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Greatest Dutch Eleven

April 10th, 2006 | By: Mike | 13 Comments »

Alright, here’s a question for you to chew on over a pint. Who would you put in your starting eleven and who would you put in your five spots for substitutes? Will you choose mostly from the ‘74 and ‘78 teams or will you mix it up with some current players and some from the ‘88 team?

Here are my choices:

E. Van der Sar

W. Suurbier F. de Boer R. Koeman R. Krol

F. Rijkaard J. Neeskens A. Haan

M. Van Basten D. Bergkamp
J. Cruyff

Subs: J. Stam, M. Overmars, W. Jansen, P. Kluivert, R. Gullit

For me I had a little bit of trouble remembering all of the great Dutch players so I found the Wikipedia entry for the Oranje to be helpful as well as a fun site for the 1974 team.

Tags: Greatest Eleven, marco van basten, Netherlands

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Comments

By Ross | April 10th, 2006 at 2:04 pm

What no comments yet? This may be the best question posed on this blog. EVER.

As a diehard American Oranje fan, I’d go with the following:

Van Der Sar – GK
F. de Boer – SB
Stam – CB
Koeman – CB
Krol – SB
Gullit – MF
Rijkaard – MF
Davids – MF
Cruyff – WF
Bergkamp – WF
Van Basten – CF

Posted from United States

By Mike | April 10th, 2006 at 2:10 pm

How has being an American Dutch supporter influenced your choices?

I was on the fence about whether to put Suurbier in or not in place of Stam. I’m smiling because I can’t find any problems with your choices. The Dutch have a talented history!

I figured that as far as the forwards go, we could just throw the three of them into the final third and they’ll do the business for us.

Posted from United States

By Bob | April 10th, 2006 at 2:19 pm

It is really cool to look at those great names from the past. I’d taking those starting 11s any day of the week. Do you think any players from this year’s team will take their place among the great Dutch players of the past?

Posted from United States

By Mike | April 10th, 2006 at 4:21 pm

Well, if the Dutch win then there’s the possibility for players like Cocu and van Nistelrooy. Robben, van der Vaart and Kuyt all have the possibility of another world cup.

Posted from United States

By Nicholas Ohio | April 10th, 2006 at 4:35 pm

I would give serious consideration to Van Nistelrooy. The man has scored 150 goals in England. He is a great player. Injury robbed him of representing the Dutch in Euro 2000, he played well in Euro 2004 in Portugal. I feel he is one of the best strikers around, he is a classic goal poacher.

Posted from United States

By Bob | April 10th, 2006 at 4:54 pm

Van Nistelrooy has had a great club career but do you think he has been a better national team player than Van Basten or Bergkamp? I’m not so sure about that.

Posted from United States

By Mike | April 10th, 2006 at 5:05 pm

Ya, me neither. That’s why I say, depending on this World Cup…

Posted from United States

By sphinx | April 10th, 2006 at 7:24 pm

Can you expect any new shinning star other than Kuyt,Mike?

Posted from Myanmar

By Mike | April 10th, 2006 at 7:54 pm

Well Robben has the chance to live up to all the hype. I also thought of van der Vaart. He’s good and everyone knows that but this is his chance to really shine on a big stage.

Posted from United States

By The Blog Goes On 04.11 - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog | April 11th, 2006 at 10:39 am

[...] Help choose the greatest Dutch 11 in history (Netherlands Blog) [...]

Posted from United States

By Bense | April 11th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

Van de Kerkhof and Rensenbrink should be in, too.

Posted from United States

By Mike | April 11th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

Alright so here is the “second string” for the Dutch. I realize I cheated with F. Rijkaard but he’s a personal favourite so deal with it.

Jongbloed

J. Stam D. Blind Rijkaard

R. Gullit E. Davids W. Jansen W. Van de Kerkhof

R. Rensenbrink J. Rep P. Keizer

Posted from United States

By Nicholas Ohio | April 12th, 2006 at 10:26 am

Hans van Breukelen, we all have overlooked him for the keeper position. He had a great career for PSV and for the Oranje! A european championship in 88 might give him an edge over Van der Sar.

Posted from United States

Comments are closed