After earlier speaking to FIFAworldcup.com about the Argentina-Netherlands group phase match Van der Loo stepped forward once again, this time with his views on France’s 1-0 semi-final win over Portugal.

How was it to be at the stadium?
If you really look at how many clear-cut chances France had in front of the Portuguese goal, there were none, and the Portuguese had none either. It was on a very narrow margin that this game was decided and that makes it kind of tricky, particularly if France did not get that penalty, which they deserved by the way, there was no doubt about it. The referee in this game, he was amazing. He just let the game develop in the way it should develop, and let play go.

It was quite a good experience to be at the stadium tonight. Everything is so well organised here. I mean, first of all I think everything just totally makes sense. You never feel that you are in a big crowd or pressured, you know like the stadiums used to be like. It was open and clean and the stadium is beautiful stadium; they have done such a great job on it. I don’t think there was a bad seat in the house either. All that altogether gave a very good feeling, plus the people were amazing.
The French were very loud but, actually, that was good for the atmosphere. It’s just too bad the Portuguese couldn’t score a goal so that we would have had an extension or more of an open game. France scored early enough to make sure it wouldn’t be an open game.

What about the previous day’s game, Italy-Germany?
That was amazing. It was a fight between two equals, and I felt that it was really the work of the coach that made the difference. When (Marcello Lippi) put on (Alessandro) Del Piero, who is something of a key figure in Italy for some reason, it was vital. In the last couple of years, I have seen (Del Piero) come in every time and make the deciding goal, or in this case, the second one. When he comes into the Italian team it definitely has an effect on them. The coach made a couple of really good decisions and that’s why the Italians took the match.
Getting back to the Portugal-France match, at least after the 75th minute, the Portuguese were struggling. Actually, I think it was (Cristiano) Ronaldo in the 80th or 81st minute, he gave the ball to the French just like that. And after that you just felt like the whole energy of the Portuguese team was gone. They tried really hard, but the French were too good. Their defence was amazing, the team was good and their spirit was strong. The team had a lot of energy until the end. For me, it was amazing to see how French could stay strong until the last second, defending. Portuguese kept trying, but they could not get through the defence, which, for me, was frustrating. It felt like it was Holland playing.

Who in your view was the Man of the Match?
(Lilian) Thuram. I think France’s performance was not only about one man, though – they were liked a well-oiled machine, as a team, and that was the power of France. Because just one man would not have made this whole team work as well it did. It was a team effort that made France so great. Today’s match was the kind you love to watch. It was just pure pleasure. You don’t need 25 goals to enjoy yourself. This was just a beautiful game between two great teams. You can see one team has just one breath longer than the other one.

Source: WCoffsite