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Sweet Vindication: 4-0 FT

August 17th, 2006 | By: Mike | 7 Comments »

If Huntelaar had had a terrible game it would have been blamed on van Basten but as it stands Huntelaar proved any doubters wrong. He scored two and created two in the Netherlands’ 4-nil thrashing of Ireland.

It’s no surprise that the doubters were sharpening their teeth when van Nistelrooy was ommitted from the squad. I don’t think anyone ever doubted Huntelaar or his blatant talent but rather the fact that van Nistelrooy is an equally - albiet differently - skilled player and he fills a specified niche in the Dutch squad. Is that niche one that really needs to be filledOn the day the Oranje managed to put on an attacking clinic without any help from the missing stars.

The Irish squad was seriously under strength and van Basten fielded just about his strongest side perhaps with the exception of the young Stijn Schaars. We can also gather that van Basten is gearing up for a serious run at the European Championship and he is continuing his plan to build a team that knows each other and works well as a unit.

Bottom line: van Nistelrooy and van Bommel weren’t missed although against a weak Irish side and the future is bright for the Oranje.

Tags: Ireland, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Mark van Bommel, Netherlands, Ruud Van Nistelrooy

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Comments

By HUP | August 17th, 2006 at 1:54 am

awesome.

Posted from Canada

By HUP | August 17th, 2006 at 1:55 am

Klass in a superstar in the making, but we knew that before this game.

Posted from Canada

By goose | August 17th, 2006 at 1:22 pm

@HUP, agree, Huntelaar is a very special talent, hes the greatest striker I personally ever saw on the dutch fields (ok, im not that old but alas), i remember when he played youth competition for PSV, think he scored around 40 a season!!

true Mike, vanNistelrooy wont be missed if Huntelaar plays like this but not so sure about midfield.. this irish site was only second pickings and i would expect us to beat their a-team easy aswell..now there was no pressure on midfield so easy to play…

well, really nothing you can say about these kind of games, well just have to wait till Luxemburg (lol)

greetz

Posted from Netherlands

By Samuel Knight | August 17th, 2006 at 6:44 pm

In the States couldn’t watch the game, any place to see the highlights.

But just looking at the results you’ve got to ask the question whether KJ should have been onboard for the Cup? His youth coach obviously thought so.

Because although Ruud was a great player, he didn’t really get with Van P and Robben, his moves weren’t in sync with them. And Huntelaar seems to be.

I actually feel sorry for Van N and Kuijt a bit now, because I just don’t see them pushing out any of the main 3. But Van Baasten does need to build a group of good subs.

Nice that Van de Vaart got an assist - Oranje needed that too…

Posted from United States

By ziqilau | August 20th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

Robben Hunter RVP

wow , what a dream lineup

Posted from Australia

By Vince | August 23rd, 2006 at 7:45 am

Klaas = Class

Posted from Australia

By mirthi | September 24th, 2006 at 6:36 am

Klaas Jan played a great game, as usual. But this was his first official game for the Netherlands and I’m glad he made a great first impression. I’m also very glad Klaas Jan’s not only very popular in Holland… There are people from Australia and the United Stated who know all about him as well. That’s just great! I’m very sorry for van Nistelrooy, but it’s just the way that is it: We’ve got a better striker now… I’m actually surprised van Basten left van Bommel at home… But, we’ll have to watch a few more games to see if he’s right about this. I think we should support his decision, even if we don’t get along… He’s, after all, our coach and he should be the one who knows what’s best for us. That’s all I have to say about this…

Posted from Netherlands

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