The World Cup never ceases to amaze or surprise, but one thing you can guarantee during the greatest show on earth is that, at some point, there are going to be divisions in the Dutch camp. This time, it's happened after just one game!
Despite scoring the only goal of the game against Serbia, and turning in a man of the match performance, Arjen Robben still came in for some stick for not being a team player - and the person with the most cutting tongue was teammate Robin van Persie.
Van Persie and Robben appeared at a press conference yesterday to insist there is no split in the Holland camp, but the Arsenal player still claimed the balance of the team was wrong, and said of the Chelsea man: "He needs to take his teammates into account. Sometimes he makes choices that are good for himself but not the team.
"We all need to realise that we are doing this together. We had several chances against Serbia and Montenegro but against the really big countries you maybe get one chance, and precisely in this situation you have to make the right choice. He cannot do it on his own."
Van Persie did admit that 'apart from making the goal I didn't have a great game' but he continued his rant by saying: "I couldn't play many nice balls. There is a problem with the balance of the team, not just with Robben, but the whole team. It was a quiet match for me but the team is more important than me."
Robben, to his credit, insisted there were 'no problems' between him and van Persie, and said: "I'm sure he did not mean anything nasty by his comments."
Dick Advocaat believes South Korea can reach the last 16 after storming back to defeat Togo yesterday. The 2002 semi finalists were stunned when Togo celebrated their World Cup debut with an excellent goal from Mohamed Kader in the first half.
However, skipper Jean-Paul Abalo was sent off for two yellow cards by England's Graham Poll and from the resultant free kick South Korea took full advantage with goals from Chun Soo and substitute Ahn Jung Hwan, which left Advocaat buoyant. He said: ""It is our first victory in the World Cup in Europe, and it is so important.
"If you win the first game you have a chance to stay in the tournament. If you lose, you make it difficult for yourself. You can see from the teams who won their first game what it means to them. The relief is evident. We were like two different sides. The team was nervous at the start, and so were Togo.
"But the players stayed calm at the break and it worked out for us in the end. We took a lot of risks and worked hard. It was fortunate to have worked out for us, but I think our luck was well deserved."
However, Togo coach Otto Pfister was less than impressed with his side's performance. Pfister, who returned to the fold after originally walking out over a row regarding unpaid bonuses, was blunt in his assessment of Togo's performance. He said: "If you coach an African team, you have to respect your opponents. Everyone was over-confident, and we paid the price."
Cherif Toure Maman agreed with his coach and called for more of a team ethic in their next fixture, which has become a must win game. "We deserved our lead. We were on top up until the sending off, but when we went down to ten men, it was tough," he said.
"We will need to play more as a team in our next match and defend better than we did today. We were fit enough, but you win matches in your head, through mental preparation. Weve earned our place here, so we need to prove it."
France coach Raymond Domenech refused to blame Russian referee Valentin Ivanov for missing a handball as they drew with Switzerland in their opening World Cup Group G match. Ivanov waved away appeals for a penalty after Thierry Henry's goalbound shot struck Patrick Muller on the arm during the goalless draw, but Domenech, refreshingly, refused to point the finger of blame at Ivanov.
"I don't want to make a big deal about the referee," said Domenech. "Obviously we would have rather that he would have awarded us the penalty, that's for sure. But he didn't and he can make a mistake just like I can. However, I want to register my disapproval of the fact that the pitch was last watered six hours before the match.
"It should have been much later and it made it much more difficult for us to do something with the ball. The ball would not move as quickly as we wanted it to. There were chances created and we simply failed to finish off what we created."
Understandably, Switzerland coach Kobi Kuhn was more satisfied with the point, saying: "We must be pleased because the French had their chances as well as us - both teams were very nervous. The desire shown by the team really pleased me and the way they battled against the French was great. It's difficult to play great football against a team like France and we have to remember they did not beat us. All in all I felt we played very well and was particularly pleased with the way the defenders reined in the French attack and never stopped battling for the result."
Meanwhile Spanish striker Raul insists he has no problem with coach Luis Aragones for failing to pick him for today's fixture with Ukraine. The 29-year-old will start on the bench due to the rise of Fernando Torres and David Villa.
He said: "I'm not in the team but it doesn't affect me that much because it is the team that is the most important. The coach has picked his 11 players and that's it. "I wasn't surprised and I accept the decision. The trainer did not have a special word with me about it. I speak to him every day but he did not say anything different to me than any of the other players."
