Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
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Turkey
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Wales
World
Netherlands
And what did we learn from these two games?
Comments(71)
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 mental pressure of needing to win isn’t there and that’s a big big thing. New players try hard to impress and take it seriously or new players feel the pressure and can’t play freely…
Again… Friendlies are for the coaching staff. To have the lads together, test some stuff or simply work on tactics… I don’t know.
So we didn’t score in three games? In Autumn 2009? Big deal… As long as the guns are loaded in Summer 2010.
People plead for new players, but to me it doesn’t make sense. Bert has all spots double booked.
Elia/Robben on the left flank and they’re both capable of playing right. Hunter/Van Persie/Babel centrally upfront. Kuyt/Van Persie/Babel on the right flank and we know Afellay can play there too. Sneijder/Van der Vaart/Afellay/Van Persie are all capable of playing shadow striker and so can De Zeeuw.
For the holding positions we have Van Bommel/De Jong/Schaars/De Zeeuw/Mendes da Silva/Engelaar. At left bank we have Gio and Braafheid. As center backs Mathijsen/Ooijer/Heitinga/Loovens/Boulah and on the right back spot we have Van der Wiel/Boulah/Heitinga.
Now, there’s obviously question marks. But if we approach it from Bert’s perspective, Ooijer and Gio are not among them.
Gio is even captain. He might not impress too much, but Bert trusts him. Braafheid could be an even bigger question mark, what with his Bayern woes. And he didn’t play too well against Paraguay, I take it?
So, who else do we have then? Drenthe? Nah…not consistent yet. Doesn’t start at his club even. Emanuelson? Good player, no left back. Pieters? Definitely not consistent enough. De Cler? He demonstrated he can play there but doesn’t start for Feyenoord (because Gio plays there) and he’s injured.
Hmmmm….
Ooijer might lose it. He doesn’t impress in Eindhoven and he’s becoming vulnerable with injuries. It seems Vlaar will get a call sometimes in March IF he keeps his level up. Loovens will remain a strong candidate too, although Vlaar has more potential.
As right winger? I can’t see too many great options. Castelen? Amrabat? Wijnaldum? De Guzman? All big maybe’s. Nice players at Eredivisie level, but Oranje is two levels up. At least!
Center striker than? Huntelaar in trouble? Clearly. Hey, who’s that on the phone from Madrid? Ruud! How are you man? Pack your bags, pronto. Let’s take some pressure of Hunter, he should go to White Heart Lane and put his head against those crosses.
If Van der Vaart disappears in that Madrid swamp, we will have alternatives. Afellay, Aissati maybe, Emanuelson if he keeps this form up, De Guzman…. Nice, bring it on.
Funnily enough, Oranje has the most potential in the holding midfielders realm. Unbelievable. Van Bommel is surely getting older, but probably also smarter. Mark can’t play well in friendlies. There needs to be something at stake. I think if you want Mark to play well you need to kidnap his wife and tell him you only release her if he plays a good game. De Jong is feared and much more skilled than people think. At Ajax, he was a creative playmaker before he made his debut in Ajax 1. Engelaar is a question mark for me and so is Mendes. Nice club players. Schaars has potential, like De Zeeuw. While Brama and Fer could be our next stars. And now Fred Rutten discovered another holding midfielder in Ibby Afellay.
We might not have the best individual players, but we might have enough quality to reach far.
The ifs:
If our top players are fit, we have the best creative players in the world.
If Ruud comes at his old level we’ll have the best pinch-hitter ever!
If Mark and Nigel stay fit, no mouse will enter.
Then we need Vlaar to come off age and Gio to shower in Placenta juices and we’re done.
Stekelenburg is good enough, I think. Not spectacular (yet). But good enough.
How’ bout:
Van Persie
Robben Sneijder Elia
Bommel De Jong
Gio Mathijsen Vlaar Wiel
Stekelenburg
That’s the players. But on top of that they need: grit! Hunger! Focus! Team tactics. Luck.
Voila, may I present you Holland’s first world cup?
Ok, now on the topic of new players. Why? Why would van Marwijk disrupt the process by selecting several new players? Is he going to risk the progress and see if Urby, Otman, Royston, Georghinio, Hedwiges, Ron and others fit the bill? Will he know after one friendly? No. So he needs to select them again and again. At the cost of regular squad members. What good will that do?
If it works, what do you know? You have three other candidates for a position? If it doesn’t work, you’ve wasted time and opportunities and you have frustrated the new lads and the regulars!! Costly decisions!
It’s a fact of life that Eredivisie level is way below Oranje level. Look at Schaars! The best player in the Eredivisie last season, had trouble keeping up. Look at how hard it is for Huntelaar now. And we all know he can score….
Bert is right! Players really need to deserve a spot after a long consistent run and at the same time these new lads need to solve a problem we have. You can’t convince Bert that our defense is a problem. Or that Kuyt has lost it. What proof do you have to tell him that?
I do think Vaart and Hunter need to worry, to not even mention Babel. But these players will be replaced in time. Vaart by Afellay? Or De Zeeuw? Hunter by Ruud van Nistelrooy? And Babel by Wijnaldum/Biseswar/De Guzman? Who knows…
We’re seven months away from the World Cup and Bert is going to go for the core squad that got us the qualification. Can you blame him? I don’t think so.
Consistency is the key now. Playing a lot together. Talking, socializing, doing tactical improvements.
I can see Brama, Vlaar, Bakkal and maybe maybe Emanuelson getting in the picture, but the 22 players for the WC will most probably already be known to Bert, IF they all stay fit and IF Ruud gets to his normal level.
I’m with Bert!
Oranje scored 5 times against Paraguay! At least in the version I saw….
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 71 comments.
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@ruud interms of skill and trickery they(Babel,afaleey,Hunter) are miles ahead of kuyt.but kuyt is brilliant in his assistant.we need some clevr asitance to win some tough matches.
@Mario dear dont be blind man.whenever castelen played for orange he got a rate of 7 in every games.Liverpool could sign lots of players but that doesnt mean they are high profile players.infact kuyt is not an orange material but castelen is.He played 10 important games for orange and we won all those games against tough opponents.Especially i remmeber his performance against Finland when we trailed for one goal.Past 5 years that was the only one official match we won after the trailing.But now castelen is injured for two years and we need to forget him for next 4 months.its our unluck.he played excellent games for hamburg also.he is quick,Excellent in trickeries like roban and Elia(1-1),unselfish,and he is hardworking also.like kuyt he is able to do crucial assists also.Did you know vanbsten prefered him over znijder also(in 2005)?.His injury is our unluck.i am damn sure if recovers from his injury,you will also become his fan…he made Ashly cole as his fan.even the engalnd fan remmeber his dancing against Ashly cole in england.Dont forget the abilty of the players,injuries are part of sports.Just see th videos of castelen in orange matches.he proved his worth in eredivise and thats why he is in hamburg now.
Now liverpool is strong just beacuse of Torres,Gerrad and benitz..not kuyt.
Posted from 
India
@finn this horns zulupaloosa should be banned at the earliest.
Posted from India
Ranking Team Pts, few minutes agi
1 Spain 1622 1 -7
2 Brazil 1592 -1 -40
3 Netherlands 1279 0 -61
4 Italy 1215 0 0
5 Portugal 1181 5 139
6 Germany 1170 -1 9
we’re losing points every time, not that i care about the fifa ranking but it is nice to be top 3. and funny because this ranking does not give us a pot 1 place, why? because england who is ranked 9 will get it.
5602players took part in total. While the Netherlands were able to make do with just 25, Argentina used double that amount. Even more players were used by the likes of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru (56). Also involved were 310 referees and 650 assistants.
So BVM made a record kudos to BVM.But this kudos will go kudis in final round.that means we dont have depth.
Posted from India
@Tiju: van bommel left barca after a successfull year (he won la liga and the cl). he did all right there but frank considered edmilson and motta technically more skilled and more integrated into the gameplay. in my opinion he made a bad choice because between 2006 and 2008 we missed a van bommel like character in the team. with yaya toure’s arrival and integration to the systhem the problem was solved. (people always talk about xavi and iniesta and tend to forget yaya – in his position he’s as brilliant as the two other,i consider him the best holding midfielder in the world.) for mark bayern’s style fits better than barcelona.
castelen and kuyt: i don’t understand why yo consider that kuyt should move from liverpool? fans like him,he works like hell,he’s an important piece of benitez’tactics. strange thing to say that he should move from oone of the best english side and in the same time the benchwarmer castelen plays for a great club. now hamburg is far from being a great club. bayern is different,they might be in crisis but bayern was and still is the number one german club (it doesn’t count that personally i don’t appreciate too much them). kuyt has much more success with liverpool than castelen with hamburg. we know that kuyt is not a lionel messi or a marco van basten but teams only having messis and van bastens will never win world cups. we know as well that his not a central striker. period.
comparing gio and ooijer now with seedorf is a blame for clarence who’s still world class at ac milan and his team doesn’t function without him. gio is at feyenoord,ooijer at psv and with all my respect these clubs are far from ac milan’s level. all of us know that clarence is not selected for different reasons and i think we agree on his world class capabilities. so please don’t compare his situation with gio and ooijer.
rankings are not too important,only interesting after european championships and world cups. i remember before the 2005 world cup the chec republic was second or third but they were eliminated after the group stage.
Posted from 
Hungary
Guys please join the “I hate thierry Henry” facebook site and protest the injustice – in 16 hours they got 80,000 members . I dont hate Henry but I wanna see a replay !!!
Posted from 
Singapore
Carlos, it won’t matter. FIFA will not change the ref’s decision regardless. Ireland is clutching at straws.
As injust as it is, I just don’t see Sepp Blatter and his French minion change their minds. I hope I am wrong, but just don’t see it happen. First they change the rules and seeds the teams, then some dodgy Scandinavian refs to make sure France goes through.
That’s about as a big a fix since Sepp stole his last re-election.
@ferenc now and past 4 years bayern is now where near barca.I dont know exact reason behind vanbommel’s exict from barca.But i liked van bommel till 2006.like davids,gio he also past his prime.thats what i am trying to say.If he play the game with the energy of leroy or drenthe i would be the happiest man..But in practical no hope…
I will never say kuyt to leave Pool,coz i am not concerned about Pool(sorry finn).Players with kuyt’s attitude and workrate are very rare,any coach would love to work with them.Benitz is doing that.My point is kuyt is a joke as central striker neither he is not fruitfull in right wing also.But still i will prefer him over babel and Afaleey.Beacuse kuyt is workhorse and he is able to do crucial assists.But castelen is a proven player unfortuantly he is injured for 2 years so temperarly we need to forget him.at the same time we should look in to other options also thats wat i am trying to say.I think Deguzman and castelen are best options for us in RW apart from vaart,Not afaleey or babel.But its our unluck both these players are injured always.
if we trail for one goal,we used to fail that match.that is the phenomenon of the curret squad.(I dont forget the fluke victory against austria).the players like emmanuelson,castelen could change this fate.
I never compared Zeadorf with gio and ooiger.for the sake of the team seadorf himself opted to leave the squad.I just said Oooiger and gio could also follow him.
Gio played excellent games for us,barca and arsenal.like castelen,when his good days he never diasappointed us.Ooiger may not played in that leavel but he served his country with 100%loyalty.but to win the WC2010 we have to drop Ooiger,gio,Vanbommel,Hunter,Babel(if they continue this form)kuyt(if deguzman and castelen are fit)thats wat i said.
Perhaps babel could be consder as a main striker.i think that will work.in knock out matches opponet diffenders will break vanpersie’s leg.so babel could be lethal that time.at present babel and hunter is less productive than kuyt even though kuyt is a joke as main striker.
Posted from India
@ferenc buddy Czec started superbly but except nedved all the star players got injured after USA match,including kollar,baros etc otherwise italians would have gone before our flight.
Posted from India
I find it very ironic that FIFA spends a lot of time and effort on retiring possibly the greatest ref of all times because of age, Pierluigi Collini, the scary looking bald Italian chap, yet they have these other idiots running around with their heads between their legs and they still won’t allow technology to help sort out simple calls. How hard is it for some old FIFA fart sitting upstairs watching what we see on TV and then some, and yell into that stupid earpiece that shit happened?
I have a lot of Irish friends, may fav pub in NY is an Irish hangout, and right now that is not a good place to visit if you are French…Trust me on that!! Henry is a swear word in there. Not that they need any help 
yesterday i read some french newspapers. they are happy with the qualification but unhappy with the way he went through and on the other hand not very satisfied with the fact that the clown domenech will keep his job at least until the end of the world cup. i talked to some french friends of mine but they didn’t mention the game 
Posted from Hungary
Actually rematch is not possible,fifa can not allow that.But france should be disqualified for that .it will make fear in to other cheating teams.thats wat we need.No need of reply.if i was in henry’s postion i will not do that, thats my blood.it seems bit stupid hh-:)
Posted from India
I’ll make it real simple because it is: FIFA, Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Thierry Henry, you all suck.
Cheaters.
@Tiju
Yes, rematch is impossible. Platini is the chairman of UEFA. How about put a ban on Henry’s international games for one year? Then we will not see him play in South Africa next year.
It’s just sad… You’d almost hate the sport… I had it with Maradona, I can’t respect the man. Henry…his career is stained now. This is so wrong.
Very sad for the Irish…
But I also think it’s sad for Russia, really. I really wanted to see Guus at the WC.
Futbol…if rematch is taking place in case.Other teams also will follow that.So rematch is not needed.disqualify france that is the most suitable decision in aspects(If fifa is neglecting financial issues)
Posted from India
@jan wanna to see that master tactician again?i dont want to see him again at least before semifinals.He knows dutch thats why he eliminated us 2008EC.Not beacause of greatness of russia.They won against us just beacause of Hiddinski..
Posted from India
If you look at the French kit the black pattern on the back looks like the players are wearing sports bras. Figures!
Just watched the “old school” Holland vs Paraguay video. I have to say during Guus Hiddinks time around WC 98 we played some wonderful football witha wel balanced team!
Posted from 
United Kingdom
@Tiju
For some reason that Hiddink’s Russia can eliminate Oranje in EC2008. Many friends in this blog have discussed that in last June. But don’t forget that BVM’s first game is with Russia in last August, just two months after that defeat! Though the result is 1-1, Oranje created many chances. I don’t think Hiddink’s Russia can beat Oranje in 90 minutes even if they qualified!
@Jan
I feel the same way. Trapatoni is a good coach and makes Ireland a good team. It is Henry and the referees and FIFA that deprive of their tickets to South Africa! What a shame!
@Jan
This youtube reminds me of that just before WC1998 Oranje played two great games with the same result 5-1. And those two poor teams are Nigeria & Paraguay.
Futbol yes the youtube video is one of those warm up games before WC1998. And you are right the other was another 5-1 victory against nigeria from a very fluent Dutch side.
Posted from United Kingdom
Right.
I give my vote for your 11:
Van Persie
Robben Sneijder Elia
Bommel De Jong
Gio Mathijsen Vlaar Wiel
Stekelenburg
with a couple of changes: De Zeeuw for Bommel, Vorm for Steks.
Also I agree with you on the conclusion: I’m with Bert!
He’s pretty cool and assured. He just needs to gamble a bit. Maybe he will do it in the quarterfinals while 2-1 down v. Brazil and with 15 mins to go he’l play a 3-3-4 or something.
Cheers.
Posted from 
Germany
Agree completely with Jan. BVM is doing a great job so far. Don’t consider friendlies, they are useless especially in the context of Oranje. My only doubt is about Gio on the left, and I would definitely pick up Drenthe as a reserve. He can change the pace of a match if allowed to play for 20 – 30 mins in a screwed up game. De Zeeuw is also a possibility to replace Van Bommel or De Jong.
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Off topic: Now what about those frigging South African plastic horns zulupaloosa or whaever they are called? I just looked at some footage and highlights again and the thing sounds like you are playing in the middle of the nest of some very large and angry bumble bees.
I think I read somewhere they were going to ban those, but it sure doesn’t look like it to me. I’m going to have to turn the sound down on the telly if that crap continues.