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Youth saves Oranje against Scotland in 2003
Comments(18)
Smallest man on the pitch Sneijder wants to climb into the tallest bloke on the bench… Also in the frame: Dickie, Clarence and Patrick…
It’s the 51st minute in Amsterdam. Oranje plays Scotland and Wesley Sneijder is on his way to the corner flag to take a corner kick. He suddenly flashes a smile. The international gets the ball from his 12 year old brother Rodney, who serves as one of the ball boys. Sneijder crosses the ball in and Frank de Boer scores the 4-0! The Arena explodes. It’s November 19, 2003.
The Sneijder family hugs one another on the stands. The 19 year old Sneijder scores one that night and has three assists. Oranje wins, 6-0.
And only two hours before the game, he sent his family a text: I am going to start!
Dad Barry gets a spontaneous headache from the stress and pops the pills he took with him as a precaution.
“You know what,” he’d later say: “You are proud but you also realize that lads of that age, like Wes and Raf, could fail miserably. When Wes scored the quick 1-0 I knew I needn’t worry. At that point, the game was over already and I knew Wesley wouldn’t make any big mistakes.”
That night, Oranje uses the escape hatch to the EC 2004 in Portugal. After a qualifications series filled with problems, there’s still one ticket for Oranje. “Holland scores with youngsters” one paper writes. Another uses: “Desperate act appears to be master stroke”.
It’s the logical conclusion four days after team manager Dick Advocaat does an about face. Four days earlier, an veteran filled Oranje loses 1-0 against Scotland at Hampden Park. The opponent lacks real quality, but Berti Vogts squads plays ferociously. Oranje splits apart in that game. The midfielder and attackers want to..well…attack, but the defenders are insecure and call their mates back.
The media and fan pressure becomes almost too much for the conservative Advocaat. But he makes some drastic changes. Advocaat decides to invite two new players (Wilfred Bouma and Arjen Robben) and starts the 19-year old Sneijder and the 20 year old Van der Vaart. Regulars Frank de Boer, Pat Kluivert and Gio van Bronckhorst are sacrificed.
With those choices, the team manager breaks with his own policy, which was aimed at revenging the disaster that was the WC2002.
It’s fun to see how, six years ago, Van der Vaart takes the microphone after the away game in Scotland. The Ajax midfielder criticizes the team, which – in his words – played like cowards. In the home game, Van der Vaart states, I would start me as the central midfielder, right behind the striker.
Another quote: “When the Scots scored the 1-0, I thought: let’s start doing up my shoelaces, but Advocaat waited a long time to bring me in…”
There’s a new generation waiting. Sneijder, Vaart, Robben, Van Persie, Heitinga and Andy van der Meyde. In the hierarchy, Van der Vaart was the top dog at that time.
Van der Meyde, he just made the move from Ajax to Inter Milan, is the number two. He plays in both Scotland matches and gets a lot of attention when he faints during an interview.
Robben and Sneijder are debutants in 2003. They played their first international in 2003 against Portugal. Against Scotland, Sneijder only plays his third international game, while Robin van Persie – still at Feyenoord – hasn’t made his debut yet.
Van der Vaart: “Listen, I’m not saying we should play all the youngsters now. But, there are times when a coach needs to test new players. I do hope this coach sees that too.”
A day later, it all clicks. Oranje plays Scotland with one defender less and after 14 minutes Sneijder scores the first. He celebrates with a long sprint to the bench and jumps into Pierre van Hooijdonk’s arms. Fueled by the cojones of the youngsters and their fleety footwork, Oranje would score 5 more goals. And Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids and Ruud van Nistelrooy clearly enjoy playing with the young mavericks. Ruud van Gol scores three goals, Cocu plays the libero role and Davids cleans up after Sneijder’s attacking play. Davids repossess balls, fills gaps and takes on Barry Ferguson when the Scot is ready to attack Van der Vaart. And later it appears the new chemistry was fueled by a poster. Edgar Davids had read an interview with Sneijder, a week before the Scotland games.
The young Ajax midfielder told the reporter how he always had but one poster in his room: Edgar Davids!
Davids later: “I didn’t know if I should believe that. Most kids had posters of Litmanen and Kluivert. But when I met Sneijder later, we had this immediate click. And it didn’t take long at training to see what a tremendous talent he was.”
After the glorious win and the qualification for Portugal, the players decide to boycott the press. Journalist Henk Spaan had published an article, claiming that the Oranje players went out to pain the town (Glasgow) after having lost the first leg 1-0.
He actually only names Andy van der Meyde, but he appears one of the few who didn’t stay out late. Patrick Kluivert was seen partying and Advocaat decided to leave him out of the squad for the home game.
The next day, Sneijder and Van der Vaart break the press boycott. They just can’t shut up about their glorious game. The night where there Oranje career really took off.
Like Kuyt 
??
But seriously, Vaart only refered to the game in Scotland, not to the games prior. Oranje didn’t play cowardly in 1998 and 2000 in my book. In both tournaments it was “bad luck” that we didn’t win anything. If missing 23 penalties can be called bad luck, that is… I think Kuyt would have put one away…
@jan spot on man,thats why i said we played cowardly whenever our player saw the opponent goalkeeper they were terrified and did mistake,we may say it is unluck but i beleive it is ultimatly the lacking of real courage.uncourageous peolple will do lot of cowardness.but some of our players had courage like kluivert,davids,Bergkamp etc
Posted from 
India
@jan how you guessed its kuyt?.i didnt mentioned anybodys name specifically then how you doubted ONLY KUYT?that means you have seen something in kuyt, is it?
Posted from India
I think this team is quite comparable to the one in 2003, De jong more and more reminds me of Davids, I like it cause we needed a new pitbull.
I think it not realistic to put Marcellis in, he has huge potential together with V.d.Wiel, and i’d tip them to make the top. But you should be very careful with them now. I’d never play Ooijer again if I were V.Marwijk, but if you say Boulahrouz shouldn’t be in centre cause he is vulnarable in the air due to his height, that’s noncense, cause Marcellis is the same height, even an inch less than Boulah i thought.
I’d play
Stekelenburg
Marcellis/V.d.Wiel-Boulahrouz-Mathijsen-Braafheid
—————–V.Bommel—–De Jong
—Robben—————–Sneijder
—————V.Persie-Huntelaar
Unfortunately for Kuyt, i’d keep him on the bench, bring him out if we start to struggle, he can really break things open.
This line-up leaves a lot of room for Braafheid to join upfront, on the right Robben can have the whole wing. Huntelaar and V.Persie paired up, Sneijder can act as a real midfield playmaker. If we can’t get through this way, put in Babel and Kuyt for speed and workrate, that can break Scotland open for real. Should Heitinga return for the next match, put him on right-back. all this experimentation in the back isn’t good, just leave Heitinga-Mathijsen-Braafheid in for now and replace Ooijer with Boulahrouz. In a later stage you can always switch Bouma in for either Mathijsen/Braafheid, V.Bommek in ? those are all options
just look how many combinations are possible with pretty decent group of defenders, Heitinga, Boulahrouz, Mathijsen, Bouma, Braafheid, V.Bommel
And that doesn’t even include Ooijer, V.d.Wiel, Marcellis, or other talented players.
Heitinga-Boulahrouz-Mathijsen-Braafheid
Heitinga-Boulahrouz-Mathijsen-Bouma
Heitinga-Boulahrouz-Bouma-Braafheid
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Mathijsen-Braafheid
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Bouma-Braafheid
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Boulahrouz-Bouma
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Boulahrouz-Braafheid
Boulahrouz-V.Bommel-Heitinga-Bouma
Boulahrouz-V.Bommel-Heitinga-Braafheid
Boulahrouz-V.Bommel-Bouma-Braafheid
Posted from 
Netherlands
If I’m not mistaken, besides the then-youngsters, Overmars was also awesome on this 2nd leg against Scotland, wasn’t it, Jan? Well, whatever…everybody were great that day.
I was thinking about the line-up against Scotland. I already posted mine, but I read some comments and thought about doing little changes… for example, I had chosen my defense with Boulah as RB, the “Ma-pair” (Marcellis and Mathijsen) and Braafheid on LB. Well, as Ooijer and Heitinga are both injured, I think it’s really better to put Marcellis with Joris. But I changed my left back. The Tartan Army will certainly make a hard match and that’s important to have someone experienced with these matches. So, I’d start with Gio.
But, against Macedonia, I’d take Marcellis off (maybe putting Ooijer and Mathijsen as the CBs, or Heitinga as a right back and Boulah going to the center). And I believe Braafheid deserves a chance to start the match. Even Van der Wiel could be lined up.
Posted from 
Brazil
The main reason why I wouldn’t pick Boulahrouz is because he sucks, not because he’s short. I think Ooijer is way better in every aspect of the game.
well Lerkot , think again, one thing, Boulahrouz isn’t short: 183 cm. Second, are you looking at the same Ooijer I do, slow, in danger of relegation with Blackburn, conceeding goal after goal? then you need counseling. Only reason he’s still in is cause of hs height and posture, I can hardly imagine seeing him in 2010 WC. just come up with a few solid arguments for your statement, you can even use footage if you’d like . BTW you’re not racist are you, that would be disgusting 
Posted from Netherlands
Well, not short but not tall anyway and not a good header. But as I said, that’s not why I dont like him, I don’t like him because he is a really bad passer and very prone to make mistakes. I like him as a person, definitely, and I find him useful as right defense backup, but no more than that. I saw him play three games in the last two months, two times Stuttgart conceded three goals and the last time they let in four goals.
Didn’t you say earlier that Ooijer seldom even got to play in the Premier League? Says a bit about whether or not you ever look at their games, since he play all the time basically. And Blackburn isn’t doing to shabby, they’ve played better since Allardyce took over. Ooijer isn’t the best defender out there, but he doesn’t do mistakes and he’s pretty average in every aspect of the game – heading, passing, commanding, intelligence, which is very uncommon amongst Dutch defenders. I can agree he lacks a bit in pace, but he doesnt seem to need it anyway. He reads the game well enough to compensate.
And why the hell would I be racist? Every championship I get another favorite player. In 2000, it was Arthur Numan, in 2004 it was Pierre van Hooijdonk, in 2006 it was Khalid Boulahrouz and in 2008 it was Giovanni van Bronckhorst – do the math, four players, all orginating from different countries.
please don’t take that racist thing seriously, cause it wasn’t sorry if i made you think it was.
Anyways, I think it’s pretty weird saying you former favourite player sucks, but okay. And i said Ooijer didn’t play too often when he actually didn’t play that much, now he does play a lot but that’s not helping Blackburn in any convincing way, so i see no point there for anyone. Still don’t agree that Ooijer doesn’t make mistakes or makes less then others. Stuttgart has indeed had a lot of goals conceeded, but like against Bremen, most of them weren’t his fault. Besides, when the backfour do well, they have not so “trustworthy” Lehman, who isn’t a good keeper at all. Anyway, last match they won 2-0 with Boulahrouz solid in center, 90 minutes, and deserved it. Believe me i’ve seen almost every Stuttgart game with him, and he didn’t too that bad in the first place, secondly, is is increasinly doing better. I still have faith in the guy, at least i rate him higher than 34-year-old Ooijer, who isn’t exactly impressing every week neither. I’d rather have someone very good at a few things like marking, tackling and defending than average in everything.
Nevertheless, i didn’t mean to offend or anything like that. No hard feelings.
But check this song about Huntelaar, awesome:
Posted from Netherlands
I’d like to see them go for full offense and put all our strongest players in and use attackers in defensive midfield positions as well (since everyone should be able to fill eachother’s roles anyway, or at least the roles near to them). So you get the following midfield and forward positions:
–Robben—Huntelaar—Kuyt— (forwards)
——Sneijder—V Persie—– (attacking midfield)
——vd Vaart—De Jong—— (defensive midfield)
The idea is to switch positions a lot during the game, Kuyt en v Persie can both play the nr. 10 behind Huntelaar or take the wing, if v Persie takes the wing, Kuyt can move back for defensive duties or move in the box for his excellent strength in the air (or he can create space for v Persie to make his moves with his fast running and Kuyt already has an excellent eye for running into open spaces, especially on counterattacks).
Robben en Sneijder almost the same thing, they can both play the wing and switch around a lot, I can see Sneijder and vd Vaart playing very well together as well on that side. Both Robben and Sneijder will need to be responsible about their defensive duties though, since that line-up only leaves room for 3 more defenders, so the Jong will usually be found where all of you place the back 4.
Total football is all about being able to play every position anyway so it doesn’t really matter where you put everyone, all that matters is who does what and when and somehow I see a real good defender in vd Vaart. He has that same ability De Jong has of reading the game and knowing where to intercept and re-conquer the ball, he also has that same pitbull Davids attitude (the same as Sneijder btw).
Posted from Netherlands
… and you move over the field in triangles:
- triangle on the left Robben-Sneijder-vd Vaart
- triangle on the right Kuyt-v Persie-De Jong
- triangle left forward Huntelaar-Robben-Sneijder
- triangle right forward Huntelaar-Kuyt-v Persie
Posted from Netherlands
Cool awesome clip Alex
Posted from 
Singapore
I agree Lerkot, Boulah is helpless.
Hope that Sneijder can repeat that. He was excellent at that time. But remember that Oranje still had Cocu in the team. Oranje needs a real defensive midfielder to cover Sneijder movement. I think the role can be played by van Bommel.
Posted from 
Indonesia
I remember this game sooo well, even though i didn’t get to watch it
I was in year 10 at school and my best mate had a Scottish father and he supported the Scots passionately… so he’d been giving me stick about the 1-0 loss every day…
So, i bet him $50 that the Dutch would win by 5 or more goals in the second leg and i predicted a 6-0 win while he predicted a 0-0 draw. I still have the page that i wrote our predictions on somewhere(it was written in my school diary).
My mum was checking the score online for me all morning because i had to get the bus to school and she was sending me the results by txt as they came in… by about 9 in the morning (Australian time) the game had finished, I arrived at school and picked up a cool $50. My first betting win haha
I think it got me a little addicted haha.
Well done Ayl – I watched the game and I predicted 2-0 hahaha. You were VERY courageous.
Posted from Singapore
Oh man that was a fantastic game against the Scots. Holland played with balls.
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@jan i belive whatever vaart said was true we played like cowards.otherwise that jeneration wouldhave won at least 1998WC and 2000EC.
The game against Scotland03 was a good example.it showed one thing that “either you wil acheive glory otherwsie you will get out at the earliest”.
So this is the time to drop ooiger,Gio,de cler and nonskilled players.
Posted from
India