Oranje in another Group of Death

Tough group. The key to beating Italy and France will be through a careful, conservative approach. Romania should be no problem.

whats this with all these tough groups?? well; the EC will be over for us pretty quickly!!

Posted from  Netherlands

goose: no - if our individuals will work as a team, as a unit. i have lots of respect towards france but they haven’t been too convincing neither. italy traditionally start slowly at big tournaments. roumania? the ec and the qualifications are different. i wouldn’t say that we will surely qualify but we have the chance to do it. i had a look at the draw and my conclusion is that portugal will be one of the finalists…

Posted from  Hungary

Crap, I didn’t expect that kind of bad luck
I won’t debate about Italy, because they win even if they play bad.
France is not quite the force. Yet. Players like Benzema or Ribery are shaping up, and so are other young players in this younger-than-at-the-WC-France. Let’s hope we won’t get to meet France when they formed their links [same goes for our WC2010 group-encouter ]
Oranje has quality players [d'oh!], but I don’t understand how was it possible to drop out of form in just 2 years so much. In the WC2006 qualifiers, with mostly the same players, Qranje was kicking the ass of everyone. Then you know what happened at the WC and, more importantly, at these qualifiers. Inconsistancy, that’s your problem.
Romania also has a major problem: the mentality. It’s not the first time when I said this, but it won’t be the last. Just look at how we played against Bulgaria last month. LOUSY! No determination, no ambition. What’s worse, if we would have won that match, we would have been in the 2nd pot for EURO, and 1st for WC qualifiers. A MAJOR difference! Of course, it’s nice to play against strong opponents, I am actually delighted to be albe to see our NT playing against 3 top teams in official matches, but we made our lives hard in the next qualifiers. Maybe it’s for the best, who knows. Anyway, there is a great deal of risk for us, because if, for example we concede quick in our first game (against France), then we are screwed for all 3 games, and I give this scenario a 65% chance of happening.

Good luck in EURO, may the best teams qualify!

Houllier said that “Italia will be eliminated because Holland is better” …

Posted from  United States

I say we should make it through to the next round, even if it is 2nd. Romania is the must win game, they have a good defensive line, that feeds their strikers, but we should be able to take that game 2-1, or 1-0. Italy, I’d like to say we win, but I think I’m biased, so I’ll call it a 1-1 draw, and France i can’t really call because of my bias, so I’ll let someone else call it for me.

Posted from  Canada

I can’t wait for the Italian game, I hope we destroy them.

Impressive group!

Any of the games in our group specially the games between France-Italy and Holland will be like a World Cup or EC Final!!!!!

I am not worried of what can happen for Holland because honestly anything can happen in such difficult games. But I think we have a chance to qualify. We have the players, the public and the experiencie. Our young players now play in the biggest competitions in Europe and now we have Ruud and Seedorf back. But the problem here is that we have played very badly recently and if we want to have a chance the team has to improve a lot for the tournament.
It is good that van Basten has tried to change and prove new systems, he seems more flexible now but we need players like van Bommel and Kromkamp especially van Bommel. He is a player that can compete perfectly with Gattuso and Pirlo and I don´t see de Zeeuw at that level nowadays.

My guess is that Italy and Holland will go trough but it´s just a guess. I think that whoever survives has every chance to win the tournament but to pass the group will be very tough. It will be nice games to watch right? Let´s enjoy!

Miguel, i actually think that in this kind of groups - ‘group of death’ - the survivors have small chances to win the tournament because each game is like a final,and the teams will be really tired. other teams won’t be that tired. you’re right - we need some experienced players (until now i was against van bommel he has to turn back,because he’s enoug arshole to be good against italy,etc). btw yesterday i saw sneijder against santander - he has losted his early season magic. he had 3 good games and now he’s an average player. not too good for oranje.

Posted from  Hungary

OMG. I’m never pessimistic about our chances… but France and Italy. oh dear.

Posted from  Australia

That is some draw….

Holy shit, how come the last 2 finalists in the WC can be drawn together with group winners like Holland & Rumenia in the same group? This whole draw does not make any sense to me at all? I mean, why bother seeding teams, it is not like they are getting any favours is it?

My view is that France wil struggle in this group. They are not what they used to be, and losing twice to Scotland in EC08 quals is quite a bit of an indication of where they are at the moment. Teams is getting a bit old too, although Ribery looks very good. Italy is Italy, and will always be a 1-0 struggle (loss) to somebody with 5 yellow cards in the game and a red or two as well depending on the day. Rumenia games will likely be the key and make the difference (for all teams actually). Who ever gets most points against them is likely to make it.

Very hard to call, but my guess is Italy and The Netherlands go through but in a very close group with lots of contravercy and nastyness…

Posted from  United States

I’m stoked about this group. If we win it will be sweet, sweet victory and if we make it out of the group stages it will be because we outplayed world-class oponents. If we lose however, then we don’t deserve to continue on from the group stage anyway.

I don’t think that we should complain about being in the ‘group of death’ because if we can’t beat France, Romania or Italy in the group stage then we would most likely lose to them if we met them in the semi’s etc. anyway. Of course we have a harder group stage, but if we make it out then i think that we’ll have an easier final run. I’m wary of Portugal though. They seem to be a shoe-in for the finals and everyone knows our past with them

Anyway, I think that it will be an awesome group from a spectators perspective, can’t wait till ‘08!

Posted from  Australia

I hear ya, Jan. Burn that blue jersey. I hope its Holland and Romania that wins the group, and the Italians sent home 0-3. They always steal games with the officials help.(Aussie game, and American game WC 2006)

i dont see this as a surprise or anything we all knew of the 4 groups one group may b of this kind ec 2000 n ec2004 all had group of deaths n we were the ones to be in that sort of groupso guys i think no holland fans would b panicing i see this as a very good opportunity to to prepare themselves. seeing this group the players will b excited and van basten would also b preparing himself about the tactics players like van nistelrooy seedorf van der vaart n van persie r not new to these big games they know how to approach n all that i think the oranje shud not b afraid
let them come guys!! the matches holland vs france wud b very crucial if we can win them or any these two teams we have an absolute gre8 chance of reaching next round bcoz romania shud not b a prob..i cant wait to see the matches. yah its true we needvan bommel at the middle of the park coz he is very experinced but he makes some silly tackles but he is doing gre8 job at bayern as far as the quality of players r concerned we will not b the second best we must finish the group as a winner the players shud b mentally tough frm now on

Posted from  Nepal

ha ha
definitly we will win against italy ,france ,and romania
with the players znejder(a selfish bull could have assisst minimum three goals against portugal in 2006 WC)
kuyt(use less every body knows)
jaliens(same kuyt)
de cler(same kuyt)
de jong(same kuyt)
vanbronkhost(ha ha a creative midfeilder)
land saat(fit for indonesia)
and we should drop talented and gutsy players like dont encourage them also
castelen,afaleey,donk,Zno,drenthe if possible vanpersie,roban ,nestel also
ha ha bla bla
i am extreamly happy at the currnet stage