1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

Burn and Knight. Then some more samples were given of delightful combinationsbetween Great Britain’s forward quintette and its half-backs, but no powerwas put into the shooting, although Syrjäläinen must be paid the compliment ofthe statement that he was in excellent form in goal. No less than 32 minuteselapsed ere Walden got a third goal for Great Britain from the scrummage a fewmetres in front of the Finnish net. Five minutes later when the cry of the spectators“We want more g-o-a-l-s” grew too strong, Vivian Woodward headed a finegoal as Great Britain’s fourth and last.DENMARK v. HOLLAND. 4—1.The Stadium, Tuesday, 2 July, 7 p. m.DENMARK : (forwards from left): V. Wolfhagen, Sophus Nielsen, Anton Olsen,Poul Nielsen, Oscar Nielsen; (half-backs): P. Berth, E. Jörgensen, Ch. Buchwald;(backs): H. Hansen, Niels Middelboe; (goal): Sophus Hansen.HOLLAND : (forwards from left): N. J. Bouvy, J. Vos, C. H. ten Cate, H. F.de Groot, J. G. van Bredakolff; (half-backs): D. N. Lotsy, J. V. Bontmy, G. Fortgens;(backs): P. Bouman, D. Wijnveldt; (goal): M. J. Göbel.Referee: Herczog (Hungary).If the semi-final, Great Britain v. Finland, had been almost featureless, thismatch was a beautiful and most interesting one. It may be said, without anyexaggeration, that it was the finest game ever played in this country, and it wasthe play of the Danish team that made it so.It will be easy to imagine Denmark’s superiority when we say that, duringthe whole of the match, the Danish goal was not even once seriously threatened.The single goal that Holland obtained was simply and solely the result of a misunderstandingbetween Sophus and Harald Hansen, while Göbel, the brilliant Dutchgoal-keeper, was the man that prevented Denmark from more emphatically accentuatingits superiority.Denmark played the game at high pressure from the very first moment. Theball flew from man to man with an almost unnatural precision, and, finely leadby Anton Olsen, the Danish forwards commenced to let the ball whizz in towardsthe Dutch goal, where Göbel won round after round of thundering applause whenhe cleared apparently impossible shots. His backs being close in upon him theyhid from view, however a long, high ball which was sent in by Jörgensen fromthe 18 yards line — and Denmark got the lead. The Dutch team strained everynerve and sinew, but all their attacks broke against the stubborn Danish defencewhich, at the same time, fed its own forwards most brilliantly. After 25 minutesAnton Olsen received the ball from Poul Nielsen, succeeded in avoiding all Bontmy’swell-meant attentions and in an instant had found his way through the crowdof defenders. Göbel made a vain attempt to clear the hard and well-directed shotthat followed, but the ball flew right into the comer of the net.The Danes now had their blood up and, during the remainder of the half, theyplayed ideal football. Niels Middelboe dribbled from his position as back, rightthrough the Dutch team, but the ball struck the cross-bar; shots from Jörgensen,Poul and Sophus Nielsen either struck the posts, or were cleared in a masterlyfashion by Göbel, but admirably as the latter played he could not prevent PoulNielsen, after a comer, from getting a third goal for Denmark.During the second forty-five minutes, Denmark relaxed the pressure somewhat, andbegan to rely on its defence and a three goals’ lead. Bouvy and ten Cate changed492