World

Europe

Netherlands

Wesley Sneijder: game accelerator

April 2nd, 2009 | By: Jan | 34 Comments »

Arjen Robben was on the ground, just jhaving received a knock from Pandev. Wesley Sneijder sprinted towards him and pulled him up, as if to say: hurry man. Quickly, Sneijder took the free kick, looking for another attack.

That moment symbolized the strength of the Madrid midfielder. Louis van Gaal is the inventor of many footballisms, and the term game accelerator was created by Van Gaal for Demy de Zeeuw. But Sneijder is the ultimate example.

Everything Wes does, he does in the highest gear. Every touch, every pass, every dribble was aimed at keeping the pace high, against a super-defensive opponent.

When Sneijder was asked how he thought Oranje played against Scotland, he said: “Alright, but it was a bit slow…” He didn’t say that with him, things would have been different, but the sly smile said enough. His message was subtle. Put me in the team and the game will move up a notch. Or two.

There were two short interviews, right before the Macedonia game, on the pitch. The interviews were broadcasted in the homes via tv but also on the big screen in the ArenA. Sneijder first, said that he felt strong, confident and stated that his position in the team would be jeopardized on the WC2010.
A minute later, Van Marwijk was asked whether Van Persie would have played if he wasn’t injured. Van Marwijk answered positively. That interview was shown in the stadium, while Sneijder was doing his warming up.

And the player who was benched and looked very moody during the game, got his revenge against Macedonia. Robin van Persie had trouble against Scotland making an impact, behind KJH. Sneijder was the busy playmaker and initiator of every Dutch attack. As slow as Oranje built up against the Scots, so quick were the feet against Macedonia in the first half…

Sneijder was the key, but he was supported by the rest of the team. Van Bommel and De Jong were constantly pressing forward, deep on the Macedonian half. The build up from the back was better and it seldomly happened that a player needed more than two touches.

The result: an impressive first half for Oranje.

After the break, the freshness was gone, but the initiative never lost. Again. Sneijder was the main man, but he chose to play for himself. Going for broke, or seeking out the complicated solutions. But the standing ovation he received in his ol’ homeground was well deserved (and probably also directed at Rafael van der Vaart, who came on).

The Madrid man released some frustration by scoring a goal too, half sitting. Even Van Marwijk came out of the dug out to applaude the man.

Tags: Group C, Kuyt, Robben, Sneijder, Vaart, Van Marwijk, van Persie

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Wesley Sneijder: game accelerator

newsvine:Wesley Sneijder: game accelerator

reddit:Wesley Sneijder: game accelerator

stumbleupon:Wesley Sneijder: game accelerator

Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 34 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Jan | April 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 am

Well, maybe another Dutch coach? Co Adriaanse ? We have Leo Beenhakker, Erwin Koeman, Pim Verbeek, Bert van Marwijk, Guus Hiddink all going to the WC (possibly, I should say…).

As for Kuyt: he was a prolific goal scorer at Feyenoord. He scored a lot of goals and a lot of beauties as well. At Feyenoord, he was treated like Torres is at Pool: “you don’t work, stay up front and finish”.

I think Kuyt is a better player than we all think. When he has possession he hardly ever loses it. Furthermore, his one touch passing is superb. That’s skill too!! He’ll never do tricks or pirouettes or something like that, but his match skills are superb! He reads the game well, he has an eye for he right position. He’s very smart.

As for the Portugal game, I only remember one opportunity one on one with the goalie and he could only tip the ball with the point of his shoe. Bear in mind though, that Ruud didn’t get much chances either in that tournament. Remember? It was Persie and Robben going for personal glory all the time. Ruud was complaining too. So Kuyt missed one opportunity against Portugal. Cocu and Van Persie missed the biggest chances that game.

The problem with Kuyt is, it doesn’t look elegant. Van der Vaart, Van Persie, they’re artists. It all looks great. Kuyt’s style and appearance are lacking a bit (was it Finn or Goose who said he looked like a Swedish porn star, hahaha?)…

And the game against Scotland was one of the few games ever where and Robben and Sneijder and Persie and Vaart and Kuyt and Hunter were actually fit! How often will that be the case? In the past, we always missed one or two. Remember the EC? Robben injured. Van Persie injured. Van der Vaart injured. There was always one of them missing.

Lastly, Kuyt plays like a striker/winger/holding midfielder all in one. He can score, he can assist, he can defend. With Van Persie in the line up in place of Kuyt, the balance will be different. And then I can see our defense being outplayed and everyone will blame the defender or the goalie, but no one will actually say: well, this is because Kuyt is benched…

By Jan | April 3rd, 2009 at 4:38 am

I will post a tribute to Kuyt goal scoring skills soon !

By tiju | April 3rd, 2009 at 4:44 am

@jan try to get misses from kuyt in 2006WC also

Posted from India

By tiju | April 3rd, 2009 at 5:04 am

@jan you are rocking.i said clearly kuyt has top footballing brain that includes everything. “But no one will actually say: well, this is because Kuyt is benched…”well said man you are absolutely right. But he had two one on one misses with Ricardo and with lots of half chances.
I think zneijder played more selfish than persie and roban.he tried lots of shots which all bombarded with Portuguese diffenders.still i think znijder was the main selfish culprit in that game. But now the guy is matured and sorted his problems.
i cannot see kuyt as prolific striker but i can see him as utility player and essential ingredient of a winning team.
@finni we will see credit. not only in Portugal matches,Rafa benetis understood that clearly and thatswhy kuyt is playing in the rightwing. but we have vaart,castelen,raban there so there is no room for kuyt

Posted from India

By Carlos | April 3rd, 2009 at 5:54 am

Sneijder played a little selfish in the 2nd half. As I said a long time ago I am NOT a big Kuyt fan, but objectively you can’t leave someone like that out. You are playing with 12 guys and “Every coach wants a Player like Kuyt in his team” (Benitez 2008. Babel missed a few last night too. Oh I like Babel more than Kuyt but thats just me.But he would have to wait to get into my first XI.

Posted from Singapore

By bobotoh | April 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 am

Sneijder is excellent when there is a good holding midfielder helping him. Remember when Holland beat Scotland, in 2003. There was Cocu at that time. I think that was why he played excellent! Now, Holland has van bommel. Good luck!

Posted from Indonesia

By sonneveld | April 3rd, 2009 at 6:52 am

Small piont, Kuyt went missing against Russia

By finnster01 | April 3rd, 2009 at 7:55 am

@sonneveld: I think it is safe to say that so did 9 other players except EVDS.

By Jeroen | April 3rd, 2009 at 8:30 am

First of all, it just has to be said: Castelen sucks compared to any player on the current squad. He hasn’t even played in Oranje for 3 years, hasnt played any good opponents, and is just not that good. There’s a reason he’s not even considered for the team. Every player on the B team sucks in this comparison as well. The level of difference between our A and B team is so huge it’s not even funny. Then again, the B team is mostly young and still have time to develop. But let’s be fair, we dont have any 19 year old Sneijders or 21 year old Van der Vaarts walking around there. The future does not look so hopeful, but thats a different topic.
But to say that Kuyt needs to be replaced is a) the last thing this squad needs right now and b)not smart because there is no better replacement. Why is there this impression that the 3 behind the striker all need to be creative? I could find three really good streetfootballers who can perform wonderful tricks all day long, and you can watch how Huntelaar gets the ball zero times in a game. It’s not just about creativity on the ball or with the ball. Sneijders strength is that he can distribute the ball very well. Van Persie is good with through passes and can take a man one on one. Robben just flies. And Kuyt? He just bulldozes through. Nothing pretty, nothing fancy. But he gets the job done.
His second goal was anything but luck, and it was finished like any other worldclass striker would have finished it. I hated Kuyt too after WC2006, for missing those chances against Portugal. But in all fairness, it was Cocu who wasted the biggest chance (not to mention van Persie ALSO wasted a huge chance or two). For months after that I was yelling for Kuyt to be kicked off the team. But I am really glad they stuck with him. Now, I can say I am a Kuyt fan. And so is the rest of the Oranje team; Kuyt is a driving force for them. His workhorse attitude rubs off on them as well. I could care less about how Kuyt performed three years ago. You know why? Because that’s the past, and I’d like to forget that game period. Every dutch player played like crap that game.
Kuyt is no longer a striker. I think he has found the right position for himself these last few years. He can be very dangerous, as we saw two days ago, so he’s still very far up front, but operates on the wing where he is very effective. Most importantly, he is in the game for the corners. He is, by far, the strongest person we have on the team in terms of heading. Just look at how many goals he has scored for Oranje with his head. The only competition he has for that award is Huntelaar.
The point is, we live in the here and the now. Players have developed over the last three years, and Kuyt has done fantastically so (in fact, all of our players deserve such a compliment…they have grown so much!). It makes me salivate to think of how much v.d.Wiel can improve in the next 3 years. or Marcellis for that matter. One of our best players might actually be a defender then haha.
Anyways, just kind of felt the need to spill the beans here, because Im really tired of the anti-Kuytism (I notice that in Holland its vanishing really fast now…). Yes he’s ugly, yes he messed up during 2006 (who didnt?), but the guy is just on fire. He’s worked hard and come far, so respect to him. And he’s still modest.

By finnster01 | April 3rd, 2009 at 8:43 am

@jeroen: Very good analysis and post. I couldn’t agree more with your points. I bet Kuyt gets a lot less stick in Holland than he gets on this board.

By Michel-Olivier | April 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am

@ Jeroen
The future is safe

Brama(22)
Rodney Sneijder(18)
Fer(19)
Barazite(18)
Castillion(17)
Beerens(21)
Daley Blind(19)
Wijnaldum(18)
van La Parra(17)
Pieters(20)

Posted from United States

By Caleb | April 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am

@jereon – exactly! Well said.

Posted from Canada

By Jeroen | April 3rd, 2009 at 9:43 am

@MO you are right, and I exaggerated a bit on that point. I have a lot of hope for Rodney Sneijder, but I still don’t feel as comfortable with these new youngsters as I did with Sneijder, VP, VDV when they were that age. When you saw those guys play back then, you know they were going to be stars. Same goes for Huntelaar. But let’s not forget, the great Ruud van Nistelrooy did not hit the bigtime till his mid 20’s. And he became an awesome player. We will see what the future holds, I don’t know how much opportunity those guys will get (unless they are defenders), since all front players are in their prime now and will probably keep playing in Oranje till their early 30’s. By that time, those youngsters above will be above 25, which is quite late to start an international squad career. But time will tell! Funny how having an awesome team right now actually has disadvantages haha.

By Alex | April 3rd, 2009 at 10:48 am

@ MO, you could go on for another ten minutes with those lists , i mean:

Eljero Elia(FC Twente), Nordin Amrabat, Otman Bakkal, Rens V.Eijden, Stefan Nijland(PSV), Jonathan De Guzman, Diego Biseswar(Feyenoord), Danny Holla, Tom Hiariej(FC Groningen),Urby Emanuelson, Mitchell Donald, Vurnon Anita, Jeffrey Sarpong(Ajax), Daryll Janmaat, Geert-Arend Roorda(Heerenveen), Vincent weijl, Jordy Brouwer(Liverpool), Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick V.Aanholt(Chelsea), Ozghan Ozyakup(Arsenal), Marvin Emnes(Middlesbrough), Rick V.Wolfswinkel, Nick Kuiper{left-back}(Vitesse), Marco Vejinovic, Kees Luijckx(AZ), Royston Drenthe{still young}(Real Madrid), Hedwiges Maduro(Valencia)

Posted from Netherlands

By Bart | April 3rd, 2009 at 10:51 am

Wtf is going on with Drenthe anyway ? Haven’t heard from him in ages. :-S

Posted from Canada

By Alex | April 3rd, 2009 at 10:51 am

For such a small country, we consistantly produce quite a lot of football stars. In relative with other, bigger european countries.

Posted from Netherlands

By EJB | April 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 am

the less i hear about drenthe the better i feel

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | April 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 pm

@EJB: Very hard to argue with you mate.

By Jan | April 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm

Great posts… I also think the future looks bright. Look at the blokes in Nederland B and Young Oranje. Our current lads have 4 years in them for sure. Sneijder, Van Persie, De Jong, De Zeeuw, Schaars, Van der Wiel, Stekel, Huntelaar will make it to the WC2014. Robben, Vaart, Kuyt are question marks for me…

In 4 years, players like Amrabat, Elia, Brama, De Guzman, Wijnaldum, Fer, Biseswar, Vlaar, Bakkal, Affelay, Beerens, Barazite, Blind R Sneijder will all be in their prime time… Exciting times ahead!

(Renew your subscription to this blog till 2014 NOW and get a 10% discount )

By tiju | April 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 pm

@jerone castelen never played a bad game for dutch,he is heavily injured in past two years.whenevr he played he outclassed our superstars.we missed him at WC2006 along with hunter.he is a better team player also.he is bit unlucky but he will shake of his injuries and we will see him in orange,mark my words.and he played against tough opponents like italy,england,romania etc in all those matches he was the best rated dutch player.

Posted from India

By richard | April 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm

Kuyt has got to be one of the most underrated players in all of football—I respect his game hugely. He is very versatile, very smart, tough–and a much stronger scoring threat than he was two years ago. He’s been playing at a very high level.

By Jan | April 4th, 2009 at 3:38 am

True. He is a phenomenon. Went from Katwijk to FC Utrecht. People said: he won’t make it. From Utrecht to Feyenoord, same story. From Feyenoord to Liverpool, same story. Now in Oranje: same story.

Dirkie will score thrice in the WC finals against Germany! But we will lose 3-4… All because Kesler didn’t want to take Leo Echteld on board…

By finnster01 | April 4th, 2009 at 5:07 am

Now talk about overrated in football, Kesler and Blatter in a dead heat.

Just shows if everything else fails in your life, you can always become head of KNVB or FIFA.

And do a much better job on top.

By Jan | April 4th, 2009 at 5:44 am

Finn, prepare to be appalled by my new post, coming soon….

By Jeroen | April 4th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

@Tiju

I dont know what games you were watching, but I saw the games where Castelen played where van Basten was experimenting with all loads of new players (Kromkamp, Vlaar etc.), and Castelen has definitely never outclassed any of the current squad. He is a decent winger, but not good enough for Oranje. And the fact that he is injured makes him useless, just like any injured player. This is the same reason Schaars was not on the team previously. And I don’t know where you get your ratings from, but Romeo has definitely never been the best rated Dutch player in an international game. Most people back then were of the impression that if someone like Castelen could be in Oranje, that means the quality of our players had gone downhill big time. He was a laughing stock for many people, along with some of the other sub-par players who played for Oranje a couple of times in that period.
I have yet to hear ANY positive news about him from Hamburg (and I read pretty much all the news on Dutch football players..), and if he cannot even perform well at a team such as Hamburg then he definitely is not even in the same league as Dirk Kuyt of Liverpool, Van Persie of Arsenal, and Robben/Sneijder of Real Madrid who are all in excellent form right now.
I should also point out that Dirk Kuyt was voted best player of Holland for the last two qualifying legs, with Sneijder in second place and van Bommel third.

Comments are closed