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Headaches for Marco: who to start?

June 14th, 2008 | By: Jan | 19 Comments »

No no, Raf… Flattery will get you nowhere!

Super subs Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie made the difference for Holland in the second half against France. The two players are close to their peak form.

In the 55th minute of Holland - France, Dirk Kuyt was taken out for Van Persie. The Liverpool icon gave him a peptalk, went to rest on the bench and two minutes later Van Persie scored.
There is no place for envy or jealousy in the group, so Dirk Kuyt, like any other sub, jumped up from the bench to cheer his rival for a position in midfield. The former Feyenoord striker was not unsuccessful himself, of course, scoring the first goal.

But, now Oranje has qualified for the quarter finals, the competition for the three spots behind Ruud van Nistelrooy has really fired up.

With Van Persie and Robben close to fit, Van Basten has more options. Van der Vaart could easily play one line back as a holding midfielder and then still Van Basten has another magic man on the bench in Ibrahim Afellay.

Van Basten has till next week Saturday to determine his ideal formula. Robben is in top form, Van Persie has been carefully prepared for this EC, Sneijder and Van der Vaart have demonstrated their value as has Dirk Kuyt. And let’s just forget the soaring Afellay shot on the cross bar against Italy for now.

It’s remarkable that the man with the huge lungs has a starting position. When the prep for the EC started, it was still a question mark whether the Katwijker Kuyt would be invited to Switzerland. Four weeks ago he said: “You know how this goes… It takes time sometimes to find the right structure and then suddenly everything falls in place. I’ve seen it many times before in the past and also at Liverpool.”

Kuyt was looking forward to play Evra, the left full back of Man United whom he has played some times in the EPL now. “I can really get tremendous satisfaction playing these players. They appear to be the most important build up guys. I run with them and mark them as good as I can, and whenever we turn over, I overlap them. And they hate it!’

And so, it’s Dirk Kuyt who played the most games under Van Basten; 40 games of the 50 games Van Basten has coached till now.

And Kuyt has chanced, from the capable striker to a team-oriented allrounder. Kuyt plays an important part in the team dynamics. When Oranje lost control in the last part of the first half, it was Kuyt who was gesticulating to his team mates to keep their cool. And Kuyt also talked some time with Boulah to finetune the interaction between the two right flank players.

Tags: Basten, Boulah, Bouma, Group C, Holland, Kuyt, Netherlands, Oranje, Sneijder, van der Vaart

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Comments

By Michel-Olivier | June 14th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

starting 11 for romania
—Stekelenburg–
Ooijer-Heitinga-Mathijsen-Cler-
——Zeeuw—-Engelaar-
—Kuijt—-Afellay—-Robben–
———–v.Persie—-
——Hunter——-

-half time sub
Hesselink
Vaart
Melchiot

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | June 14th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

@troynew & Michel-Olivier,

I wouldn’t mind, but the only way Oranje would get away with 12 men is if that English ref who game away 3 yellows to the same guy last WC hadn’t retired.

After all, counting to twelve is a lot more difficult than counting to three.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | June 14th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

hahaha, very funny
new starting 11 for romania with out 12 men
—Stekelenburg–
Ooijer-Heitinga-Mathijsen-Cler-
——Zeeuw—-Engelaar-
—Kuijt—-Afellay—-Robben–
——Hunter——-
-half time sub
Hesselink
v.Persie
Melchiot

Posted from United States

By Carlos | June 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

I think I gave my starting line up before and it’s still a hugely talented team.

Sar (unless he wants a break)
Melchiot Heitinga Bouma de Cler
de Zeeuw Engelaar
Affelay vPersie Robben
Huntelaar

That is still a scary 11 to face especially when they all have to prove they MUST be in the starting 11 for the A team.

Would love to see them tear Romania apart as Romania has to come out and win.

Posted from Singapore

By Eoin | June 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Heitinga on the right-wing Troy? I’ve never heard of him playing there. Kuyt in dm was an interesting idea.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Rob | June 14th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

I don’t care about the Romania game - just drop Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder to keep them injury free.

Ooijer and Van der Vaart need dropping for the quarter final though - they were both beyond crap against France, Van der Vaart looked a lazy ass compared to the first game - strolling around, not closing down. Success clearly gets to that guy way too easily.

GK: Van der Sar
RB: Heitinga
LB: Gio
CB: Mathijsen
CB: Bouma
DMF: De Jong
DMF: Engelaar
AMR: Kuyt
AML: Robben
AMC: Sneijder
CF: Ruud

That’s the team that should start the quarter final.

Posted from Japan

By Sol | June 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

Ooijer and van der Vaart were among the best players of the last match, they did most of the hard work, especially van der Vaart, who was hunted down like an animal by the french and a lot of fouls were committed on him. He helped to create valuable chances or important interceptions and he gave others the chance to shine (just like RvN and Kuyt always do).

Posted from Netherlands

By bunchapooha | June 14th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

Van der Vaart was a close second in mileage by half time, only Kuyt (who else) ran more than he did (5.9 and 5.7 km’s). So lazy? Far from it.

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | June 14th, 2008 at 11:15 pm

Agree Sol, it seems Van der Vaart is in the Gullit 1988 role. Sacrificing his ego for the team. I’m impressed. Like Goose said, De Jong was outstanding too.

Too bad we have a shabby goalie. He sucked

Posted from Australia

By Jan | June 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

Heitinga played right back at Ajax and the Dutch team and he can play holding midfielder too.

Posted from Australia

By Felix | June 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

Here’s my line-up prediction for matcth against Romania…

GK - Stekelenburg (Marco need to give Stekelenburg chance to have experience in tournament like European Championship. Don’t forget, van der Sar will retire until this tournament!)
RB - Melchiot (If he is fit, then he must play, rest boulahrouz for quarterfinal, boulah had worked hard in last two games)
LB - de Cler (The same reason with Boulah, Gio must be rested)
CB - Heitinga (Heitinga must be played. If he play great like this season in Ajax, he can replace Mathijsen. So, he need chance to prove his ability. Mark my words, Heitinga and Ooijer will be our central defenders in next game)
CB - Bouma (Bouma sure is given chance to perform his ability and replace tired Ooijer)
DM - Engelaar (Need more time and chance to show his performance like against Italy)
DM - de Zeeuw (The only option to replace hard-worker Nigel de Jong)
(RW) - van Persie (I think van Basten will play van Persie to get his fitness and sharp back to 100%. Not full macth, maybe around 60 or 70 minutes. He and Afellay will be given free role and can switch position)
(LW) - Robben (Like van Persie, maybe van Basten will play him to get his sharp. If he don’t play, then it must be Kuyt play on the right flank, and van Persie in the left)
(AM) - Afellay (Afellay and Huntelaar are the most promising netherlands player that could be secret weapon. No doubt afellay dribbling and long range shot will make trouble Romania. He will be great prospect in World Cup 2010)
(S) - Huntelaar (I hope he’s fit enough to play. Need to prove that he even better than van Nistelrooy, especially his header)

Substituion:
Jan Vennegor of Hesselink for van Persie

By Ronald | June 15th, 2008 at 2:06 am

San Marco won’t play De Jong and Ooijer for sure. They both got yellow card already.

Posted from Hong Kong

By ferenc | June 15th, 2008 at 3:54 am

my starting eleven against roumania: stekelenburg - melchiot,heitinga,bouma,de cler - de zeuw,engelaar - kuyt,van persie(?),affelay - huntelaar
or play in 442 not taking any risk,without robbin and with vennegoor

de jong is the player i’m the most amazed of because i haven’t seen him for years and thought that he was mediocre and he’s crucial in the holding role. very good choice instead of the insecure de zeeuw.

Posted from Hungary

By Michels | June 15th, 2008 at 5:36 am

GK: Stekelenburg
RB: Heitinga
LB: De Cler
CB: Mathijssen (Substituted in the 2nd half for Melchiot, who will switch positions with Heitinga)
CB: Bouma
M: De Zeeuw
Engelaar
Affelay
Van Persie (Substituted for Kuyt in the 2nd half)
Huntelaar
Robben (Substituted for Vennegoor in the 2nd half)

Result:
Nederland 3 - 0 Roemenië

18′ Van Persie
34′ Huntelaar
87′ Vennegoor

Posted from Netherlands

By Klaas | June 15th, 2008 at 11:56 am

our line up should be.

–huntelaar–
—-de jong—-

We’d probly still win

By Sol | June 15th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

A scoring Vennegoor, that would be the day

Would that be his first for Oranje?

Posted from Netherlands

By Rob | June 15th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Wow - I’m shocked you guys are satisfied with Van der Vaart and Ooijer. They consistently failed to close players down and put Oranje under pressure. Ooijer’s been awful in both matches - the guy can’t mark or play tight at all. Let’s wait for an oppostition who can finish before you lot realise though, eh?

Posted from Japan

By Jan | June 15th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

@Sol, Vennegoor scored for Oranje already. And not just once.

@Rob, I tend to agree a lot with your views, but not this time :-).

I think Ooijer played average against Italy but absolutely good against France. Don’t forget, every player makes mistakes and it’s not a real drama to have to say you made some against a nation like France… But all in all, I was impressed with Ooijer in the second match. And I am absolutely no fan of his.

Van der Vaart to me plays a magnificent tourney! His pass on Gio against the Italians, his corner kick against France. Those were just two “visible” elements of his value, but he also worked his butt off in both matches. Don’t forget, at HSV he is the main man, but for Oranje he takes a more servant role and I am very impressed with his working ethics, his intelligence and his courage in the one to one challenges.

Posted from Australia

By gooranje | June 16th, 2008 at 3:37 am

I’m totally satisfied with VDV also. It’s for the same reason Jan pointed out. I didn’t expect him to be able to play without being the main man. And very often in Hamburg I see him appear in the front of the field most of the time and score a lot. But in the last 2 games I’m totally impressed that he’d run and defend. And if you pay more attention, his set pieces is really great. Sneijder might score more easily from a free kick than VDV, or Van Persie might have more power in his left foot, but in terms of delivering the ball from a free kick/corner, VDV always make it very hard for the keepers. He puts a lot of spin onto the ball and the place where the ball drops is deadly - close to the net but not easy ball to catch for the keepers, give them a dilemma and hesitation. And at that kind of position the ball can easily be scored. And guess what he delivered both opening goals for the last 2 games!

As for Ooijer, he scared me at the first 15min against Italy. He didn’t give pressure on Toni by letting him do 2 free headers. But after that he’s been very focused in the game and showed hard work. And also you must recgonize that sometimes you can only get things out of a player to a certain extent, they have constraints too. And if there’s no other better player you’ll just have to rely on him.

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