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Scotland – Oranje, first half

September 9th, 2009 | By: Jan | 21 Comments »

Well, my tv guide had it wrong! The game was under way for 20 minutes when I switched on. Darn it!

But let’s head to the action right now.

Portugal is up 1-0 against Erwin Koeman’s Hungary. France is 1-0 behind and England are 2-0 up after 23 minutes…

Ok, Holland…

A decent first half, I’d say. Control. Some opportunities to score or to get close to scoring (Robben, Sneijder on a break out but bad pass Robben).

Scotland was supposed to overwhelm Holland and play on the limit of what the ref would allow but I haven’t seen that storm. Scotland simply doesn’t have that power, it seems.

Which doesn’t mean Scotland played bad. They do play a counter-attacking style, allowing Oranje the ball and playing very tight on their own half, until they can break. A smart tactics, and it did result in some 100% chances. They hit the bar and really tested Michel Vorm who was lucky at some stage that Miller missed a sitter after Vorm pushed the ball to the post (Vorm stopped Miller’s attempt but the Scotsman should have hammered the ball high…). Miller also hit the bar.

Two massive off side mistakes by the ref, in my view. Once when Robben was sent deep by Sneijder. He was yards on side, but we won’t know if he’d score… On the other end, a Dutch striker totally mishit the ball back to defense, or better: over our defense, in the stride of a Scottish player who even scored. The slow mo showed it was a Dutch leg and therefore it wasn’t off side.

Some quick question marks for me (I’ll focus on Oranje now, I don’t think Scotland has anything to gain at the World Cup to be honest….)…

Why doesn’t Bert play Van der Vaart instead of Sneijder, if the latter was on crutches last weekend?

Why does Bert play Ooijer again, when this is an ideal opportunity to play Loovens, against the players he knows relatively better than Ooijer and in the meantime allow Loovens to get used to Oranje?

Why does Bert play Kuyt centrally when Huntelaar proved again that he can score (against Japan as a sub)?

I like Kuyt, but he’s not a central striker. It’s as if Kuyt is playing holding midfielder upfront .

Is it all because of “balance”?

Does Ooijer play for sentimental reasons (because he’s played them al and this is a celebration game)?

Does Sneijder play because he and Mourinho feel it’s best for him to get more game in his legs?

Game’s on again. Till soon

Tags: Group C, Loovens, Ooijer, Sneijder, Van Marwijk, Vorm

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Comments

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Holland dominating the start of 2nd half – Kuyt missed a clean header…..

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Did Robben just miss that gift of a goal?
Unbelievable!!!

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Oooh…Robben misses 1 on 1

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Elia on for Robben

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm

Elia in for Robben! Robben had many opportunities and the game was quite open for him to be able to dominate.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

Vaart on for Sneijder

Posted from Singapore

By sonneveld | September 9th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

vdv on for sneijder, where is huntelaar

By Marc | September 9th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

why the fuck didnt van marwijk put in elia on the left wing with robben on the right. that would have been the tactic to adopt!

Posted from Switzerland

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

The defense is slow again to cover a scotish striker. But Michel Vorm is there. Scotland has had their chances too.
Van der Vaart has come on.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

ELIA scores …….1-0

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

GOAAAAAAAAAAAL ELIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

Brilliant 1 on 1 …he will be a regular !!!!

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

What a beautiful play, and how calm Elia was1 he showed no nerves, and scored with class.

Posted from United States

By sonneveld | September 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

what a player elia is!

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

Huntelaar for Van Persie! Less than 10 minutes left. Van Persie has been relatively quiet.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Elia dazzles again…we should have scored…..

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

MAAAAAAAAAAAAN ELIA IS SUPERB!

Posted from United States

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

Oh my…was that a clearing from our defense?needless errors!

Posted from United States

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

Robben is the best 1 on 1 player in the world. What set Robben apart from ELIA is that Elia thrives on constant ball movement, not a ball hog at all.
He runs hard and is unafraid. I am amazed at his skills.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | September 9th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Final whistle —- 1-0 ..Michel Vorm did well too

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | September 9th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

This is how I like to see Oranje play! Ball movement…Fluidity! Control of the midfield and all players involved. It helps alleviate pressure on our defenders. The 2nd half performance was so much more better!
The backline is allowing the opponents into the game. A blietzkrieg attack similar to that of Spain, Brazil or other lethal strikers can punish us(as against Russia).
But all in all, we played great…but a lot of work remains. Our defense must be rock solid before the world cup.
Great showing from Scotland. If they had scored and did not tire in the 2nd it would have been a different story.
24 points in 8 games, is great!

Posted from United States

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