Netherlands 0-1 USSR 1988

Referee: Dieter Pauly (GER) -- Stadium: Müngersdorfer Stadion, Cologne (GER) USSR’s Rats rattles Dutch in opener Netherlands 0-1 USSR Heavily fancied to go all the way, the Dutch were condemned to defeat by Vasiliy Rats’ 52nd-minute opener in this Group 2 opener. The Netherlands may have been many people’s favourites for the tournament, but a Soviet Union team with Valery Lobonovsky at the helm was never likely to be one to bow to reputation. Lobonovsky’s FC Dynamo Kyiv sides had played brilliant football to lift the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1986, and as far back as 1975, winning the final 3-0 on both occasions, but it was a different approach which reaped reward this time. Though seven minutes after half-time that Vasiliy Rats struck the only goal of this Group 2 opener, it was the opening period which laid the foundation for such an impressive success. Rinat Dasayev pulled off a string of fine saves prior to the interval, but Lobonovsky’s strategy of