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Last game in EC Qualification series

November 21st, 2007 | By: Jan | 26 Comments »

Tonight Oranje plays the last game of the EC qualifications in and against Belarus. But instead of intense discussions on line ups and tactics evey one is talking about becoming group leader in the draw or not… Oranje qualified last Saturday. This game doesn’t count really… Or doesn’t it?

Winning this fixture could mean becoming one of the group heads, with EC champs Greece and hosts Switzerland and Austria. And that in itself would have some advantages (staying in one stadium) but also disadvantages like drawing against at least one strong nation, like Italy, Germany or Portugal.

Rafael van der Vaart: ” We did talk about in the group but we just want to win tonight. That’s what sports is about. And being group head brings status. Other than that, we all said we wanted big games, well…bring them on then…”

Van der Vaart is member of the players’ council, with Joris Mathijsen and Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt: “I don’t mind a group with strong opponents. We had that during the WC2006 and it means you have to be focussed from second one onwards. That’s fine…”

KNVB director Kesler: “Marco sees being group head as form of recognition and wants to win, tonight. And we support him in this. The disadvantage for me, is that we will play in Basel or Salzburg if we become group head. And those are smaller venues with less tickets for our fans.”

Team manager Marco van Basten may have to miss Wesley Sneijder against Belarus. The Madrid midfielder got injured during a training session. “I don’t think it’s really serious, but we’ll see what we’ll do,” he said this morning. According to the last training session, Koevermans and Kuyt will form the strikers’ duo. Ryan Babel will play left winger.

Potential line-up:

Stekelenburg; Melchiot, Heitinga, Mathijsen and Bouma;
Van der Vaart, De Zeeuw, Van Bronckhorst and Babel;
Kuijt and Koevermans.

source: www.ad.nl

Tags: Group C

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 26 comments.

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By goose | November 21st, 2007 at 9:09 am

well; another shitty game to look forword to!! im gonna waist another 90 minutes of my life for these jokers in orange

Posted from Netherlands

By Lerkot | November 21st, 2007 at 11:07 am

Nah, dont be so sure Goose, now when they are qualified they might play a bit more relaxed. Maybe that will help.

By Lerkot | November 21st, 2007 at 11:12 am

Btw, I would like to see van der Sar in the goal tonight, just because it would be cool. He made his first appearance in the national team against White Russia in the qualification to EC 96 (hmm thats their name in Swedish… English.. lets see… right, Belarus) and it would have been cool if he could play his last qualification game against them as well.

By Football Betting Boy | November 21st, 2007 at 11:48 am

I think they will miss Sneijder if he doesn’t play, but this has simply paved way for Babel to make an impact on the side. He looks a good player and certainly has the potential to be a great player.

Goose, cheer up! You never know what can happen in football! Oranje will have to watch out for Aliaksandr Hleb and Vitali Kutuzov though, they are potential match winners for Belarus.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Bruce | November 21st, 2007 at 1:02 pm

45 minutes in, and it looks like Goose was exactly right…
This campaign needs to be over.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Brian | November 21st, 2007 at 1:19 pm

55 mins in, 1-0 down and I don’t recall a shot on target (apart from Koeverman’s disallowed goal) from the Dutch. Very, very poor - first round elimination next year if they continue to play such tripe football.

By Brian | November 21st, 2007 at 1:28 pm

2-0. van Basten out!

By Ryan | November 21st, 2007 at 1:30 pm

This sure is a joke

Posted from United States

By Rami | November 21st, 2007 at 1:34 pm

i cant really comprehend the ultimate low level of quality im witnessing right now.. i feel empty

By Lerkot | November 21st, 2007 at 1:38 pm

Well… to be a little optimistic, Sweden made their worst quali game ever in the last qualification game to Euro 2004, and then they made a really good championship… so…everything is possible.

By Rami | November 21st, 2007 at 1:40 pm

we are attempting to score from miles away.. ridiculous.

By Brian | November 21st, 2007 at 1:49 pm

It’s a masterplan to stay out of Pot 1 for the finals draw - they obviously want to end up in Austria’s group

By netherlandfanboy | November 21st, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Lol, now Germany has to lose to stay out of Pot1 …

Posted from United States

By ferenc | November 21st, 2007 at 2:04 pm

very good and logical result. i have never been satified with an oranje loss except this evening:-) marco knows that group 1 is lethal and this is why we let the belarussian to beat us.
be in group 2 will probably mean an easier group at the ec.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | November 21st, 2007 at 2:08 pm

how very pathetic.. i always tought it couldnt get any worse but they keep surprising me!

ill wait for Jan for the grades (really good ones, hahaha)

oranje basterds

Posted from Netherlands

By Chriss | November 21st, 2007 at 2:12 pm

How is it that Romania score six goals versus Albania and “we” score one? Surely this horrible result against Belarus does not sit well with the boys. What is going on? Is there no pride left?

Posted from Canada

By goose | November 21st, 2007 at 2:25 pm

vanBasten just told the press;

“if players dont give a 100% during a game we (Holland) are a mediocre team ”

Johan Derksen(journalist) is really having a go saying that the KNVB need to apoint a senior manager to join the vanBasten team at the EC

no progress for 3 years now!! things get only worse!

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | November 21st, 2007 at 2:34 pm

Goose: try to think another way - sometimes loosing is better than winning.

Posted from Hungary

By Rami | November 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm

yea.. those six goals from romania are really starting to show us how distant and far away we are as fans from reality.. always optimistic, bringing back the successes of 74 and 88 to our everyday football lives, creating excuses for ourselves.. and now i realize how ridiculous ive been for participating in that.
i have not much to say to Van Basten. i just think our players at the national front are somewhere between regular and mediocre at the moment. i do hope they improve. last decent game ive seen them play was maybe against a very weak ireland side.

By goose | November 21st, 2007 at 2:41 pm

well ferenc; its not so much the result… its the way we play, i can live with a loss anytime but only if we play decent… we havent played good in years

the just showed all the qualification games(the goals etc.) on dutch tv and it showes we only played one decent game..the tie against Bulgaria in the rain

Slovenie; 1-0
Albanie;2-1
Luxembourgh;1-0
Belarus; 1-2

what kind of results are these??

its f crap!!

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | November 21st, 2007 at 2:49 pm

i agree - the way we play is not too promising.

Posted from Hungary

By Ryan | November 21st, 2007 at 3:08 pm

Guys, I agree that today was terrible and we should be ashamed of ourselves but I can step back and look at this from an angle that is not slanted.

We have been hit with the injury bug. I assure you we will be a different, I.E. better team when Robben, Van Persie, Rud VN are back.

We started a team that will not be out there come EC 2008. I look at the field and see young talent that are not polished yet.

We have 198 days to prepare for this tournament. The team we saw today will not be the team we all see come 2008.

Van Basten is fine, we qualified, there are a bunch of fans / teams sitting at home today realizing that they will have to wait 3 years rather than 1 to be able to see their team in a major futbol competition.

Put things in perspective…we are Oranje and we will be prepared come EC 2008!
-Ryan

Posted from United States

By goose | November 21st, 2007 at 3:36 pm

@Ryan; Robben back?? Robben has totally lost it, if he keeps going om like this he maybe even wont go to the euro’s…his last game was a joke
and even if todays team had a few non-regulars most of them still are and even with all the regulars we have almost never played decent football in all the other matches

after 3 years vanBasten we have no team… we have some players with individual skills but we have no team! its all little islands

we have no good defence, we have no midfield, no wingers, no system..nothing

im glad we qualified but i know how this is gonna end

Portugal will kick our asses again!

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | November 21st, 2007 at 4:57 pm

btw,i’m very happy that england is eliminated. guus is a god. england-croatia was a fantastic game.

Posted from Hungary

By Rami | November 21st, 2007 at 5:00 pm

england is losing 2-3.. russia is winning 1-0. i think that means england out? i know a lot of u like england, but im darn glad to see them out, and hiddink at the ec next year.

croatia, romania and greece btw are looking pretty serious competitors to me.. and obviously at the moment i wouldnt bet on our team beating any of them

bigmac will be looking for a new job tomorrow, hehe.. maybe birmingham his new destination?

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