Comments on: Van Gaal, now what?

By: goose

goose — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:52:53 +0000

Ajax – Feyenoord; 3-0…. (Heitinga ‘08, Huntelaar ‘45 + ‘91)

By: dirk v.d berg

dirk v.d berg — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:27:16 +0000

As for top twenty I’d say it ends up something like this.
1. Argentina
2. Germany
3. Spain
4. Brazil (I can see them struggling over the next few years)
5. Portugal
6. Netherlands
7. France
8. Croatia
9. Italy
10. Romania
11. Czech Republic
12. Scotland
13. Mexico
14. Ivory Coast
15. Uruguay (I think they’ll do well in 2010 quali’s)
16. Sweden
17. Poland
18. Russia (Due strictly to Guus Hiddink)
19. England
20. Japan
21. Cameroon
22. Bulgaria
23. Nigeria
24. Paraguay
25. Turkey

It’s hard to predict because Asian Qualifiers normaly boost the top Asian teams ranks a lot. Hope I didn’t forget any teams.

By: dirk v.d berg

dirk v.d berg — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:19:16 +0000

van Nistelrooij will be out up to three weeks, so is definitely missing the Croatia game.

By: dirk v.d berg

dirk v.d berg — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:02:42 +0000

Did you guys know that van Nistelrooij picked up a right ankle injury in the Almeria game, and that’s why he was subbed off at half. I hope it doesn’t keep him from the Croatia game. Even though Huntelaar’s been on good form, and could easily play the one in 4-2-3-1.

By: Igor

Igor — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:46:06 +0000

Ramy, i just checked the arsenal website for news on van persie, but they have yet to set a return date for him, in part because they feel they rushed him back to quickly last time so they are trying to avoid making that same mistake again. i think that wenger is a pretty big fan of robin, and if he can stay healthy i don’t think he’ll have any trouble getting back into the starting XI.

By: Lerkot

Lerkot — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:50:38 +0000

Dirk vd Berg: I think the main problem in Liverpool are the untouchable players. I have some troubles seeing them winning the league with extremely overrated players like Carragher, Riise (who plays a lot but not every week) and Gerrard. They gotta kill their children, so to say.

By: Lerkot

Lerkot — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:47:24 +0000

European national team football is definitely on its way down. As I see it, it reached its top at 98-00 when France, Holland, Italy, Portugal,Yugoslavia, Belgium and maybe even England had teams that I doubt they will ever get again.

But if someone is on their way up, I have to say its the eastern countries, like Romania, Ukraine, Russia. Croatia looks about as strong as in the late nineties.

By: Ramy

Ramy — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:23:49 +0000

Finnster, i think what you said about what teams are going down/up is very interesting..
i completely agree with you about Oranje, croatia, spain, italy and france.. but i think id wait to look at England under Capello.. if not much changes, then yea, everything you said must be true.. but i also believe steve mclaren was a disastrous choice of a manager.. and while i think its still debatable whether the english players are going upwards or downwards in terms of quality, i think its more evident that the quality of coaches and managers in england is on the downhill.. Ferguson aside (not english but i guess still british), there’s no one they have of world-class material.. we have probably a good dozen of our managers that are.

also beside CROATIA, that seem interesting prospects, id add ROMANIA, maybe GREECE (although i dont know what makes them so good in getting results), and PORTUGAL (under a much improved ronaldo are gonna be even deadlier than before)..

By: Ramy

Ramy — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:03:45 +0000

a couple of weeks before our next Oranje fixture, and some key players are not looking sharp..

Im foremost worried about van persie.. he’s losing status in arsenal fast, and adebayor and eduardo are becoming the players to rely on. he needs to come back, in full health, and make double effort to find his place again among the first eleven.. what news does anyone have on his recovery?????

also real just lost to almeira !!!!! 2-0.. hehe ferenc must be celebrating today.. Van nistelrooy is looking tired.. he’s done so much already, im just hoping he can sustain his form, and continue.
and Sneijder is not playing that well too.. its been a good two months since ive last been impressed by him; only a slump of form i guess, but as things now stand id go for seedorf and vdv and have him as a sub.

i agree with dirk about liverpool.. kuyt should pack his bags and look for a new start, revitalize his career.. many of u dont give him enough credit, but i still think he has an overall good record in both feyenoord and liverpool and has proven to be capable of being better than some of the forwards we pick to play for Oranje,.

By: finnster01

finnster01 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:41:08 +0000

Maybe I am too pessimistic about England’s NT, but never the less the negative trend is there for sure which I am not sure I think is good for the sport of soccer in general. I think you need a decent England team to qualify for top tournaments, at least to prop up the tourist industry:-) Right now they wouldn’t even qualify for a pub league in Afghanistan (not sure if they have pubs there, but maybe the team & snotty players should spend a few days there and get real)

Actually, a more interesting question is if England is on the way down, who is on the way up (in Europe) and where does Oranje fit into the mix? Are we coming or going? If I had to guess, I’d say todays Oranje is (at best) somewhat middle of the bunch given the Oranje we are used to over the years, a bit above mediochre but with too many future question marks around the team & squad to be a real force certainly in EC08. Hopefully that will be fixed by WC10 but I am somewhat sitting on the fence on the latter one. Teams on the up, I would say Croatia, maybe even Spain (if they stop choking when it counts). Italy is stagnant and France can go either way (generation change). I find it hard to call the EC08. Will be real intersting to watch.