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Foppe reacts to JC

June 18th, 2007 | By: Jan | 10 Comments »

Foppe de Haan may be one of the oldes coaches (63 years old) around, but he is still willing and able to break through walls. Now he plays 4-4-2 and achieves success, because he feels 4-3-3 is too static. Johan Cruyff reacted ferociously in his column.

“Listen, every opponent has four defenders in line at the back. So, if we play 4-3-3, our striker is always in between two defenders. And since the flank midfielders nowadays are also half full backs, the wingers are also cramped between two opponents. It is very hard to create space for yourself to do something surprising and innovative…”, he defends his vision.

With this adaptation, he did qualify for the Olympics after two matches. Last year, he won the EC in Portugal with 4-4-2 and the Big Oranje also won the EC in 1988 with 4-4-2. But still, JC feels De Haan is jeopardizing the Dutch School.

Foppe laughs. “Hahahaha…it’s all so predictable. I haven’t read the columns, but I don’t have to. I can write them myself. Come on. I don’t mind talking about the different systems. Sure. And the youth most definitely need to keep on playing 4-3-3. Important. But learning and getting results is a different thing. Let’s talk about it after this tournament.”

Tags: Foppe de Haan, Johan Cruyff, The Netherlands

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Comments

By skillz on the mic/KING | June 18th, 2007 at 9:39 pm

What! Is this true? thats crazy

Posted from Canada

By stephen | June 18th, 2007 at 11:25 pm

Well, I think Foppe is too simplistic in this sense. It doesn’t always have to be the way he described. Isn’t the purpose of football to find ways around these supposed obstacles? I mean if the central striker is marked by two central defenders and the wingers are marked by the flank mids and outside backs, well that’s six defenders guarding 3 attackers. If the attacking teams mids have half a brain, that should leave ample space to completely change the senario described by Faan. It’s all about spacing and movement, not a static diagram.

Posted from United States

By Jan | June 19th, 2007 at 12:21 am

Well said Stephen! That would be JC’s response exactly I guess. If the rest of the team is smart enough, they’ll find the “free man”. Like Louis van Gaal’s Ajax in 1995…

Posted from Australia

By skillz on the mic/KING | June 19th, 2007 at 10:02 am

Hey Stephen, you should come and coach team Canada cause we really need help right now.

Posted from Canada

By stephen | June 19th, 2007 at 10:20 am

skillz - Canada is doing ok, they are in the semi’s vs USA in the gold cup this thursday. Should be fun, my in-laws live in Toronto.

Posted from United States

By skillz on the mic/KING | June 19th, 2007 at 10:30 am

Yeah, Toronto FC is about the only thing we got going for us. Its pretty amazing how insane the fans are. Did you see the mayhem when we scored our first goal. It was free seat cussion day and everyone started tossing them on the field, absolute chaos. Anyways sorry for straying off topic. I think Foppe’s heart is in the right place. Its only a matter of time before the Dutch win world or Euro cup. They seen to be getting better recently.

Posted from Canada

By stephen | June 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am

Both my father-in-law and brother-in-law were at that game. They said they had a really good time. Toronto is a great place to have a team. There are a lot of foreign residents who love football which will provide a great fan-base.

Posted from United States

By goose | June 19th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

@Steph: AMEN

Posted from Netherlands