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Wesley Sneijder can smile again

March 30th, 2009 | By: Jan | 35 Comments »

Wesley Sneijder smiles again. And by showing his pearly whites, Sneijder is clearly telling the world he wants to be on the train. And, Wednesday Wes may start against Macedonia what with Van Persie being injured.

Wesley Sneijder has a knack for time and place as most of his opponents know. But also when there’s a camera around. When the NOS is filming at the Oranje Camp, Wes suddenly walks into frame. Laughing broadly with a joking Van Bommel on his tail.

Sneijder knows the rules of the game. Two days after fleeing into the dressing room after the Scotland game, not able to shake his anger off, he realizes every eye is focused on him. No one blamed him for being moody, but now the focus needs to be on the next game. And the next one is always the most important one. Yesterday’s game is history.

“Sure, I know that,” Sneijder says, not knowing yet that Van Persie would throw the towel. “I was mad as hell Saturday. Or my pride was hurt. Or whatever you call it. But that’s gone now. Wednesday is the only thing that counts now.”

Is he acting or is it true? It doesn’t matter. Sneijder basically says he doesn’t want to be the rebel in the group. Now the competition is fierce, Van Marwijk won’t suffer fools or dissidents. The big step towards the WC has been taken and who ever can’t handle disappointment “has a problem” or so the coach said.

“I think I acted professionaly on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean I have to like being benched in a fully packed ArenA. I wasn’t moody in the dressing rooms. I didn’t yell or curse. Ask anyone. I was disappointed and I needed to release that after the game. That’s all. Four years ago, I would have smashed a door in or insulted someone. But I’ve learned since.”

That means that Van Marwijk and Oranje won a major battle. A row doesn’t need to be bad, as long as it doesn’t simmer on. During the EC, the cocky behaviour of Sneijder and Van Persie appeared to become a problem, but Van Marwijk made his rules clear from the start. If you guys can’t handle it, I will. And I won’t take any prisoners.

Therefore, the signal that players and staff defended Sneijder’s behavior last Saturday was another bright light in a Dutch team known for infighting. “Why I ran off the pitch. I was already focusing on Macedonia,” Sneijder jokes now. “Seriously, what did you want me to do? Join the conga line?”

During the de-briefing after the Scottish game, Van Marwijk addressed the issue in the group. “Not as a problem or an issue,” says the Real Madrid man,” just to look back and find closure. We’re one team. That’s it.”

And with Van Persie injured, Van Marwijk will not have to make any tough choices. The position of the Van Persie and Kuyt have never been a question mark for the former Feyenoord coach.

Sneijder: “Robben played a great game and he did create depth. That was a good tactical solution. I’m not saying I should have played in his place. I can play on all positions. The coach could even have put me on as libero, I could have made the play from there. I really don’t care. I want to play, that’s all.”

Sneijder was told two hours before the game that he wouldn’t start. “It did cross my mind, but in all honesty, I thought I’d play. And obviously, I didn’t agree with Van Marwijk. My reaction after the game may not have been smart, but that’s me. I like to see myself as the top dog, haha… But I know the competition is fierce and we do have tremendous players. Every one needs to realize that, including me.”

Tags: Ajax, Group C, Macedonia, Oranje, Real Madrid, Robben, Sneijder, Van Marwijk, van Persie

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 35 comments.

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By Tiju | March 31st, 2009 at 1:51 am

he would have scored

Posted from India

By bobotoh | March 31st, 2009 at 1:57 am

Against “weaker” team, Holland should play with one holding midfielder only. So, drop de Jong, replace him with Van Der Vaart. Van persie will be replaced by Sneijder, of course. Babel should become a backup for Robben.

Posted from Indonesia

By Tiju | March 31st, 2009 at 2:23 am

(our diffence are highly vulnerable against good driblers like henry,ribery,arshavin,Roandino,Crsitiano,Brazil ronaldo,Messy,augerro etc players and its proven several times) i belive against strong tricky attacking teams like Arjentina,Brazil,spain,Portugal,and ever runningAfrican teams we have to attack first and should score minimum two goals before halftime.otherwise they will make you pissing on the ground.Once we took the comfertable lead we can play with two holding mids.But teams like italy,scotland we should be vary of one fluke goal and it may destroy our balance.So we need two holding mids if we dont score till 70th minute with this holding mids then we should substitute one and can go for all out attack.

Posted from India

By Holland | March 31st, 2009 at 3:11 am

I’m down with 4-4-2..

Gio-Bouma-Oijer-Mathijsen/v.d.wiel on the back

Robben-v.d.vaart-sneijder-kuyt midfield

V.Persie-Huntelaar strikers.

What a perfect perfect formation. DAMN it sometimes i hate how good I’m

Posted from United States

By Holland | March 31st, 2009 at 3:13 am

@ Kevin above: Babel needs consistency?? the dude barely gets to play in Liverpool. He’s a tremendous player..with not enough playing time.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | March 31st, 2009 at 3:24 am

Jan
Interesting article in Telesport on the B team – worth translating !

Posted from Singapore

By finnster01 | March 31st, 2009 at 4:39 am

Any links that shows the game live?

By Jan | March 31st, 2009 at 5:01 am

@Carlos: will check it out, thanks.

As for Schaars: I like him more than De Jong. De Jong is a good destroyer but Schaars is a tremendous fast passer and thinker. Wouldn’t want to compare him to Vaart, though. Rather with Bommel or De Jong. Would make a good libero too! I think he’s the next big thing for us. Comparable to Fabregas

By Jan | March 31st, 2009 at 5:10 am

The Dutch pro clubs have axed the BeNeLiga plan. No Belgium-Dutch competition in the foreseeable future…

By Bruce | March 31st, 2009 at 5:12 am

Does Luxembourg even have clubs?

And is it just me, or does Wes look a lot like Tin Tin in this photo?

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By finnster01 | March 31st, 2009 at 5:33 am

@Bruce, I don’t even think Luxembourg has night clubs never mind football clubs…There is clearly a Tin Tin resemblance there. Good shout on that.

By Michel-Olivier | March 31st, 2009 at 5:57 am

@ Holland
vaart barely gets to play for real madrid. actually he doesn’t play at all.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | March 31st, 2009 at 5:59 am

i’m going to miss tomorrow’s game

Posted from United States

By sandesh | March 31st, 2009 at 6:29 am

one thing i noticed in the blog is that RVDV has become an out of favour man in our oranje. i do not think he deserves it. its true that the competition is way too tough than it was some 2 years ago. every one has grown up and matured and disciplined and composed but van der vaart in my view is damn good midfielder. Regardess of chances he is getting at Real Madrid he is one of the top play makers and one thing is for sure we cannot win against top sides i mean really big sides without van der vaart or sneijder and bommel and kuyt. they r vastly experienced matured and they up their level in big games. U ppl must have watched we played against italy and france and how we did manage to outclass these european giants its all because we had great playmakers in the form of RVDV and sneijder. he was pretty much an unsong hero – rvdv but he has caught eyes of every top managers in the globe right after these two games.
And Finally Kuyt is one player who i would play any day….Any Day against any opposition the guy has got top fitness level, stamina and understands the game well and has developed nicely in the right wing

Posted from Nepal

By Felipe | March 31st, 2009 at 6:33 am

Good to know it. Well, anyway, Wesley would play, as Van Persie is injured… but I do hope Van Marwijk can deal with all these possible problems. He will have plenty of time for it.

I think Bert should line-up the main players tomorrow. We still need to win Macedonia after all (yep, it’s a dangerous match. A bad result can give new hopes to the other teams). By winning at ArenA, then Bert can do all the possible and imaginable experiences. And Schaars is one of them.

Oh, and Sneijder don’t need to worry. Just a crazy man would left him out of the squad.

Posted from Brazil

By Jan | March 31st, 2009 at 7:00 am

I’m a huge Vaart fan personally. Why? Because he’s an artist more than a football player. Sneijder can be a fighter. Like Kuyt, Van Bommel, Schaars… But Van der Vaart is aesthetics. Leonardo. Da Vinci, not DiCaprio, mind… Van Gogh. I can enjoy him for 90 minutes doing nothing and then suddenly that flash of genius is there. I like those types of players. Today, it all has to be running, passing, polyvalent players…

By Rob | March 31st, 2009 at 7:17 am

With regard to VdV, I think dropping either holding player and replacing him with Vaart, as people have suggested, won’t work because the guy’s tackling and passing aren’t quite up to that role. He’s a good back up to Van Persie but nothing more for me. Undoubtedly he has exquisite skill at times and can grab goals, but as you hinted at Jan, the modern game doesn’t tend to allow for skill alone and where guys like Riquelme (and even Zidane) made up for less athletic qualities by dictating play and passing well, VdV can’t do that so well.

I think Sneijder has a right to be pretty pissed off too – the guy’s the best passer of the ball Oranje have, and sat in that Libero role he mentioned he’d be great. One player to break up play (I’d prefer De Jong, but Van Turncoat isn’t going anywhere with daddy in law about) and one guy to distribute – Sneijder being the number one candidate by a mile. Schaars can back up Sneijder then, no worries, while VdV and Van Persie can fight it out for the AMF role (only one winner in my book). Either way, no team in the world can afford to leave out Wesley Sneijder, the guy’s magic. Play him at right or left back if you have to Bert, unlike your idiot son-in-law he’s clearly to fight for Oranje wherever he’s put.

Posted from Japan

By Felipe | March 31st, 2009 at 7:21 am

Jan, I agree you. In form, Rafael is definitely our nº10, Oranje’s playmaker. Sneijder provides the stamina; Sylvie’s husband, the art. Besides this, he has also spirit. A guy who, aged just 18-19 years old, is already the center of all the plays at Ajax, as he was at 2001/2002, deserves a deep respect.

But there’s a point: as I wrote, Vaart is definitely our playmaker IN FORM. And he’s not in form. OK, we can discuss if his benching at Madrid is fair, we can think even that Juande Ramos is a dumb guy, but the fact is Raf is not playing. And Bert already said: if one’s not playing, one will not be among the first choices.

If playing, it would be unfair. I have a Brazilian example: Ronaldinho was also an artist. Everyone know what that guy can do with a ball. But the question is: he just can’t be playing by now at Brazil, as Dunga is doing. He’s pretty bad, he looks like a guy who doesn’t have the desire to reach what he reached some years ago…

But I do hope Vaart finds his way on Chelsea. I’m absolutely sure Guus will line-up him constantly. And he will recover to return to our midfield – and to do all those marvellous things he did at EC.

Posted from Brazil

By wob | March 31st, 2009 at 8:10 am

I agree vd Vaart is an artist. But in modern football you need football players and not artist. Creativity is one aspect of the game. Sneijder and Van Persie have more pace and stamina and match rhythm. Van der Vaart has always been a little bit fat and lazy and he hasn’t got match rhythm at Real by sitting on the bench for a couple of months. So in my opinion this is the best eleven for the match against Macedonia.

——–Stekelenburg———–
vdWiel-Ooijer-Boulahrouz-Gio—
——Bommel–De Jong———-
Kuijt—Sneijder—Robben——
———-Hunter—————

This is also our team to win the World Cup, but in 2010 Ooijer and Gio will be too old so replace them by Heitinga and Braafheid (or someone else)

Vd Vaart is a player to have on the bench for injuries. Van Persie could play for Kuijt, sneijder or Robben if one of them is out of form and Van Persie is in form.

I am not saying Vd Vaart is not a good player, but Sneijder, Kuijt and Robben are better especially against stronger opponents. Against weaker opponents Vd Vaart could play for Bommel or De Jong but I think is a better idea to keep the team the same from now to the World Cup so they can practice playing together in this formation.

Posted from Netherlands

By Kevin | March 31st, 2009 at 8:32 am

@Holland: He were given some chances. Sometimes he performed well, sometimes he sucked. Still I believe if he has consistency, with his talent he can go far.

By Miguel Rosado | March 31st, 2009 at 10:07 am

Sneijder has a better mentality and more balls than Raphael.

@Wob: I agree with you. Whatever Bert’s decision is I hope he keeps playing the same XI from now to the World Cup so they can gel as a team and not only be individuals. Of course change some position if needed but mainly have the basis of the team already.

By 3ric | March 31st, 2009 at 11:25 am

@Jan: I will reserve my judgment on Schaars to a later date. I don’t think he’s been fully tested yet. He is arguably the best player in Eredivisie today, but in no way he takes the place of seasoned Van Bommel and De Jong at the moment. Having said that, I am a fan of Schaars’ excellent vision and passing; and more importantly he is mature for his age. He is a younger version of Van Bommel without the attitude. The future is bright for him. Barring any injuries, I foresee him to become a regular in Oranje after WC 2010. Schaars-De Jong combo sounds very appealing.

Posted from United States

By Jan | March 31st, 2009 at 4:17 pm

And ESPN is broadcasting the Macedonia game in Oz, yeah!!

By Jered | March 31st, 2009 at 4:35 pm

I think that to win the WC2010 we will need this formation
————Steklenburg——————
VdWiel–Heitinga–Bouma/Boulharouz–Braafheid
———De Jong—-Van Bommel——–
Kuyt———-Sneijder———–Robben
————-Huntelaar————–
One note to make is i think this is the formation we use during tough group matches or knockout rounds because Vp should be in for Kuyt against the easier games when we want to kill off the game earlier
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

Posted from United States

By dirk v.d.Berg | March 31st, 2009 at 6:54 pm

Here’s my guess for the upcoming game.

We’ll line up like this

————–Stekelenburg————-
van der wiel–mathijsen–ooijer–van bronkhorst
———-van bommel–de jong—————
kuyt————sneijder———–robben
————–huntelaar——————-

Macedonia will be playing a 5-4-1, and just hoping for a draw, so playing with a lot of men behind the ball, and trying to cause traffic infront of their own box. Eventually we’ll get the breakthrough around 20′ with Sneijder putting Huntelaar through. At this point Macednoia will realize that they need to get a goal in order to get something out of this, so they’ll go on the offensive, and from there they’ll fall apart. Robben/Kuyt will destroy them on the counter attack, and the game will finish 3-0 or 4-0.

Huntelaar
Robben
Sneijder 1 or 2, depending on form.

Posted from Canada