NetherlandsNetherlands - National football team
The Dutch national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). It won Euro '88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina. At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football and was nicknamed Clockwork Orange for its precision passing. In the Netherlands the team is colloquially referred to as Oranje. It is currently ranked fourth in the FIFA World Rankings and third in the World Football Elo Ratings.
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The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905. The players were selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch football association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1, but because the match was for a trophy (the "Coupe van den Abeele"), the game went into extra time, in which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 1–4.[1]
The Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934, and after coming back in 1938, the Dutch national team entered the wilderness of world football. They came out of this wilderness in the 1970s with the invention of Total Football (Dutch: Totaalvoetbal), pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team coach Rinus Michels. The Dutch made huge strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade.
In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone 1–0 up through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before any German had even touched the ball. The Dutch were trying to embarrass the Germans at home while they were only up 1–0. This would prove their undoing. Supported by the crowd, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller led to a victory for the Germans. Despite losing the final Clockwork Orange and Johan Cruyff had written a new page in football's history..
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BrazilBrazil - National football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation. They are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it."[5] Currently ranked first by FIFA, Brazil is consistently among the strongest football nations by Elo Ratings and is the only team to have played in every World Cup. Brazil participated in the Copa América 2007 which was hosted by Venezuela.
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They were placed in Group B with Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. Brazil surprisingly lost to Mexico 2–0 in their opening match, then bounced back with a comfortable 3–0 victory over Chile with three goals from Robinho, and won 1–0 against Ecuador, Robinho scoring on a penalty kick. They advanced to the quarter-finals, where they defeated Chile again 6–1. The semi-final was against Uruguay, after a 2–2 draw, Brazil won 5–4 on penalties. Their opponent in the final was Argentina, which were the favorites to win, having won all their matches on the way to the final. However Brazil scored early in the 4th minute when Júlio Baptista scored, and then in the 45th minute, defender Roberto Ayala scored on an own goal. Later in the second half, in the 69th minute, substitute Dani Alves scored Brazil's third goal, as the scoreline became 3–0. After the tournament, Robinho was awarded the Golden Boot in addition to being named the best player in the tournament.The Brazilian team won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Although they started with a shaky victory over Egypt with a 4–3 win with a last minute penalty as Egypt is also credited as the only African team to score three goals against Brazil, they comfortably beat the USA, as well as Italy, both with a 3–0 scoreline. After beating South Africa in the semi-final with a late free kick, they went on to a rematch against USA in the final which they won 3–2, after coming in 2–0 down at half-time, to seal their third Confederations Cup title.[29] Kaká was named as the player of the tournament and Luís Fabiano won the top goalscorer award with five goals in five matches. After a 3–1 victory over Argentina in Rosario, on September 5, 2009, Brazil qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup..
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