Netherlands
Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance…

Hugo Borst’s column in the AD
People ask me often – while the WC is still seven months away: “Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?”
Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax?
There’s a good chance, but how do we know?
I personally think we have a slight chance of winning the world title. A very slight chance. There’s 32 nations competing, so statistically we start with something like a 3% chance. Then there’s a number of really poor nations. New Zealand won’t win it, for instance. The real number of nations with a chance is probably 20 or 25. Which means Holland has a 4,5% chance.
Our odds improve with the following situations:
+ Van Persie plays center forward instead of right winger ( +5%)
+ Mathijsen indeed is the rock in defense that Van Marwijk thinks he is ( + 2,5%)
+ Van der Sar is our goalie ( +3%)
+ Van Marwijk sorts the hierarchy out (+3%)
+ Van Persie holds on to his current Arsenal form ( +5%)
+ The refs aren’t against us ( +3%)
+ The refs actually are for us (+3%)
+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamated back when he lasers the name Ramona of this back ( +1,5%)
+ Van Bommel is alert when an opponent wants to get away from him ( +2,5%)
+ We practice taking penalty kicks ( +4%)
+ Van Bommel doesn’t get red-carded ( +3%)
+ Oranje plays disciplined ( +5%)
+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamation when he tattoos the name Mourinho over Ramona’s tattoo ( +1,5%)
+ Oranje decides not to get into a streetfight against South European or South American nations ( +3%)
+ Yolanthe and Sylvie stay in another hotel ( +1%)
+ Oranje stays away from whores and groupies ( +2%)
+ Frank de Boer sometimes whispers some tactical advice in Bert’s ear ( +4%)
+ Oranje doesn’t need to play with black mourning armbands ( 0,5%)
+ Van Bronckhorst doesn’t get to play a fixed right winger ( +2%)
+ Van der Wiel stops using Twitter ( +1%)
+ Van Persie and Sneijder decide who takes which free kick beforehand ( +3%)
+ Van Persie and Sneijder don’t get into fights on the pitch, in the hotel, in the dressing room or in the disco ( +5%)
+ The players don’t start to hate each other after spending six weeks together ( +5%)
+ Oranje doesn’t meet Germany in the knock out phase ( +4%)
+ Oranje doesn’t meet Spain in the knock out phase ( +4%)
+ Oranje doesn’t meet Portugal in the knock out phase ( +4%)
+ Oranje doesn’t meet England in the knock out phase ( +4%)
+ The players won’t get the 1974 finals virus: arrogance and self-absorption
So, do I think Holland could win the title? See above…
More Netherlands World Cup News
And what did we learn from these two games?

I don’t care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players…
It doesn’t work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions… How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The whole ... [read]
Van Persie treated with placenta fluids….

Arsenal confirmed that Robin van Persie will be out for six weeks. He tore his ankle ligaments against Italy and was stretchered of after a tough Chiellini tackle.
Van Persie will travel to Serbia this week to undergo a unique treatment. PSV midfielder Engelaar informed the Gunner about this method and Arsenal ... [read]
Important win for Young Oranje over Spain

Young Oranje made a huge step towards the play offs for the Youth EC in 2011. Cor Pot’s team won 2-1 against Spain at the Sparta Castle in Rotterdam. There’s seven tickets for the Denmark EC 2011 for grabs in the play offs.
The confrontation with Spain was the first serious test for ... [read]
Oranje in second tier at WC draw….
The Netherlands might be the number 3 in the world according to FIFA, Oranje will go into cup 3, according to Marca.
France is said to go in cup 1, although Les Blues still have to qualify. If Ireland qualifies at France’ expense, Holland moves up one cup.
The preliminary categories:
Pot 1: South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, France
Pot 2: ... [read]
Otman Bakkal: Happy and proud!

Happy and proud. Those are two words that came to mind when Otman Bakkal heard he was called up to replace the injured Wesley Sneijder at Oranje. It will be his first appearance in the big team. Right after receiving the call, the PSV midfielder jumped in his car to drive to ... [read]
Van Marwijk: It was pretty poor…

Bert van Marwijk praised his defense. Which basically means Oranje didn’t play well. “We couldn’t bring it tonight. It was disappointing. You sometimes get those games. But it was pretty poor. Still, to not concede against Italy when you’re not at your best means our defense and controlling players were alright. ... [read]
Van Hanegem: Huntelaar can’t go to the WC!

Willem’s column in the AD:
“What annoys me most about these friendlies Oranje plays, is that there isn’t any experimenting. It seems it’s all fixed already. Everyone knows his place and in order to change something, a lot needs to happen. Or so it seems.
The regulars will be very happy and content. ... [read]
Why do we need these crap games in the 1st place???

Hell Yes I’m mad! Angry, pissed off, you name it…
Seriously! Why would the KNVB organize two friendlies 7 months before the ^&*$# WC in one of the busiest times in the season??
Why risk all this? Sneijder out. Van Persie out! Congrats, people. “But we did make some euros!” Kesler will say.
Well, ... [read]
Robin van Persie, a cross between Henry and Bergkamp!

Arsène Wenger called him a cross between Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp the other week. And that’s quite something. Henry was top scorer in the Premier League for 4 seasons and the regarded as the best foreign player ever in the EPL. Dennis Bergkamp was God. If a coach says something like ... [read]
Latest Comments
- Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Oh and let me add the coach is clearly responsible for the first four points... I remember the 19 ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
susanne brazil 2002 team had all five. - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
@Jan, those 5 points I agree upon. The thing is, you can't control it. You can't make that top 5 hap ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
I'd say our 1974 and 2000 teams lacked 2. when the going got tough. In 1998 we simply lacked 5. ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Another thing I"d like to say about our chances. Comparing our current squad to the 98 one and then ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
I saw Drenthe and De Jong play and they both were pretty good. In particular De Jong. His block tack ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Im even more disappointed that after Van Nistelrooy's interview where he set a national call-up as h ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
@Alex, I have the same feeling about VdV. He is such a good player though. Sneijder is better at a p ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Heitinga lost 3-0 to Man. United, played as a midfielder, couldn't do much for the results but tried ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Drenthe actually played good for an entire match, but hold on with yelling he needs to be called up ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Vaart got subbed on :O baha 88th minute. - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Thanks Jan for your comments. Interesting that you had an inside track with Marco. I don't want to ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
drenthe handed a starting spot in tonight's real madrdid match against santander. vaart on the bench ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
Gee...Why Dutch players get injured every other week?. Can somebody explain me that?. Now we have Ba ...[read more] - Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...
great!
Netherlands Club Football News
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- Another PSV player in the Oranje?
- How sad... the "poor" people get to play in a friendly.
- PSV Eindhoven plans to expand their stadium!
- Let's talk about statistics...
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