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Van Hanegem hopes Marco will toughen Oranje up!

March 25th, 2008 | By: Jan | 10 Comments »

I almost forgot Oranje played Austria tomorrow night. And I think it happened to more people. That match doesn’t feel like it’s important. And it isn’t, it’s basically a training session for Oranje. We shouldn’t value it too much.

For Marco van Basten the match is important of course. I can tell that the preparation for the EC has started. You can tell by the way he talks and the type of players he picked. Robin van Persie is part of the group for instance. He hasn’t played a decent game for Arsenal and is just recovered from injury but Marco wants him to be there. If the Austria match was really important, Van Basten would have left Van Persie at home and he would have selected the fit Dirk Kuyt.

Van Basten is working on his definite selection and Kuyt is one of the players who is as good as out. He doesn’t fit in Van Basten’s plans anymore. But if Marco had selected him and if he had played a wonderful match, Van Basten would have had another luxury problem and honestly, you don’t want that now.

Too bad for Dirkie, but I understand it. For the strikers’ position there are no real issues. Van Nistelrooy is numero uno without a doubt and Klaas Jan Huntelaar is the natural successor. And future Ajax coach Van Basten will not jeopardize his relationship with his to-be-striker, so it’s clear. Klaas Jan is number two in the hierarchy.

In midfield, Van Basten doesn’t have any problems. So, again, too bad for Dirkie but there aren’t any spots for him left. Oranje has Sneijder, Vaart, Afellay, Van Persie, Seedorf, De Zeeuw… Wonderful. All brilliant players to watch. And most of them very young, still. Van Marwijk is a happy man.
And mind you, I think no other EC nation can boast such a list of players for midfield. Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy…they are jealous!

Looking at midfield, I think Oranje should be a favorite for the title. The only worry is our defense. Heitinga is a strong and skillful defender, who can be irritating for the opponent. And he can score. I think Mathijsen is the best we have for the second central position and I never mind if Ooijer plays along too. At least he is an old-fashioned sober defender.

Other than them, there’s too many types like Emanuelson. I can’t see a defender in him and neither is he a midfielder. I think he can’t handle the level of play Oranje is at. Urby misses the quality. You could see it in Ajax’ big games, Urby would be a dissonant. In my view, De Cler deserves the spot. To me, he is the left back for Oranje.

Lastly, I hope Van Basten will make Oranje tougher. We need to toughen up for the EC. I don’t mean we need to start tackling and play mean, but we must be ruthless and willing and able to go to the limit and beyond. We can’t have another Portugal 2006 game, where the opponents trick us into defeat. I don’t want to live through that again…

Tags: Group C, marco van basten, Oranje, Robin van Persie, The Netherlands, Willem van Hanegem

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Comments

By tiju | March 25th, 2008 at 9:37 am

@jan plz dont remmeber the game agaisnt portugal 2006wc,Vs brazilwc98 and Vs italy 2000 ec,
tears are still in my cheeks.
thats why i hate
zedorf
Znijder
dirk kuyt
and players with out mental strength
in my veiw never we shoulnt go with above mentioned players(only znijder have slight chance depend on form i like his unpredictable lucky goals like lampard scored for england)
i would like to see
castelen,bakal,afaleey,engalaar instead of the above mentioned
remmember during wc 2006 qualification most of the matches we played without znijder and ze dorf and we won convincingly.
mostly the crusual matches with maduro and castelen,davids etc
ie VS czec rep,romania,finland
especially home match agaisnt finland we came back from 1-0.
and in defence
vanbronk and urby are not belivable
@jan as u mentioned earlier maduro can get a place in diffence thats a good idea

By tiju | March 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am

To everybody
guys do u know knowbody knows heitinga etc,etc except some peoples know nestel rooy.
but i have that much feelings for dutch football even though i born in a small village in india.our country is poluted with a stupid game cricket i hate this game like anything

By tiju | March 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am

sorry in india

By goose | March 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

think all the coming friendlies are importent…people forget that we just have 4 of these games before it all starts!

i heard vBasten say on a press conference that hell start with almost the same team as he played v Croatia… i really like that; with only 4 games left vBasten needs to built the team, no more time for trying fancy stuff

im still worried about all these injuries; Ruud with his operation, vPersie who plays like a junior, Robben who gets injured just asking him for directions, Affelay who is always injured, vdSar whos age is beginging to show (imagine him not playing at the Euros!!)

think we all should pray!!!

@tjiu; how come you got infected with the Oranje virus?

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | March 25th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

@goose: I agree with you, Van Basten has to stick to a regular so they can gel in time for the EC. Of course there’ll be changes due to all the injuries we’ve had but he must play the players he thinks are the ones that will start against Italy. No more experiments.

We have a very good team capable of winning the title if they play as a group.

Our defense is not the best in Holland’s history and we lack a Frank de Boer but we have some good defenders who can actually do a good job. Melchiot, Heitinga and Mathijsen have been playing the last games and the only doubt is our left-back. I think Bouma should play on that position but De Cler has been doing fine.

Our midfield is gifted in attack but we need to have a very strong holding midfielder. De Zeeuw is good but there’s no other, Gio still doesn’t convince me. We have players like Maduro, Davids or Landzaat who can fill better that position. I’d say Van Bommel but we all know he won’t make it.

No more experiments, it’s time to play the players that will probably start the EC so they can understand each other pretty well.

By ferenc | March 25th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

optimal oranje would be

vds
kromkamp,heitinga,matthijsen,de cler
de zeeuw,gio
seedorf,van persie,vdv
rvn

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | March 25th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

Bear in mind though, and don’t get me wrong: I like this line up, that De Cler and Kromkamp’s strengths are attacking along the sidelines and not defending. This leaves a lot of responsibilities with Gio, De Zeeuw, Mathijsen and Heitinga. It make prove too much. I reckon that a good coach can gel these players into a football machine (Sacchi, Van Gaal, Adriaanse, Rijkaard/Ten Cate) but I don’t know if Van Basten can….

Posted from Australia

By Miguel Rosado | March 26th, 2008 at 1:59 am

@ferenc: I like that defense a lot. I don’t know if De Cler defends as well as Bouma, in my opinion Bouma should be the left-back but I don’t know that much about De Cler. Kromkamp has to he our right-back and Bouma is real good and has scored important goals for Holland.

By Jan | March 26th, 2008 at 2:42 am

The problem with De Cler is, is that he’s developed at Ajax. The Ajax youth is so strong that backs tend to be half wingers. They can pass, have good runs and crosses and can play “along”. They are not as tough defending wise. Like Stam, who came through a number of provincial teams before he made it at PSV. De Cler wants to solve defensive situation “playing football”. Finding the right football solution. Sometimes, you need to be willing and able to kick the ball into the stands, and oops…by accident take the opponent with you as well.

Kromkamp also has his moments where he “falls asleep”. Ready to pick a ball up and make a run, but not alert enough for a situation where the opponent does something to outwit him.

In history, Oranje’s best defenders were the ones who had a tough route to the top, like Reiziger, Stam, Bogarde. The fancy pants defenders miss that extra razor-edge sharpness. In England they applaude you for a ball in the stands, in Holland they boo you.

Posted from Australia

By Robert | March 26th, 2008 at 8:29 am

Jan, I think there is some thruth in that.
Last WC we were on here complaining midfield was our weak area.
The change in the system VB has decided on finally has fixed most of that.
De Zeeuw in particular coming on has also helped.
As an aside to english fans applauding for a ball in the stands it should also be noted that England will also be in the stands
I tend to think that when it comes to tough footbal their problems are exactly opposite to ours…