Your starting Eleven

Interesting

Posted from  United States

i think cocu could play sweeper (like ruud krol,fdb in the past)&could organise the oranje from the back. his not unfamiliar with this role (barcelona).marco makes a mistake with davids. edgar should be in the starting eleven. the oranje needs his fanatism&his experience.(seedorf - who is one of the best player of milan this year - too,but not makaay)

Posted from  Hungary

——-EvdS——-
–JK–KB–JM–GvB-
—WS–MvB–RvdV–
—DK–RvN—AR—

Must say than I’m more of a 4-4-2/4-2-4 man myself, but this 4-3-3 thing is fun to play around with, if a bit mystifying. Not that familiar with the defenders (except Gio), so it’s a bit of a crib.

Hup Nederland!

Posted from  United Kingdom

guys i’ve been an “oranje” fan since 1988 when the guys won the european championship, and i watched every single game of this team. if there are no injuries , i think this is going to be the starting line up:
G:van der sar
D:van bronckhorst,oijer,obpdam,boulahrouz
M:COCU,SNEIDER,VAN DER VAART
O:CASTELEN,VAN NISTELROOY,ROBBEN

I’m thinking about this arrangement:

—————-vdSar———————-

—-Kromkamp–Boulahrouz–Cocu–vBronckhorst-

—-Maduro—-vBommel—-vdVaart———-

—-Kuyt—-vNistelRooy—Robben———

I would also take Davids along. At least to cover Van Der Vaart.

Never thought I’d see Gio at right back! Altho’ he did against Ecudaor, didn’t he?

The offical 23 to be made public on Monday! (knvb.nl)

Posted from  United Kingdom

No he didn’t, Jelians played RB against Ecudaor

Posted from  New Zealand

Ya that’s right, van Basten experimented with Jaliens at right back.

Does anyone else see right back as a weakness in the defence? Heitinga isn’t first choice and Kromkamp hasn’t a played a whole lot for Liverpool this year.

I hate to be a stickler but I think its safe to assume that van Basten intends to use Cocu only as a holding midfielder.

Posted from  United States

most likely:

vdS
Kromkamp, Boulahrouz, Opdam, V Bronck
v. bommel, cocu, vdVaart
Kuijt, VNistelrooij, Robben

My Choice:

vdS
Kromkamp, Boulahrouz, Maduro, V Bronck
v. bommel, Landzaat, vdVaart
Robben, VNistelrooij, van Persie

Posted from  New Zealand

I would worry about Maduro being very young and very inexperienced. That’s why I would think Opdam or Ooijer would be chosen over him. Also, I think Maduro is only being brought as a midfielder.

Posted from  United States

True, Maduro is young and inexperienced. But, he’s very creative.

In the last game against the Czechs he played in the center with Landzaat on his right and vdVaart on his left.

In some ways he’s more effective than van Bommel.

Posted from  United States

valid point mike but i feel maduro is far better than the others. I like robben operating on the right with van persie on the left. I see that some have sneijder and vdaart in the middle together… that can’t happen in my opinion, they just can’t play together - as we saw at Ajax.

Posted from  New Zealand

Peter, I like the idea of using both Robben and vPersie..

You mean like so:

—————-vdSar———————-

—-Kromkamp–Boulahrouz–Cocu–vBronckhorst-

—-Landzaat—-Maduro—-vdVaart———-

—-Robben—-vNistelRooy—vPersie———

Posted from  United States

What qualities does van Bommel lack to make you leave him out?

Posted from  United States

I think van Basten will come out with the following team.

——————van der Sar——————
Kromkamp–Boulahrouz-Opdam–van Bronckhorst

—–van Bommel–Cocu–van der Vaart———

———Kuyt–van Nistelrooy–Robben———

For me its very tight for all the different strikers. This selection has been the most popular for van Basten.

I also think he would like the experience of van Bommel and Cocu in front of the defence. I really like having this problem. There are a bunch of good solid selections.

Posted from  United States

Only quiz is at the mid-field.
Shall we need three creative mid-fielders at the same time?
Especially Bommel & Cocu. Both of them can do whatever the another would. placing an anchorman for one of them instead would help defensive decipline. Maduro or Lanzaat for example.

Posted from  Myanmar

I remember reading an article in which van Basten explained his tactics for the first game against the Czechs. He said that instead of having just one playmaker he decided to play three players capable of putting attacks together. His concern was if the Czechs decided to man-mark van der Vaart of something like that. He wanted to overload the Czechs with creativity.

I had forgotten but against the Czechs Davids, Sneijder, van Bommel and van der Vaart all started the match. Davids played centre back though didn’t he? That was a whole year and half ago…

Posted from  United States

The last game against the Czechs (oct 05, in prague) seemed really solid..

That’s where they started with:

——————van der Sar——————
Kromkamp–Boulahrouz-Opdam–van Bronckhorst

—–Landzaat–Maduro–van der Vaart———

———Kuyt–van Nistelrooy–Robben———

I think Van Persie and de Jong were came in during the 2nd half for Robben and Kromkamp..

Posted from  United States

Ya, you’re right. Landzaat played most of the games in fact. Now that I’m thinking about it more I’m considering Landzaat instead of van Bommel.

Posted from  United States

yea, didn’t van Bommel get on Van Basten’s bad side there for a while?

One game he pulled him out after twenty minutes for failing to follow orders. And then he didn’t call him up for a year.

But, I he’ll probably play this summer…

Hey Mike, are you done with your finals yet?

Posted from  United States

Ya, van Bommel was feeling pretty high and mighty and van Basten wouldn’t put up with it. I say good for him.

No I’m not done finals. They start next week. I’ll be around all Monday what with the big announcement and all.

Posted from  United States

I am a big fan of the MVB tactics, esp what he did with in the qualifiers, but I think now that we’re in the finals, we should have a go with the free flowing oranje style of play. It may/may not work, but given that mvb’s target when he took over was only qualification(and winning euro 2008), I have a feeling we’re in for some surprises with the first team selections. And I also feel sneijder hasn’t been given enough credit; he’s one of the brightest talents to have emerged from ajax in recent years and would love to see him play in the right side of the mid- field(remember Scotland, for euro playoffs, he was 19 then!).Here’s my starting 11:
——————van der Sar——————
Kromkamp–Boulahrouz-Opdam–van Bronckhorst(it doesn’t matter, we don’t have a world class defender).

—–Sneijder–Cocu–van der Vaart———

———Robben–van Nistelrooy–Van persie———

Also though kuyt is more versatile and experienced, I think van persie would add the flair component, esp with him and vdv combining like they did against andorra.

Posted from  United States

It’s hard to find faults in any of the suggested line ups. I predict the Dutch will go far.

Posted from  United States

One symbolic development in WC2006 is many big teams brought in mega size strikers.
Jan Koller is not alone any more.
Zicgic, Drogba, luca Toni, Crouch… all 6′4″ plus.
Think twice before placing small size CBs (Opdam?)

Posted from  Myanmar

That’s a good point. A lot of teams are definately opting for a big man up front.

Posted from  United States