With respect to the rest of the lineup, I am still trying to figure out if these are actual players or just a bad Croatian curse everyone utters after too much Slivovitch.

is the real deal

croatia will win uefa euro 2008 with dudU on the bench

»Stipe Pletikosa Vedran Ćorluka »Robert Kovač Dario Šimić Josip Šimunić

Niko Kovač Niko Kranjčar Luka Modrić Darijo Srna Ivica Olić Mladen Petrić

goalie-good

d fence- weak

midflied – bad/good reason bad d fence

forward- no dudu is ok was good—– olic petric more luck than skills

Viva Holland

1- van der Sar
2- Melchiot
3- Heitinga
4- Mathijsen
5- De Cler
6- De Zeeuw
7- Sneijder
8- van Bronckhorst
9- van Nistelrooy
10-van der Vaart
11-van Persie

Bench: (don´t pay attention to the numbers )
12-Stekelenburg
13-Waterman
14-Jaliens (unfortunately he will be called up)
15-Bouma
16-Ooijer
17-Seedorf
18-Afellay
19-Maduro
20-Babel
21-Robben
22-Huntelaar
23-Venegoor/Kuyt

There are other players who can still make an impact to enter in the list but it seems to me that the players I am mentioning here are the ones who count for San Marco and being objective they are great players. We have a very competitive team, our defense is not at the level of Italy´s but we have good defenders. From midfield to attack we have an excellent set of players. The bad thing is that Kromkamp and van Bommel will not have a chance of going to the tournament unless there is a last minute surprise.
I liked a lot the formation van Basten used, I didn´t have the chance to watch the game because it was not broadcasted in my country but I saw the highlights and we played pretty good. This victory comes at the right time because winning at Croatia is very hard and we smashed them 0-3. It is the best result that Holland has gotten since the World Cup and we had had very bad times during the Euro 2008 qualification losing important games and playing very bad. And in friendlies we were outplayed like in Switzerland but I think that van Basten has now told his players that if they want to go to the Euro 2008 to win they´d better start improving otherwise they will be very punished against Italy, France and even Romania. I am very happy for the team and hopefully this is a good sign for the tournament. I have not been very happy with the way van Basten has managed the team and I know most of us think alike but in I wish him all the best because in my best dreams I would love Oranje lifting that the European Championship tournament. We have the talent, we have the material, we need some luck and have the hunger to do so. We are very capable of winning that trophy.

Hup Holland!

Genio: San Marco doesn’t have the best people managing skills sometimes, but he was dead on though (if quite blunt). Babel played a very poor game. I don’t know, maybe players sometimes need a jolt like this. Players with good mentality will use it as motivation. Players with poor mentality (players who are too full of themselves and seem more like divas than football players) will have problems with it. Lately Babel has been terrible for Orange. He needs to step it up.

dirk v.d berg: I don’t agree about de Cler. He has looked great every time he’s played for Orange and he did so again against Croatia. I’m not so convinced about Emanuelson. And I think probably Van Persie will be in the center and vdv and sneijder on the sides.

I like Jan’s line up. That’s the one I’d choose too. Melchiot played another great game. Like I’ve said before, I think he is our best right back.