Oranje wants a tasty victory

Oranje is not capable of getting the tickets to the EC08 against Bulgaria and Albania. But, losing or drawing could have crucial consequences. Oranje wants to get a tasty victory against a direct rival for the EC-ticket. This EC qualification, Oranje hasn’t been able to win against Rumania or Bulgaria.
Tonight in Amsterdam, all eyes are aimed at Ruud van Gol, Van Persie and Sneijder.

Team manager Marco van Basten said Rumania, Bulgaria and Albania are the toughest opponents in the group. In Rumania, it stayed 0-0. In Bulgaria we ended the match 1-1 and Holland-Albania ended in 2-1 but Oranje was lucky since Boulah touched the ball with his hands and Albania deserved a penalty kick.

Tonight in a packed Arena Stadium, the challenge is there. The opponent will not be willing to help Oranje with any constructive game play. The Bulgarians will play in a 4-5-1 system and will close their defense down and hope for a successful counter-attack through Spurs striker Berbatov.

That’s how Rumania and Albania did it and both times Oranje had serious problems tearing the wall down.

The big difference with the Rumania match though, is that Robin van Persie is present again. The Arsenal striker will play his first qualification match in 2007! The statistics show his importance: Van Persie was involved in all goals in this qualification-series bar one.

He scored 4 of the 8 goals, had two assists and crossed the ball in that Albanian playet Dede scored in his own goal. Without Robin, it was the lucky shot by Gio against Slovenia that found the net.

Master spy Tonnie Bruins Slot (former analist of Ajax and JC’s Barcelona) said “that Oranje will have to find the third man”. So, two players need to combine into the box zone of Bulgaria, for the third man to come in and shoot. According to Bruins Slot, the Bulgarians are good defenders but once they cleared the ball, their concentration goes with it. So, an ideal task for Sneijder and Van Persie: being alert on cleared balls at the 20 meter line.

If that scheme works out, we may end up with a tasty victory at last…

Aan Sneijder of Van Persie de taak zo’n weggewerkte bal op te vangen en van een metertje of 20 afstand af te maken. Als dat lukt, komt de eerste lekkere zege een stuk dichterbij.