From ‘Oh no, not again’ to ‘Yes, not again’

The Netherlands have been losing penalty shootouts for more than half of Arjen Robben’s life but the 20-year-old midfielder ended the j...

The Netherlands have been losing penalty shootouts for more than half of Arjen Robben’s life but the 20-year-old midfielder ended the jinx on Saturday. When the quarter-final against Sweden ended 0-0 after extra time the Dutch nation could have been forgiven for thinking “oh no, not again” as the teams prepared for a shootout.

It went to sudden death and Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar brilliantly saved from Olof Mellberg. Robben then dispatched his shot into the net to take his country into a semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday with a 5-4 win.

The Dutch fans, so used to heart break, exploded with joy.

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Ruud van Nistelrooy said: “I was happy to take the first one and I think I hit it well. We the Dutch are not really known for being good at spot kicks. This time we’ve turned it around.”

For goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who been on the losing side thrice before for the Dutch, it was real big moment. “I knew I had to change something because the way I used to do it never worked out,” he said. “You know that we lost three times but this time I was really well concentrated.” The giant keeper brilliantly saved from Sweden’s Olof Mellberg and winger Arjen Robben then scored the winner.

“I used my experience from previous tournaments and organised that,” said Van der Sar.

“I knew some things from TV and saw already the two penalties they had during the tournament. I had some luck. “ (Reuters)

DUTCH CHOKE TALES DOWN THE YEARS

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• After winning the Euro ‘88 the Dutch went out of the next three editions on shootouts and also lost the 1998 World Cup semi-final to Brazil in the same way

• It seemed like deja vu when Cocu hit the post. He was one of the players who failed from the spot in the 1998 World Cup

• Frank de Boer, who was substituted, has a dismal penalty record. He failed two penalties against Italy in the Euro 2000

• Van der Sar had been between the posts the last three times the Dutch had lost a penalty shoot-out: 1996 and 2000 European championships and the 1998 World Cup