Cruyff’s new column

If you coldly analyse the situation in Group C, it is surprising that this young Dutch team is certain to advance after only two games. They’ve done very well from a result perspective, but they also played good football in some phases in the matches. Still, if you want to go further, you will need to improve.

The good thing is, that the players who will need to do it, really step up to the plate and do it. The creative players are winning the matches. They pressure the opponent, there are great changes between the flank players and we see great individual actions. However, the problems arise when we need to control the match, when we need a high ball circulation and good position play. These aspects – very important when aiming to play total football – are sometimes weak.
The technical staff and the team need to work hard on that. By the way, my role as adviser is extremely overrated. I do talk to the technical staff every now and then, but apart from football, we sometimes talk about totally different things. Family, golf, holidays, stuff like that.

In the meantime, I really enjoy this tournament. There’s some good offensive football and quite some surprises too. The Group with Italy, Czech, Ghana and the USA is very entertaining. You just cannot permit yourself too much weak moments. The average quality of the participating teams is just too high for that.

And there are disappointments. Brazil, Portugal… And France… You can see things are not right in that group. That’s a shame. And on a tournament like the WC, big names and reputations do not count. You have to play the players who are in form. There are no second chances. So wether you are Zidane, Ronaldo or Figo… If you don’t perform, trainers will have to make changes before it’s too late. Coaches who do not understand this, will take an early flight home. Luckily, I can’t see this problem ocurring with Oranje.
(Source: www.cruijff.com)