Silver Skating Over A Lake Of Danishes

First game of the day is a match-up of northern Europeans, a world away from home. Neighbors, rivals, and it should be absolutely fun. Holland versus Denmark. I've looked forward to this game. I'm hoping the title I crafted is not what entertains me the most.

ORIGINAL PREDICTION: HOLLAND, 2-1.

FANTASY PLAYER UPDATE: WESLEY SNEIJDER IS STARTING FOR HOLLAND, THE NUMBER 10 ATTACKING MIDFIELDER.

Holland is sporting their classic radioactive orange jerseys. Will this be the year they power their way to glory? The Magic 8-Ball of my mind says no, but they should look good in this group.

Wesley Sneijder takes a free kick and sends it well over the bar. So far there has been back and forth play, with no real chances created yet.

The Danish keeper bobbles a shot from Dirk Kujt and has to scramble to hold on to it. It looks like some of the complaints about the new ball might be justified.

There were reports yesterday that the vuvuzelas might be banned. Alas, it had not yet happened by this game, apparently. Imagine a particularly monotonal--or possibly atonal in a minor key--swarm of robot bees, all buzzing off key, right in your ear.

Holland has been able to string together some nice passes here and there, and look to have a better chance of scoring.

A couple sudden, sharp, shocking passes give Holland a great shot, and a deflection off a defender leads to a corner in the 20th minute, but Denmark clears. Holland is continuing to keep Denmark pinned back on their side of the field. There is not yet a sense of inevitability about a goal, but it certainly seems likely to happen soon.

And just as I say that, Bendtner nearly scores against the run of play.

Holland is coming closer and closer to finding that first goal.

Or maybe not. 39 minutes in, no goals yet, and Denmark has shown some threats on the counter attack.

Nothing in the first half. Here is the second half.

OWN GOAL AGAINST DENMARK! THE DUTCH TAKE A 1-0 LEAD!

I'm kind of losing my thrill with this sort of live blogging. There isn't much point without the sort of twitter effect of posting immediately and then updating, but that seems too much work. Perhaps I have attempted too much detail.

The game continued apace, and Dirk Kuyt finally gets the second goal that was expected. Holland takes command of the group with the 2-0 win.