Van Persie targeted…

Just before the half time break, Van Persie got into a scrimmage with an Albanian sub. The guy held on to the ball, when Robin wanted to do a quick throw in.

The Albanian fans scolded Van Persie as if they had one mouth. It was the signal, with the unjustly rewarded yellow card for Van Persie, for the fans to ignite the bomb. Things wouldn’t settle down anymore after that incident.

After 44 minutes Van Basten had his dilemma. Should he take the Arsenal striker off the pitch, our most productive player? Or would the quest for the three points justify the risk? Van Basten replaced Van Persie, without a doubt reluctantly. The choice was tough with an English ref. Ref Riley sees Van Persie for three season already and the question is, how does the man look upon our Robin?

If it was Robben, the choice was easy. Robben doesn’t count a lot of referees as his friends. Still, the team manager chose the safe route and brought Van der Vaart.

Still, the Battle of Nurnberg (Holland Portugal 0 – 1 at the 2006 WC) is a recurring theme during Oranje preparations. How to handle intimidations.

And the team has progressed. Last October Oranje kept its cool against a tough playing Bulgarie. Van Persie, central striker in that match, was constantly butchered and tackled, but he stayed cool but did get his first yellow card in that match.

And against Albania, again, there was nothing to blame him for. It was downright stupid how he got his yellow yesterday, in the 39nth minute. He got it for a foul that wasn’t a foul. The right winger was passed the ball from the back and made himself broader to protect himself against his opponent. As strikers do. He may have touched Vangjieli’s face, but he went down like a squealing pig!

With the yellow card, Van Persie knew he would be suspended, as we could see on his facial expression and his arms lifted up to the Gods.

Van Basten reacted immediately by telling Van der Vaart to warm up. The HSV midfielder did all he could to force the opening in the second half, an opening that followed in the dying seconds of the game.