90 minutes, a victory for Holland would tee up a likely
quarterfinal clash with Brazil and that would certainly be one to savour.
You would have got long odds on Slovakia's Robert Vittek leading the goal
scoring charts at the end of the group stage but his brace against the defending
champions propelled his country into the last 16 and anything they achieve from
now on is a bonus.
It should, perhaps, be no surprise that Slovakia managed to progress from
Group F, they qualified for the finals in style after all, but they were held by
an extremely limited New Zealand side before being beaten by Paraguay and this
is a step up in class once again.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk looks set to leave Arjen Robben on the bench
once more, as the Bayern Munich winger continues his recovery from injury, but
Holland have plenty of talent elsewhere and Robin van Persie got up and running
in South Africa with the opening goal versus Cameroon in their final group
match.
The one concern for Holland fans will be their lack of truly competitive
matches so far, they have yet to be seriously tested, but they put together a
string of excellent results in the warm-up matches when blowing away some decent
opposition and another resounding success looks on the cards.
Slovakia took advantage of some uncharacteristic Italian defensive blunders
in their 3-2 triumph but Holland, so comfortable in possession, are unlikely to
be as generous and a routine win looks on the cards.
I envisage Holland winning by at least two clear goals and the value to be
had is in the Asian Handicap markets.
Ladbrokes are a standout 5/6 about the fourth favourites giving up a goal and
I'm more than happy to play at those prices. We'll get our money back if it is
just a single goal margin of victory.
2pts Back Holland (-1.0, vs. Slovakia) @ 5/6 (Ladbrokes)
