Live football

Edwin Van Der Sar, Holland captain says that his team gave a display of how to play modern football during the Euro 2008 tournament.He also said that witnessing Greece win the title 4 years ago was disheartening as they played very negatively and went through the whole tournament stealing single goal victories.

During this tournament the Dutch team gave a world class lesson in how to attack. They beat France, Italy and Romania with a total of 9 goals. Many bookmakers had them as favourites to win the tournament.

Unfortunately, a win was not to be, Holland were beaten by Russia in their quarter final. The final score was 3-1 to Russia after extra time. Holland may be out of the competition but they are proud of what they achieved.

Van Der Sar, who plays for Manchester United at club level says that Holland, and Russia both played football the way it is meant to be played.

He said,"When teams play defensive football it is boring, attacking is what gets results and it also makes for a more exciting game. Even when behind some teams play with everyone behind the ball, what's the point?" Russia have always been renowned for being a very disciplined but boring team. However, since Guus Hiddink from Holland became their coach they have radically changed their playing style.

It was both Hiddink's reform of the Russian team and also his inside knowledge of how Holland play that enabled Russia to win. They did so in spectacular style, they took the lead early on and it only went to extra time thanks to a daring header from Ruud Van Nistlerooy.Russia however, completely dominated the extra 30 minutes and scored twice more to end Holland's competition.Van Der Sar has now retired from international football but he does so with his head held high, proud that he has helped change the way football was played by the Dutch team. It can only lead to bigger and better things for Holland, and more exciting live football for the fans.