World

Europe

Netherlands

Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch…

October 24th, 2007 | By: Jan | 8 Comments »

Taco van der Velde’s column in VI

It’s hard to be Dutch these days. First, all but one of all Dutch clubs were swept from the European pitches and put on ice for a year. Then, KLM, VNU, Numico and Abn Amro are sold off to foreign corporations. And then there is our little Argentina born princess Maxima who claimed in all her wisdom that there is no such thing as the Dutch identity. We don’t exist anymore. We’re the country of “them”.

We only have the Dutch national team. The last stand. Our last thermometer of happiness. And it had to play Romania. And Ryan Babel overslept.

What was the young millionaire thinking when he turned around in his bed? His new iPod? Or the wink that screaming schoolgirl gave him just before they got in the bus? Or Beyonce’s breasts? Or was he pondering how he would trick the Romanian right back and take him on on his weak left leg? He has a lot of talent and skills, the Orange Sleeping Beauty. But he can snooze off every now and then. Did you know that once when he played for the Dutch youth team and had to come onto the pitch, he realized he didn’t put his jersey on? He was wearing some random t-shirt.

When it comes down to taking your job serious, there is a generation gap in Oranje. On the one side of modern football we have Clarence Seedorf. Won the CL four times and is the strategist on AC Milan’s midfield. But, he also seems to be Oranje’s beggar. Substitute for a handful of minutes. Stand in for Wesley Sneijder. His humility replaced his anger. And the Milan star even called Foppe de Haan to volunteer for the Olympics. He didn’t ask for a starting position. He just wants to be there. To carry the bags, if need be. All, for the Dutch nation.

In the next galaxy we have Babel. Still a teenager. Seven starting games for Liverpool. But, a starting position in Oranje, against Romania. But, the snoozing striker didn’t want to get up. And thus, he gave us Arjen Robben, who can’t even pass his own shadow anymore.

And then that weather in Romania. It showed where we failed in our education. The current generation football players is used to luxury player transportation. They are used to soft chairs and movies in the bus, instead of biking against the wind for an hour to reach the training pitch. The results are disastrous. When Beaufort decided to play along in the match, the men from the land of windmills and wind-energy lost their balance and the balls ended up all over the place. Bar the right one.

Our boys lost, 1-0 and hardly created any chances. The propaganda machine in Zeist tried to make us believe that Oranje still plays attacking football. After the WC, Oranje had the most attempts for goal. An average of 16 per game. However, those 150 attempts resulted in only eleven goals! B-nations like Scotland, Israel, Bosnia, Cyprus, Georgia, Wales and Northern Ireland scored more goals!!

But, no worries. If we get two points out of the last two games, we will qualify. And we can admire our boys on the EC. If we still exist, that is. If Princess Maxima hasn’t sold us off to a conglomerate of Spain, Luxembourg and Russia.

Tags: Babel, Group C, Maxima, Oranje, Seedorf

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

digg:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

newsvine:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

reddit:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

fark:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

Y!:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

stumbleupon:Oranje, the last stand of the Dutch...

Comments

By goose | October 24th, 2007 at 6:51 am

admire the boys??? dont think so…yes will qualify (like we all already knew) but at the EC08 there will be nothing to admire im sure

why qualify if youre gonna make a fool out of yourself at the EC?? nothing for us to do there

and maybe its hard to be dutch at the moment BUT not as hard as it is to be English at the moment!!

would really hate it if England werent to qualify…the EC needs England!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Mario | October 24th, 2007 at 10:30 am

Yes Goose, the Euro needs England. Tournaments without the biggest lack something. Of course England are guilty for their mistakes but they belong to Euro 2008 but in live like in sports things don´t come for granted, you hace to earn them.

About Oranje, yes, we will not do anything important there with this coach. With players like van Bommel and Kromkamp at home and wingers who are not wingers and so many changes game after game we don´t have an oiled team. I think that an excellent coach like de Haan will have a lot of success with this team and he will form a line up with only the very best playing a 4-4-2 and with each player in his right position. Anyway, I think that is the desire of many Dutch fans but the stupid Kesler and his friends seem to be the only ones who support van Basten. It is a shame that we will go to a tournament with such a competitive team to do a ridiculous job like at the World Cup. I hope I am wrong but I have said so many times: with van Basten we will not achieve anything, we will not play like we all want and far from that…we will be eliminated at the big stage in a sorry way.

By Rami | October 24th, 2007 at 10:34 am

i agree about england..

thats a sad article jan.. albeit a true one.
i think the last stand we might still have is with that new 442-like 433, with all of our best midfielders and forwards squeezed in there, and hoping melchiot,heitinga, bouma, and emanuelson dont make occasional mess of things.

is it me, or do others also feel that our oranje players do not share our apocalyptic view of their nation’s demise in football today? im seeing more allegiance to club rather than country.. i dont know, maybe im exagerrating.

Posted from Canada

By ferenc | October 24th, 2007 at 11:26 am

actually i wouldn’t have any probleme if england didn’t qualify. international press alwys consider them as one of the favourites and their performance is always poor. they won 1 wc at home in 66 and they have a forth place in 1990. that’s it. at the different ec-s they have only once qualified for the last four - in 1996 at home. not too much for a “so-called” football nation. english national team and english clubs are not the same. their clubs are good because the best players are not english (arsenal,etc.).

at the last wc the most boring games were played by england. funny because i love the country but really dislike their foot.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | October 24th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

@ferenc; agree on the british press but a nation that big and with the history (and legeua) they have they should be there.. really like the england fans as well….since the EC96 their supporters have been pretty good and pretty well behaved
i have to say; i have a soft spot for my english neighbours…still think its pretty amazing they havent really won anything..the WC66 was stolen ofcourse but it was a prize the germans had to pay for their not so nice behaviour 39-45…. tyhe ball never crossed the line

@rami; maybe we just expect to much? everytime i watch these guys i expect decent, controlling, attacking football…and its never there….maybe the players know how bad they are and we dont
im sure for most of these players (excpet the moraccon ones) are proud to play for Holland…international throphies are still the highest honour

hope Israel will beat Guus!!

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | October 24th, 2007 at 3:42 pm

CLARENCE was sensational today - he’s milan’s best player!!!

Posted from Hungary

By Mario | October 24th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

Clarence…yeah Ferenc, he scored with his left and then with his right leg two magnificient goals. San Marco, did you watch that game?.

By ferenc | October 24th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

and apart his goals he was awesome… he gave an assist and he could have scored two or three more goals. every time he touched the ball something interesting happened. magic clarence.

Posted from Hungary

Comments are closed