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A home town match featuring the world #3 team ... of course, I was there. The match was of a pretty good standard, but was more tense than exciting. The Netherlands was the dominant team, but we battled well and got away with a 0-0 draw.

Jamie and I went in on the moped, which was pretty quick and parking was easy. A bit of light rain was about, but didn't spoil the conditions too much. The match was sold out, but some members' seats were empty, so we finished with a crowd of ~40,500. There was plenty of orange in the crowd too. Our seats were good - under cover and on the half way.

The first half was reasonable. Neill was a bit rusty, but still good. Grella went off early, injured - not good. Good to see Cahill, Kennedy, Kewell, Schwarzer, etc. going round. The Dutch were good - great passing game - but not very effective up front.

Cahill and Kennedy came off at half-time, no doubt being saved up for Wednesday's match. If anything, the Dutch improved while we had to scramble more. Kisnorbo looked good. Emerton was excellent - great to have him back. Overall, we were probably lucky to hold on for the draw, but could have snatched it with a couple of minutes to go - Holman blasting over.

Trivia: had we won, we would have claimed the title of Unofficial World Champion for the second time.