Australia v Holland 10 October 2009 theworldgame.sbs.com.au Socceroos hold firm in Dutch hit-out The Socceroos preserved their unbeaten record against the Netherlands after holding on for a scoreless draw in their friendly match at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night. Australia were mostly outplayed in front of more than 40000 fans but held their own against the world's third ranked side and got a decent hit-out ahead of Wednesday's crucial Asian Cup qualifier against Oman. The result continued a good record against the Dutch after Australia won their last match in Eindhoven last year and drew the only other clash between the sides in 2006. The Socceroos struggled to find rhythm at times and had few scoring chances, but they still played some encouraging football in patches. Also pleasing was the return of Brett Emerton, who came on as a substitute after halftime after more than a year out of the team with a knee injury. Australian captain Lucas Neill played a full 90 minutes and did well despite having little game time since joining Everton. Of concern, though, to coach Pim Verbeek was a thigh problem which forced Vince Grella off after just 15 minutes. Verbeek, coaching against his home country, started with his strongest side for some time, although Tim Cahill, Josh Kennedy and Craig Moore were given early marks at halftime. Dutch stars Wesley Sneijder and Durk Kuyt also began despite concerns over their fitness and the Oranje perhaps should have taken the ...
