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<L CODE="C01">Ibrahim Afellay</L> was handed his debut in the Dutch national team, when PSV’s young and dynamic midfielder was included in the Oranje starting line-up against Slovenia in a Euro 2008 qualifying game on Wednesday night. Afellay put in a convincing display in the Netherlands’ 1-0 win over Slovenia, doing quite well on his debut. Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored the only and thus winning goal of the night with only five minutes to the whistle.
Marco van Basten had made several changes from the team following last Saturday’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Romania. The Dutch did much better against Slovenia and Afellay soon made his mark. The 20-year-old midfielder delivered some fine passes and unleashed a few powerful long-range shots.
He was taken off five minutes from time, after he had been hacked down by a Slovenian defender and was replaced by Clarence Seedorf. The Dutch team took a bright start and . Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder were close to scoring the opening goal, but the hosts started some dangerous counter attacks at the other end. The deadlock was finally broken in the closing stages, when Van Bronckhorst’s shot from 25 yards deflected off two Slovenia players to give goalkeeper Handanovic no chance.
