Welcome back to thebeautifulgame, friends to we have a crazy football game to talk about now imagine this, it’s 2006 World Cup, and two footballing giants meet, Portugal and Netherlands, they are about to have an epic showdown that would go down in history. They even called it “Battle of Nuremberg.” This ain’t your typical friendly game of footie, it’s more like a heated brawl on a pitch, with cards flying left and right!
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Nuremberg pre match
The knockout stage of the tournament, where dreams either take flight or crash and burn. The expectations were soaring high, like a phoenix ready to rise from the ashes. Both teams have great players, Deco Portuguese maestro, the enigmatic Ronaldo and the ageless Figo, on the Dutch side we have the experience Cocu, the Dutch wizard Arjen Robben and van Persie Oh, they were sky-high, akin to a high-stakes poker game. The winner would march on, carrying the hopes of a nation, while the defeated would bow out, their dreams shattered like fragile crystal, it was a battle of titans in Nuremberg.
The Match
The clash kicked off with more intensity than a pressure cooker at full steam. Mark van Bommel earned himself a booking in just the second minute, setting the tone for a feisty encounter. Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz joined the party, landing a brutal foul that left Cristiano Ronaldo nursing his wounds. Ronaldo, Portugal’s star, left the field in tears, and tempers flared. Maniche was also slapped with a yellow card after 19 minutes, adding to the mounting tension.
The tension escalated further as the first half rolled on. Portugal’s defensive maestro, Costinha, found himself in the referee’s bad books, receiving a yellow card for a handball. But that wasn’t the end of his woes – he was sent packing with a second yellow, reducing Portugal to ten men just before the halftime whistle in Nuremberg.
The second half wasn’t any less dramatic in Nuremberg. Petit found himself cautioned in the 50th minute, adding to the growing list of yellow cards. Things got even more heated as Luís Figo and Giovanni van Bronckhorst exchanged unpleasantries, with Figo even headbutting his adversary. The Portuguese manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, somewhat controversially applauded Figo’s actions, stating, “Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek, but Luís Figo isn’t Jesus Christ.”
Boulahrouz was shown a second yellow and sent off in the 63rd minute for a foul on Figo, sparking a touchline brawl. Portugal’s playmaker Deco got his name in the referee’s book for a rough tackle on Dutch defender John Heitinga in Nuremberg.
The Netherlands decided not to play by the “gentlemen’s agreement” rules and didn’t return the ball after Portugal cleared it into touch for medical treatment. Cue a brawl, with Wesley Sneijder shoving Petit and earning himself a caution.
As the battle of Nuremberg reached its boiling point, even Portugal’s goalkeeper Ricardo and left-back Nuno Valente faced the referee’s wrath, one for time-wasting and the other for a rough foul. Deco saw red in the 78th minute for delaying a free-kick restart.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, Simão tangled with Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in injury time. Surprisingly, the referee chose not to take any disciplinary action.
Referee Valentin Ivanov’s decisions, or some would say lack thereof, were hotly debated. FIFA President Sepp Blatter even suggested Ivanov should have given himself a yellow card for his performance in Nuremberg.
Players that got booked at Nuremberg
Yellow Cards:
Mark van Bommel (Netherlands) – 2nd minute
Khalid Boulahrouz (Netherlands) – 7th minute
Maniche (Portugal) – 19th minute
Costinha (Portugal) – 31st minute
Luís Figo (Portugal) – 60th minute
Petit (Portugal) – 50th minute
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Netherlands)
Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
Rafael van der Vaart (Netherlands)
Ricardo (Portugal)
Nuno Valente (Portugal)
Deco (Portugal)
Arjen Robben (Netherlands)
Red Cards:
Costinha (Portugal) – 45+1st minute (second yellow card)
Boulahrouz (Netherlands) – 63rd minute (second yellow card)
Deco (Portugal) – 78th minute (second yellow card)
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Netherlands) – 90+5th minute (second yellow card)
Aftermath
Regarding Portugal and the Netherlands, it appears that their fiery encounter from the past has left no lingering grudges between the two teams. They have faced each other on 2 occasions since then, first during the group stage of Euro 2012 and later in a friendly match in 2013. Remarkably in these two matches, only 5 bookings were issued between the teams, suggesting that any past animosity has been put to rest.
While Portugal and the Netherlands have returned to their traditional rivalries with Spain and Germany, respectively, the “Battle of Nuremberg” had a unique way of bringing them together as fierce competitors, even if only for a single match. Its was one of the greatest games ever in terms of pure football entertainment, you had yellow & red cards, goals, fouls of course and weirdly enough friendship within all this, some of them are club team mates too.
Catch you in the next one.