World

Europe

Netherlands

And we’re on our way :-)!

August 19th, 2007 | By: Jan | 16 Comments »

I’m sorry mates, I gotto warn you. I’m not posting Eredivisie news all season. But I wouldn’t want to miss the start…

Suárez and Huntelaar helped Ajax prepare for the difficult return match against Prague. De Graafschap almost played as Prague will and with cunning passing play and a high paced ball circulation Ajax won 1-8 in Doetinchem (!!!!). It took Ajax 36 minutes, but then Suarez found Huntelaar, 0-1. Not much longer it was the other way around: backheel by Huntelaar on Suarez 0-2. After the break, it was Maduro with a smart 0-3 and Maduro scored the fourth again after a Suarez assist. Kennedy and again Huntelaar scored the 0-5 and 0-6. Huntelaar would score the last two goals, one penalty. De Groot saved the day for De Graafschap.

Feyenoord won the away game against FC Utrecht (coached by Feyenoord icon Willem van Hanegem) 0-3. But…the score didn’t tell the whole story. After a collision between Utrecht goalie Grandel and Slory, the latter left the pitch injured, but Grandel wasn’t that fresh anymore either. Luigi Bruin’s shot from distance seems stoppable, but Grandel didn’t see it that clear. In the second half, the goalie was replaced. Feyenoord played counter-attacking football and did that well, although FC Utrecht deserved much more than they got. Shadow striker Nicky Hoffs scored the 0-2 after a brilliant pass by Makaay and the Phantom scored the 0-3 himself. He is on the board :-).

PSV had it tough against Heracles. Ibrahim Afellay made the difference. Kone was PSV’s only striker. Lazovic, Farfan and Perez were all still absent, and it was he who could have given PSV an easy afternoon. But the Ivorian missed a couple of big chances and allowed Heracles to grab the initiative.

Affelay, who seemed to be fair game for all defenders of Heracles, took revenge on the butchers 8 minutes before the end of the game with a typical Affelay distance shot. When Koeman took lone striker Kone off for a defender it was clear how tough it was for PSV. In the final seconds Mike Zonneveld scored the 0-2.

AZ played with newcomer VVV Venlo. AZ loves flash starts… Last season it was 8-1 vs NAC, and VVV feared a similar faith when Augustien scored the 1-0 after 6 minutes.

But it seems as if AZ Alkmaar didn’t want to traumatize the debutant on the highest level and AZ took the foot of the pedal. Ari, the new Brazilian magician in Alkmaar, scored the second goal and after an hour he did it again, 0-3.

Van Gaal decided to replace some soldiers. Ari was taken off for Pelle and Medunjahin (the most exciting technician you’ve seen since Vanenburg) replaced Cziommer. The latter scored the 0-4 after a brilliant assist by Dembele.

Tags: Affelay, Huntelaar, Makaay, The Netherlands, van Gaal

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

Comments

By Miguel Rosado | August 19th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

I said it before and now I say it again “what is Hesselink doing on the national team instead of Huntelaar”?.

Huntelaar was left out of the national team to face Switzerland and he proved Marco wrong again by scoring 4 goals, every decision Marco makes is wrong, we have no future under him.

What a goal from Drenthe!!!.

By Jan | August 19th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

No…Don’t agree Miguel…

Huntelaar didn’t play well the last months. Was not inspiring in Oranje. Missed two penalties… He was having trouble. With Ruud back, Ruud is numero uno. VoH is the pinchhitting specialist and Dirk and Robin are available too. Good decision by Marco. Scoring 4 against De Graafschap doesn’t tell me a lot…

Posted from Australia

By stephen | August 19th, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Agreed Jan, the hunter was not in form. Better to leave him home and work it out. You can always recall him in Sept/Oct. De Graf may have been the medicine he needed. Only time will tell. We have enough quality up front where we won’t miss him much.

Posted from United States

By Mario | August 19th, 2007 at 11:34 pm

Well, don´t agree. Huntelaar is much more effective that Kuyt and Venegoor, he is real goalscoring machine who is starting his path to the glory and it´s unfair to leave him out just for a bad period of time. Players need confidence and van Basten is very bad giving confidence to his players. Huntelaar has to be there always, he is a great talent and it´s true that Ruud is the number one but if we have trouble against Bulgaria a deadly finisher as Huntelaar will be needed.

By Jan | August 20th, 2007 at 5:04 am

Mario, this is a friendly. Marco wants Hunter to settle in this season nicely with Ajax and I bet Ten Cate doesn’t want Hunter to go what with the important Prague match awaiting. VoH is not a real alternative, just a pinch hitter. Don’t worry, if Hunter keeps on scoring, he’ll be part of the group against Bulgaria and Albania.

Posted from Australia

By Miguel Rosado | August 20th, 2007 at 7:19 am

I think Huntelaar has proved himself over and over, when he was at his very best he didn’t make it to the WC2006 and that was a killer point for him, he went to the U-21 and proved Marco wrong. I agree with you, this is a friendly OK, but against Bulgaria he needs to be there, we don’t need a pinch hitter whatever that is we need a real alternative who can score goals out of nothing and sorry for being sarcastic but I’d rather have a one legged Huntelar than a very fit Hesselink. Remember Ruud has also missed penalties, Robben and even San Marco. I just don’t like the idea of having Hesselink to play desperate for long balls.

By Lerkot | August 20th, 2007 at 8:00 am

No. Hunter has never proved himself. He has to do something good in the national team or the Champions League, its too bad not to score in six straight caps.

We need a pinchhitter. Our last one scored 14 more or less important goals in very little play time. That wouldnt have happened if he was the same typ of player as Kluivert or van Nistelrooy. If you have to change the picture of a game, bringing on Hunter who is an exact copy of Ruud wont help.

By Tiju Thomas | August 20th, 2007 at 10:04 am

Van nasten u will cryif u r taking landsaat, quite ,de cler, kew jaliens,haiselink, instead of hedwings evander zno,rayan donk and castelen

Posted from India

By goose | August 20th, 2007 at 11:15 am

agree, with the exception of yesterday Huntelaar hasnt played that well..he scored only one goal during all the prep. matches..its a period that every young strikers gets, im sure he will get out of it.. we should not compare Huntelaar with VoH..2 very differnt kind of strikers..

btw: my prediction: TenCate out before Christmas!!

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Lerkot | August 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am

Nah Goose, I cant se him going before the season is over. I think Ajax will have pretty much patience with him, but Im not sure its worth it…

By goose | August 20th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

say that cause there was a football program yesterday and Hugo Borst(journalist with lot of inside info) told that tenCate had many proplems with vanGeel and other members of the board..also, its a known fact that TenCate and Huntelaar dont get along at all

but maybe its just wishful thinking on my side..i really hate tenCate, with his cisarette voice and his little basterd eyes, the things he says and the way he behaves (esp. with referees) is disgusting and not worthy of Ajax (though thats a part that i really dont care for)

but youre prob. right… you can always dream right! haha

Posted from Netherlands

By stephen | August 20th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

Henk ten Cate and Huntelaar’s relationship can’t be all that bad. I mean, Hunter did want to stay another year at Ajax, and HtC has not problem with Hunter being the #1 man at Ajax. There have been not threats of replacing, benching etc. Though their personalities may clash or differ on a personal level, they can still get along quite well on a professional level, which it seems they are doing.

Posted from United States

By goose | August 20th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

well there were actually problems with Huntelaar and Ten Cate last year and Huntelaar was benched..this Hugo Borst guy has a lot of inside info.. and dont forget the Perez saga

tenCate doesnt have the class to be an ajax coach

but sure; hell play Huntelaar cause it is one of his best players

well see

Posted from Netherlands

By stephen | August 20th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

….of course, I do not have access to the local media coverage and juicy gossip, so what do I know. btw, scoring 4 goals probably helps the relationship a bit

Posted from United States

By Jan | August 20th, 2007 at 8:53 pm

It’s true. And Ajax has a knack for putting a TD and a coach together that can’t work together :-). Beenhakker - Adriaanse
Van Gaal - Koeman

And now Van Geel - Ten Cate.

Van Geel is a gentleman, Ten Cate a streetfighter. And with Sneijder gone, people in Amsterdam will curse Ten Cate for letting Perez go. Ten Cate and Perez had a bad report, but to sell one of your most creative players for only 1.7 Mio to your biggest rival is outrageous… I’m sure Ajax is not amused…

Borst also said the reason why Co hasn’t signed for Feyenoord and FC Utrecht is because he’s waiting for Ten Cate to be kicked out, so he can re-unite with his good colleague Van Geel and right the wrongs from his first gig at Ajax.

Posted from Australia

By Bruce | August 22nd, 2007 at 8:22 am

Apparently PSVs Arouna Kone is off to Sevilla. This is surprising. Thought Farfan would be off much sooner that Kone.

I don’t think this will hurt PSV too much though. He always has issues with finishing.

Posted from Republic Of Korea