Did he get it right?

the guy from australia asked yesterday how come we all live in u.s.a and canada and we are big fans of the dutch football team,then he asked if we’re dutch.
well,am not ducth, am lebanese but am an immigrant to the united states, so i have no dutch origins at all. but you know guys it is all about the love of this game. i loved the dutch in 1988 when they won the title,that time i was only 7 years old, and since that time my love for this team was very big because i always thought they have the most fascinating style of soccer.
so you don’t have to be dutch to love the dutch team:),right guys?

Posted from  United States

@Alaa
I didn’t imply you needed to be Dutch… Hope I didn’t offend anyone. I was just curious. I once hopped in a taxi in Thailand and the cabbie recited all the names of the players of the ‘74 team!! It always strikes me :-).

As for Huntelaar. He grew up at PSV, was shortly the chosen one and then suddenly was made to leave. They found him too slow and lacking technical skills. Obviously, scoring goals in Holland playing for Ajax is much easier than scoring in the Prem League with ManU. The pace internationally is much faster, the marking of the defenders tougher… Really, playing in the Dutch League is different to Spain, England, Germany, Italy or even Scotland…
Huntelaar’s time will come. Again, compared to Persie, Robben, Babel and vd Vaart, Huntelaar is a limited player, with two great assets: the nose for the right spot, and lack of nerves in the box.

Posted from  Australia

BTW, I read an article by Cruyff other day, explaining the method used by Basten and Schip (and Cruyff in the background, no doubt) to assemble their group of 23. If people are interested, I’ll translate the core message. If nof (or if people read it already) just disregard this message…

Posted from  Australia

no i am not offended at all:), i just wanted to tell you that when you love a team, you just love it.
i agree with you about huntelaar,for example i think van persie is much better then him.

Posted from  United States

@jan
yes that would be nice of you if you translate the article for us, at least the main points, because it very important to know what cruyff thinks about the players and the team.

Posted from  United States

jan roskott

please translate cruyff opinion for us non speaking dutch fans

Posted from  Canada

Here’s Johan for ya :-).
Loosely translated from http://www.johancruyff.nl

Selecting the best players is not enough. You need to select the best team and therefore look closely at the relationship between players’ skills on the pitch. Every player, no matter how good he is, will have weaker points and as a coach, you need to compensate these weaknesses in the team. Selecting the right players is a four-stage process. First, you look at the whole squad, then the different lines (defense, midfield, offense), then you look at the triangles and lastly you look at duos. You make your long list, for instance 4 players per position, and then you analyse the way your top picks for a position would beable to play together. A good example: if you have a leftwinger who can make tremendous runs along the line and has a good cross, you need a certain type of center striker. In that situation, if you have a left full back with good attacking skills, you probably need a left midfielder who can control the pitch and can play defensively once the full back steams up front. Step by step, drawing and discussing, you can form your ideal team. Obviously, the first thing to do would be to determine how you want your team to play in the first place, but Van Basten and Van ‘t Schip have always been clear on that from the start.
This process contains much more than determining if a player can kick a ball, or can do some tricks. Most journalist don’t see this, for instance. They always talk about their favorite player and do not see the bigger picture. That is not strange. They are good writers, and not necessarely good coaches. Still, it’s nice to see that everyone has an opinion about it, that makes it very lively. I remember being chastized in the past for stating, that if your team is behind, maybe you should sacrifice a striker for an extra midfielder. People didn’t get that. Why? Because in order to win, you need to score. And in order to score, you need the ball. So, an extra midfielder increases your chances of winning the ball…

Jan “johan” Roskott

Posted from  Australia

More by Johan…

In every group, there will always be surprises. Particularly for the outsiders. Playing a tournament like the World Cup, and being together for 6 weeks, also asks different qualities from players, than having a group losely at your side for weekly matches. Apart from having good players, you also need a homogeneous team. Nine out of ten times, a coach will have the startig line up in his head already. 14 players are already the fixed, firm choices for a coach. They all fit the team strategy and tactics. And then you need players for the moments/games it doesn’t work out as you would want… So, you chose a team in your head to play as you want to play, and you chose a team with exceptions. For if you need to change your gameplan. The problem is that people tend to compare players. But that’s not the issue. You need 5 or 6 guys in the group that can actually change a game around. That’s the quality of those kinds of players. And, you keep everyone sharp. Because every player, bar goalie no. 3, knows that if needed, he can be called up on…

The discussion with Huntelaar and Vennegoor of Hesselink is not: who is the better player. The question is: who is best at turning around a match, if push comes to shove.

You can take the risk of selecting 4 instead of 3 center strikers, but you’ll have a gap on another position. You can only take that risk if the main skeleton of your team is experienced. This Dutch side is not, however. Only van der Sar, Cocu and Van Nistelrooy know what it takes to play a tournament such as this. So, we’re talking about one of every eight players and that lack of experience is definitely an item you weigh in, when you finalize your decisions on the group. See, picking eleven good players is not so hard, but picking eleven good players who together form the best team, that’s the trick…

Posted from  Australia

@jan
good job man, thank you, i think it wasn’t that easy to translate the whole thing.
regarding what cruyff said i think he is right. sometimes the good coaches see what other ppl can’t see, so lets have confidence in van basten and see how things go

Posted from  United States

Cruyff is smart and should be the coach. Regardless, Serbia and Montenegro is going to take the Dutch behind the woodshed for a beating.

There are not enough cannons in your arseanl to penetrate our fortress defense.

Posted from  United States

Ya, thanks a lot Jan for that article. That’s really interesting and gives us some insight on how van Basten goes about doing things.

Posted from  United States

Ahhh, Lyle. youre defense is not everything. Will it be enough to resist van Nistelrooy, Arjan Robben and Van Persie? And with the back up of the midfield? I am in doubt of that. You just read the article, aplayer alone with skills does not make it the best team, its the team with the best blend. That is why he chose his players carefully, so that every type of player would suit another. And thats where our strength lies this summer, and serbia will definately get a taste of that this summer!

Posted from  Oman

Hi Alaa I am Lebanese and I also love the dutch team. HUP HOLLAND !!!

Posted from  Lebanon

@ahmad
hey ahmad, good for you, i think in lebanon there are dutch fans, actually i had some friends who were dutch fans .

Posted from  United States

martijn,

sm has been playing together longer than jung holland. our blend of players is simply stronger and tighter than won’t be broken by pretty, dutch, keep away football.

Plavi! Plavi! Plavi!

Posted from  United States

I’m surprised there are so many non-Dutch Dutch supporters. I love it!

And Lyle, how do you expect to win a game with your “tight” squad when you can’t get the ball from our technically superior players?

Posted from  United States

Thank-you Jan Roskott!

To draw an analogy, hearing from Cruyff on the Dutch team is like hearing from Wayne Gretzky on Canadian Hockey. Everyone listens and takes note. They both have earned respect and are considered icons.

Go Holland!

Posted from  Canada

Let’s be serious. Honestly Holland will not make damage to anyone in this WC. They don’t have some strong squad like Argentina or S & M, and they wouldn’t pass the group. Holland players are yust yongsters. Sorry but that’s the true. Forza S & M - napred plavi

Posted from  The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia

And about S & M team. They don’t have just good defense, they are pretty good in the middle and forward also. Kezman and players like Stankovic, Vucinic, Zigic, Milosevic etc. will hurt other teams in this group. Argentina have very weak defense, Holland have chaos in R V Nistelroy and in the yong team. I’ll past Ivory Coast they are a level down from all teams in this group. Forza PLAVI

Posted from  The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia

Noone is disputing the relative quality of S & M. I just think the Netherlands are better.

Posted from  United States

^Ted: As a Canadian I applaud your analogy. You are absolutely spot on.

Posted from  United States

Marka. Youngsters, yes, but Van Basten doesnt choose the worst players from holland to play you. We have a good team, and they will shake anyone who underestimates them this summer in germany, just because we dont have all the great dutch names. The Youngsters will outclass the elder in speed and fitness, which V Basten finds most important. And like i already mentioned, Individuels do not make a team, so what good are great names, if they cannot play together. This is the difference in the dutch team this year, which makes them so hard to estimate. This will cause other teams downfall this summer.

Posted from  Oman

Martijn, you’re wright about that anyone who underestimate dutch team will fall down, but what I was trying to say that they are far away to be favourites, and that in this group anything could happen.

Posted from  The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia

So te midfield and forward will look like this?

KUYT
SNEIJDER
NISTELROOIJ COCU
VAN DER VAART
ROBBEN

What about the defense??

Posted from  Australia

Mike — my front three without RvN is suggested not because he may be dropped, but rather, rested (and to give another player a start) after Oranje get six points in the opening two games. Seven games in a month is nearly as busy as the most hectic part of a season.

Posted from  United Kingdom