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Harmony in Oranje camp

September 6th, 2007 | By: Jan | 13 Comments »

After two days of “secret” training sessions, the players of Oranje still don’t know who will start on Saturday against Bulgaria. Today, Van Basten will bring the group of 24 back to a group of 18. It wasn’t very exciting, behind close door though, but Van Basten doesn’t want every word, gesture or jersey change to be front page news the next day.

Rafael van der Vaart is not fit to play on Saturday. As was feared, his calf injury is not over yet, but Raf could make it for the Wednesday away game in and against Albania.

Marco van Basten: “We worked out on all the elements one gets in football. And we could do it in a relaxed atmosphere, without felling restrained by the presence of cameras and press. Most international players are used to this in their respective countries. I won’t do it all the time but now it was good. We know who we will play on Saturday and how we want to do it.

The tension will grow today, when 6 players will be informed that they can go home to watch the match on tv. There is one restriction for players living abroad. They will need to stay in Holland since there’s a chance Van Basten may need them against Albania. Some players in the group have a yellow card behind their name, so suspensions are possible, as are injuries. The team manager didn’t elaborate on how he will determine who’ll go home. “The differences between players are very very small,” he said after the training.

The definite starting line up will be made public just before the match, although it’s pretty sure that Van Nistelrooy will play centrally. Van Persie will play on the right wing and Wesley Sneijder will be the most offensive midfielder.

San Marco also talked a lot. With Boulahrouz for instance, who had a major set back at Sevilla when his room mate Puerta died. Boulah only knew him for a month, but felt a strong connection with the Spanish player. “I was shocked and burst out in tears,” the cannibal said. “He was always there to help me and I taught him some English. This was such a nice bloke, it really hurt me.”

Van Basten: “Khalid did some individual training work but he did tell me that mentally, he is ready to play.”

Tags: Boulahrouz, marco van basten, Persie, The Netherlands, Vaart

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Comments

By Miguel Rosado | September 7th, 2007 at 3:53 pm

Well guys, I think the only one who knows who will play is van Basten but I think the team will be lined up like this:

1- van der Sar

2- Melchiot (RB)
3- Heitinga (Sweeper)
4- Mathijsen(Stopper)
5- Bouma (LB)

6-Seedorf (Right M)
8-Gio (Left M )
10-Sneijder (Central and offensive midfielder)

7-Babel (Left wing)
9-Ruud (Central striker)
11-v Persie (Left wing)

I think it is a strong line up but van Persie is not in his best position and Sneijder would need a defensive guy as holding midfielder to assist him, not Mathijsen but a defensive mid like in a 4-4-2 formation. Hopefully everithing goes well and we beat Bulgaria.

By goose | September 7th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

This is prob. gonna be the line-up for the bulgary match:

vdSar

Mechiot Matijssen Heitinga Bouma

DeZeeuw vanBronckhorst

Babel Sneijder

vanPesrie

vanNistelrooy

No Clarence. Saw an interview with Seedorf just a few minutes ago. He was asked if he was happy with the situation now that it looked like he would be benched again in Oranje. Clarence said; “I do what i have to do, and if i cant be a part of the team on the pitch then i have to do my best in the situation im in for the team”.

really; i used to hate Clarence.. but now!! hes great!! hes a real pro and i forgive him (hahaha) i gorgive the missed penelties v France and Turkey, i forgive all his bad performences in Oranje..LONG LIVE CLARENCE

btw: HollandU21 beat Norway today in a qualifier..they played terrible, goal by Drenthe who was tackled inside the box and took the penalty himself.. not pretty to watch this game

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By stephen | September 7th, 2007 at 4:59 pm

well goose, even the best teams play bad sometimes. Even the great ‘74 team barely even qualified for the WC. I think that just goes with International football: lack of games, practice time etc. These guys are thrown together a few times a year for a week at a time and that is it. So we have to expect it, or at least not be suprised by it. I think the good footballing nations are able to consistently overcome due to quality. Hopefully Oranje’s superior quality will shine thru tommorrow.

Posted from United States

By ferenc | September 7th, 2007 at 5:39 pm

i’m really sad if this is true – why van basten doesn’t want to titularize the europe’s best midfielder? he’s even better than sneijder… gio easily could play as a left back,de zeeuw would be the holding midfielder,clarence and sneider could orchestrate the team…

but no. the holy system is more important than the quality of the players.

i would like to see clarence (in this case entering as a substitute and) scoring the winning goal.

Posted from Hungary

By Mario | September 7th, 2007 at 7:26 pm

Clarence played 4-3-3 under van Gaal at Ajax. Is van Basten such a stupid bastard as a coach?. Seedorf is one of the few Dutch internationals today that has won it all at club level. Not even van Nistelrooy or any other Dutch player has as many trophies as Seedorf has. Man, if he loses he will be sacked right after the whistle.

By Igor | September 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm

I agree with you guys, i really feel that since we need to win and we are playing at home, why not take a chance and use two attacking mids (sneijder and seedorf) instead of two holding mids like gio and de zeeuw. We should be taking the initiative in this game not trying to sit back and play defence. it makes more sense to start seedorf and once we have the lead, sub him off for a better defensive player (de zeeuw). However if it is still 0-0 by half, i would hope that marco would send in seedorf for the second half.

Posted from Canada

By Mario | September 7th, 2007 at 8:31 pm

Igor, the best players have to play from the start. That´s the way it is in China, Rome or wherever you are and Seedorf for sure is pure talent.

By Jan | September 8th, 2007 at 2:20 am

Hmm… Mario, i feel the best team needs to be formed… We can’t play and Robben and Vaart and Persie and Nistelrooy and Seedorf and Afellay… Marco has to make choices. I’d go for De Zeeuw in center and Seedorf on the right, so I’m not saying that I support Van Basten, but still…

And Seedorf was not a certainty in Van Gaal’s team, you know. When he wanted to leave, Ajaz happily let him go. If memory serves me well, it was:

SAR

Reiziger Blind Rijkaard de Boer

De Boer Litmanen Davids

Finidi Petterson/Kluiv Overmars

Am I right?

Posted from Australia

By ferenc | September 8th, 2007 at 4:20 am

akax against milan in the cl final:
van der saar – reiziger,blind,rijkaard,fdb – seedorf (kanu),littmanen(kluivert),davids – finidi,rdb,overmars

clarence,patrick and kanu were only 19 at this time. clarence was almost a regular starter. patterson left ajay in 93 i guess. but he wasn’t there in 94/95.

i’m agree with marco that seedorf,robben,vdv,affelay,sneijder can’t play at the same time and he has to choice. so i support de zeeuw,but my choice would be different – gio should play left back,de zeeuw holding midfielder, clarece right,sneijder left. if we play 433

Posted from Hungary

By ferenc | September 8th, 2007 at 4:25 am

anyway the coaches of the best european teams are not stupid,and they voted clarence best midfielder of the cl. it means europe’s best midfielder in 06/07. this is what i think too.

ajax 94/95: i read somewhere that clarence was rijkaard’s favourite player. before the wc 06 rijkaard (and ancelotti too) said that clarence should have been in the wc squad…

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | September 8th, 2007 at 5:03 am

THanks Ferenc. Did Petterson leave before the CL victory? Hmm…forgot that. I was a fan. So Ronald de Boer was de central striker in that year? Rijkaard and Seedorf had a special relationship. Seedorf was a huge fan of Frankie when Clarence was young, his aim was to play with him. And he made that true.

Posted from Australia

By ferenc | September 8th, 2007 at 6:38 am

rdb was not too often central striker but against milan he started in this position. after the changes he went back to the midfield because we already had 2 young central strikers on the pitch: kanu and kluivert. rijkaard came forward too,and actually in the last 30 minutes we played a 352. and it worked really well.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | September 8th, 2007 at 7:00 am

vanBasten is gonna use vanBronckhorst cause Gio needs to watch the space that Sneijder is believed to leave on the left side when he cuts inside..so vanBasten wants a ‘lefty’with defensive qualities on that position

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

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