Orange is the colour of passion

Euro 2004/Netherlands 1 Germany 1: Their reputation as the artists of the international game may have been built on the panache of their greatest sides of the past three decades, but it was passion and pride that saved the Dutch from defeat by their most bitter foes last night in Porto.

For an hour the Germans where manifestly better, dictating the pace and style of the game thanks to their domination in midfield, and for half of that time they looked set to pave their way to the quarter-finals with an impressive victory over their neighbours.

In the end, though, Dick Advocaat's men rallied in the face of a most dreaded defeat and Ruud van Nistelrooy's late goal ensured that Group D of this championship will remain a nail-biting affair into next week.

After another turbulent week within the Dutch camp, Advocaat ended up making three changes to the side that lost 1-0 to the Irish in the Amsterdam Arena 10 days ago.

Out, as expected, went Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger, but more surprising was the omission of Wesley Sneijder, the right-sided midfielder who - despite having only just turned 20 - is already widely regarded as one of the side's most consistent and influential performers.

The Dutch could have done with him through those opening 45 minutes, for in his absence Torsten Frings had one of those evenings that boyhood dreams are made of - darting runs, tidy passes and, of course, a goal for your country against their fiercest rivals.

The goal won't win any beauty prizes. The midfielder's floated free from the left - given for a nasty foul by Phillip Cocu on Philipp Lahm - simply evaded everyone, including both Jens Nowotny and Bernd Schneider, before bouncing in off the foot of the far post.

Cocu, who was booked for the challenge, was just inches away as the ball slipped over the line, but the Dutch skipper failed to react quickly enough to keep it out.

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was one of the many Dutch players who might have done more to prevent the setback, but he did at least keep the deficit to one at the break with a fine save high to left after Kevin Kuranyi had let fly from just outside the area.

The Fulham player was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers through the first half, with the Dutch failing to turn their equal share of the possession into a serious goalscoring threat. It was actually the 74th minute, when Marc Overmars hit the target with a 20-yard snap shot, before Oliver Kahn was obliged to swing to action. After that, though, the birthday boy had plenty to keep him occupied.

Just before the interval, the Dutch had gone very close to equalising with Rafael van der Vaart turning neatly inside the box and sending a low shot narrowly the wrong side of the right post with Kahn looking well beaten. It was a rare moment of first half discomfort for the German fans at the Estadio Dragao, where it was their team who had looked the stronger through the opening exchanges, particularly in midfield where Frings, Dietmar Hamann and Michael Ballack gave them a distinct edge over the disappointing Edgar Davids and the largely peripheral figure of Boudewijn Zenden.

Both were replaced at the break, but more than an hour had still passed before the Dutch began to hold their own in that department while they never quite came to grips with things at the back where, just as they did against the Irish, Jaap Stam and Wigfred Bouma looked ponderous at times.

As their team stepped up a gear through the second half, however, they had much less to do and late on the best the Germans could manage was a couple of long-range shots, the first by 19-year-old substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger and the second by Ballack, both of which were deflected off target.

By the time of the latter's attempt the balance of the game had shifted considerably and the Dutch had got the equaliser they had worked so hard for. It came nine minutes from time when Van Nistelrooy stepped in front of Christian Worns to meet Andy van der Meyde's low cross from the right with a looping shot that flew past Kahn and into the left side of the net before the goalkeeper had a chance to react.

Behind the goal the Dutch supports rejoiced, and in the team's dugout there was obvious relief that a difficult build-up was not going to be followed by a defeat.

Moments later, Advocaat's men might even have snatched victory when Cocu forced Kahn into a fine stop with a close-range header.

That, though, would have been more than a little harsh on a German side who, for all the talk of their limitations, are still firmly in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals.