It’s weird. Men who work in factories and have to sort apples all day… Put them in the right color box. I don’t care, really. Or girls at the supermarket, sitting on their knees to fill up the shelves with new types of chips. And then being told of by the supervisor for putting the paprika in the regular shelf. Whatever. I couldn’t care less. But Klaas Jan Huntelaar at AC Milan… I suffer for him.

Which is weird. I grew up in a lower class family. We could live for a whole year on what Klaas Jan uses every month on new shoes. It’s such a cliche. Whenever a coach wants to motivate his players while they’re listening to their new iPod he starts talking about the past.

They should be ashamed of themselves. The customers, the fans, the supporters…they don’t buy meat on Monday and drink self-brewed grog so that they can buy tickets for the game. These players, they get paid for playing football! It can’t get any better. And more of those sorts of motivational speeches…

Lots of coaches think like that. As a player, you need to be grateful and remind yourself you’re a chosen one. Compared to actual working class men, you’re a whimp. Huub Stevens did the season’s prep in the coal mines with his players. His players needed to make triangles with those lamps on their heads. If you don’t know what death and loss means, you are a spoiled brat, according to Tough Huub.

You should thank God on your bare knees if you can make a living with playing football. You can’t even call it work.

I never got that. I’d rather work in a factory putting socks in their packaging for six days than working in football, a sector that’s still in the dark ages in terms of work ethos and hierarchy. You have to call the coach “trainer” in Holland. Or Mister in other countries. I wouldn’t be able to. Can you imagine a knob like Robert Maaskant as your coach? And having to call him “trainer” or “sir”?

Or Ton Du Chatinier. You’d expect him to be the assistant manager in a building materials warehouse. You’d hit him on the head with a piece of plywood and say: “How was your weekend, egg?”.

And that’s why those pep talks of coaches don’t work. It’s horrible to be a professional football player. Okay, you are on the grass, outside but you need to listen to incompetent blokes like Andries Jonker. There you are, best job in the world, but taking directions from a guy you’d normally chuck in some river.

But I do sympathize with Klaas Jan. Don’t know how. He doesn’t play a lot at Milan and if he does, he doesn’t score. Normally, I wouldn’t care. I’ve always enjoyed watching players like Peter van Vossen and Rinus Israel suffer. They were good at it.

Van Vossen, lonely in Turkey, dreamming of a Zeeuws bread roll. I could only laugh. Or Israel in a hotel room in Romania, with a phone bill of 23.000 euros because he wanted to hear his wife talk about the last stew she made for the grandchildren. Sorry, I could only laugh. But with Klaas Jan, it’s different. I feel for him.

It’s because Klaas Jan is too good for football. He is. Klaas Jan is a nature freak. He loves fishing. And he can sit in the players bus and suddenly call out: “Look, a wren!”. Because Klaas Jan is a bird watcher too. The actual birds. He doesn’t have any tattoos. He is a sweet boy. He reads.

You really want Klaas Jan to be happy. Whenever he’s interviewed his face betrays him. He’s bored. He hates the football world he’s part of. But yes, Klaas Jan does call his trainer “trainer”. But he doesn’t mean it. He can’t be subservient.

Klaas Jan is the real deal. Genuine. A smart lad who is a football player against his will. He’s even more normal than Foppe de Haan.

Huntelaar is intelligent and an intellectual. Like Frank Rijkaard was. They’re untouchables who will do what ever it is they want to do. Klaas Jan wants to play football and then go home to look through a bird encyclopedia with his wife. Because that is the best job in the world….

Hugo Borst’s column in the AD

People ask me often – while the WC is still seven months away: “Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?”

Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax?

There’s a good chance, but how do we know?

I personally think we have a slight chance of winning the world title. A very slight chance. There’s 32 nations competing, so statistically we start with something like a 3% chance. Then there’s a number of really poor nations. New Zealand won’t win it, for instance. The real number of nations with a chance is probably 20 or 25. Which means Holland has a 4,5% chance.

Our odds improve with the following situations:

+ Van Persie plays center forward instead of right winger ( +5%)

+ Mathijsen indeed is the rock in defense that Van Marwijk thinks he is ( + 2,5%)

+ Van der Sar is our goalie ( +3%)

+ Van Marwijk sorts the hierarchy out (+3%)

+ Van Persie holds on to his current Arsenal form ( +5%)

+ The refs aren’t against us ( +3%)

+ The refs actually are for us (+3%)

+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamated back when he lasers the name Ramona of this back ( +1,5%)

+ Van Bommel is alert when an opponent wants to get away from him ( +2,5%)

+ We practice taking penalty kicks ( +4%)

+ Van Bommel doesn’t get red-carded ( +3%)

+ Oranje plays disciplined ( +5%)

+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamation when he tattoos the name Mourinho over Ramona’s tattoo ( +1,5%)

+ Oranje decides not to get into a streetfight against South European or South American nations ( +3%)

+ Yolanthe and Sylvie stay in another hotel ( +1%)

+ Oranje stays away from whores and groupies ( +2%)

+ Frank de Boer sometimes whispers some tactical advice in Bert’s ear ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t need to play with black mourning armbands ( 0,5%)

+ Van Bronckhorst doesn’t get to play a fixed right winger ( +2%)

+ Van der Wiel stops using Twitter ( +1%)

+ Van Persie and Sneijder decide who takes which free kick beforehand ( +3%)

+ Van Persie and Sneijder don’t get into fights on the pitch, in the hotel, in the dressing room or in the disco ( +5%)

+ The players don’t start to hate each other after spending six weeks together ( +5%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Germany in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Spain in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Portugal in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet England in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ The players won’t get the 1974 finals virus: arrogance and self-absorption

So, do I think Holland could win the title? See above…

I don’t care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players…

It doesn’t work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions… How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The whole mental pressure of needing to win isn’t there and that’s a big big thing. New players try hard to impress and take it seriously or new players feel the pressure and can’t play freely…

Again… Friendlies are for the coaching staff. To have the lads together, test some stuff or simply work on tactics… I don’t know.

So we didn’t score in three games? In Autumn 2009? Big deal… As long as the guns are loaded in Summer 2010.

People plead for new players, but to me it doesn’t make sense. Bert has all spots double booked.

Elia/Robben on the left flank and they’re both capable of playing right. Hunter/Van Persie/Babel centrally upfront. Kuyt/Van Persie/Babel on the right flank and we know Afellay can play there too. Sneijder/Van der Vaart/Afellay/Van Persie are all capable of playing shadow striker and so can De Zeeuw.
For the holding positions we have Van Bommel/De Jong/Schaars/De Zeeuw/Mendes da Silva/Engelaar. At left bank we have Gio and Braafheid. As center backs Mathijsen/Ooijer/Heitinga/Loovens/Boulah and on the right back spot we have Van der Wiel/Boulah/Heitinga.

Now, there’s obviously question marks. But if we approach it from Bert’s perspective, Ooijer and Gio are not among them.

Gio is even captain. He might not impress too much, but Bert trusts him. Braafheid could be an even bigger question mark, what with his Bayern woes. And he didn’t play too well against Paraguay, I take it?

So, who else do we have then? Drenthe? Nah…not consistent yet. Doesn’t start at his club even. Emanuelson? Good player, no left back. Pieters? Definitely not consistent enough. De Cler? He demonstrated he can play there but doesn’t start for Feyenoord (because Gio plays there) and he’s injured.

Hmmmm….

Ooijer might lose it. He doesn’t impress in Eindhoven and he’s becoming vulnerable with injuries. It seems Vlaar will get a call sometimes in March IF he keeps his level up. Loovens will remain a strong candidate too, although Vlaar has more potential.

As right winger? I can’t see too many great options. Castelen? Amrabat? Wijnaldum? De Guzman? All big maybe’s. Nice players at Eredivisie level, but Oranje is two levels up. At least!

Center striker than? Huntelaar in trouble? Clearly. Hey, who’s that on the phone from Madrid? Ruud! How are you man? Pack your bags, pronto. Let’s take some pressure of Hunter, he should go to White Heart Lane and put his head against those crosses.

If Van der Vaart disappears in that Madrid swamp, we will have alternatives. Afellay, Aissati maybe, Emanuelson if he keeps this form up, De Guzman…. Nice, bring it on.

Funnily enough, Oranje has the most potential in the holding midfielders realm. Unbelievable. Van Bommel is surely getting older, but probably also smarter. Mark can’t play well in friendlies. There needs to be something at stake. I think if you want Mark to play well you need to kidnap his wife and tell him you only release her if he plays a good game. De Jong is feared and much more skilled than people think. At Ajax, he was a creative playmaker before he made his debut in Ajax 1. Engelaar is a question mark for me and so is Mendes. Nice club players. Schaars has potential, like De Zeeuw. While Brama and Fer could be our next stars. And now Fred Rutten discovered another holding midfielder in Ibby Afellay.

We might not have the best individual players, but we might have enough quality to reach far.

The ifs:

If our top players are fit, we have the best creative players in the world.

If Ruud comes at his old level we’ll have the best pinch-hitter ever!

If Mark and Nigel stay fit, no mouse will enter.

Then we need Vlaar to come off age and Gio to shower in Placenta juices and we’re done.

Stekelenburg is good enough, I think. Not spectacular (yet). But good enough.

How’ bout:

Van Persie
Robben Sneijder Elia
Bommel De Jong
Gio Mathijsen Vlaar Wiel
Stekelenburg

That’s the players. But on top of that they need: grit! Hunger! Focus! Team tactics. Luck.

Voila, may I present you Holland’s first world cup?

Ok, now on the topic of new players. Why? Why would van Marwijk disrupt the process by selecting several new players? Is he going to risk the progress and see if Urby, Otman, Royston, Georghinio, Hedwiges, Ron and others fit the bill? Will he know after one friendly? No. So he needs to select them again and again. At the cost of regular squad members. What good will that do?

If it works, what do you know? You have three other candidates for a position? If it doesn’t work, you’ve wasted time and opportunities and you have frustrated the new lads and the regulars!! Costly decisions!

It’s a fact of life that Eredivisie level is way below Oranje level. Look at Schaars! The best player in the Eredivisie last season, had trouble keeping up. Look at how hard it is for Huntelaar now. And we all know he can score….

Bert is right! Players really need to deserve a spot after a long consistent run and at the same time these new lads need to solve a problem we have. You can’t convince Bert that our defense is a problem. Or that Kuyt has lost it. What proof do you have to tell him that?

I do think Vaart and Hunter need to worry, to not even mention Babel. But these players will be replaced in time. Vaart by Afellay? Or De Zeeuw? Hunter by Ruud van Nistelrooy? And Babel by Wijnaldum/Biseswar/De Guzman? Who knows…

We’re seven months away from the World Cup and Bert is going to go for the core squad that got us the qualification. Can you blame him? I don’t think so.

Consistency is the key now. Playing a lot together. Talking, socializing, doing tactical improvements.

I can see Brama, Vlaar, Bakkal and maybe maybe Emanuelson getting in the picture, but the 22 players for the WC will most probably already be known to Bert, IF they all stay fit and IF Ruud gets to his normal level.

I’m with Bert!

Oranje scored 5 times against Paraguay! At least in the version I saw….

Arsenal confirmed that Robin van Persie will be out for six weeks. He tore his ankle ligaments against Italy and was stretchered of after a tough Chiellini tackle.

Van Persie will travel to Serbia this week to undergo a unique treatment. PSV midfielder Engelaar informed the Gunner about this method and Arsenal decided to follow that up.

Cell material from placentas is being used as massage oil and will support the speedy recovery of the ligaments. This treatment will take some days and Van Persie will do his remaining recovery in London.

Liverpool players Benayoun and Riera – like Engelaar and Ola Toivonen – have good news for Van Persie. Both Liverpool players are recovering fast of their hamstring injuries thanks to the Serbian treatment.

Benayoun: “I’ve been to Belgrade and feel a lot better. We’ve worked hard with the team there and it does look we will be able to return quicker than expected.”

Van Marwijk is currently researching a new therapy based on grizzly bear sperm to massage on Huntelaar’s forehead so his headers will have a higher success rate. Another avenue is Pinguin breastmilk for Andre Ooijer to use as throat gurgle tonic to make him faster, more flexible, younger and add some feeling to his feet, while Frank de Boer examines the French Kissing Gorilla therapy in the Congo, which would allow Robben to grow some facial hair and balls and power in challenges.

Young Oranje made a huge step towards the play offs for the Youth EC in 2011. Cor Pot’s team won 2-1 against Spain at the Sparta Castle in Rotterdam. There’s seven tickets for the Denmark EC 2011 for grabs in the play offs.

The confrontation with Spain was the first serious test for Pot’s talented team. Young Oranje had won their first games easily against modest opposition. It was clear on the outset that Spain and Holland will fight for the first spot. Oranje impressed after the break. The team started slowly in the game but dominated the match after that.

Vurnon Anita, the Ajax midfielder, was the boss on midfield. The youngster won all his duels and immediately passed the ball into the fast wingers Wijnaldum and John. After 15 minutes, it was Anita who started the gameplay that resulted in the first goal. The perfect through ball on Wijnaldum allowed the Feyenoord talent to bring the ball into the box, where Sparta striker Falkenburg scored on his own ground: 1-0.

Falkenburg started due to Siem de Jong’s injury. Pot couldn’t use van Wolfswinkel either while Biseswar was suspended. Luuk de Jong played for Wolf while Joshua John made his debut – like Falkenburg – for Biseswar.

Chelsea defender Jeffrey Bruma led the defense and they never got in trouble. The 18 year old Rotterdam born center back demonstrated why Ancelotti allowed him to make his debut for the Chelsea first team. After an hour, Wijnaldum scored the 2-0 after a John cross with a placed header. In the dying minutes, Spain pressed for goals and Azpilicueta found the net, but other than an attempt on the post, Oranje was clear.

Cor Pot praised the team’s discipline. “Spain is actually better than us from a technical perspective but our mental attitude and organisation got the better of them.”

The team manager was particularly impressed with Bruma. “He defended tremendously. He trains at top level with Chelsea and you can tell. He hardly makes any mistakes. He’s got personality, he can build up and will always push up. He has everything a player needs to become a great defender. Wijnaldum was unstoppable on the right wing. It’s great to have two of those gems in the team.”

Foppe de Haan’s successor can present perfect stats. 15 points from 5 qualification games and a goal score 12-1. “Are we on the throne now? Well, I remember Foppe scoring 15 from 5 and not managing to qualify, so it doesn’t say everything yet. We will probably reach the status of “best number two’s” but we definitely will intend to win this group.”

France is said to go in cup 1, although Les Blues still have to qualify. If Ireland qualifies at France’ expense, Holland moves up one cup.

The preliminary categories:

Pot 1: South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, France

Pot 2: Holland, Portugal/Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia/Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece/Ukraïne,

Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

Pot 3: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt/Algeria, Paraguay, Chili, Uruguay/Costa Rica

Pot 4: Japan, South-Korea, North-Korea, Australia, New-Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Happy and proud. Those are two words that came to mind when Otman Bakkal heard he was called up to replace the injured Wesley Sneijder at Oranje. It will be his first appearance in the big team. Right after receiving the call, the PSV midfielder jumped in his car to drive to Heerenveen to join Van Marwijk’s selection. “This is very special to me,” the 24 year old said.

“I heard it at the end of the day. Team manager Hans Jorritsma called. Please report tonight at the players’ hotel. So, I jumped in my car to join the group for the game in Friesland.”

“I think it’s rather special that I can train with all those great players. I did play in most representative teams in the Oranje youth, but this is truly special,” gushed Bakkal.

The creative midfielder from Morrocan descent made a name for himself under Hiddink in the PSV selection but lost his spot under Stevens. Now, with Fred Rutten at the reigns, the dynamic player is one of PSV’s key players, scoring prolifically. He’s the third PSV player in the group, with Afellay and Engelaar…

Bert van Marwijk praised his defense. Which basically means Oranje didn’t play well. “We couldn’t bring it tonight. It was disappointing. You sometimes get those games. But it was pretty poor. Still, to not concede against Italy when you’re not at your best means our defense and controlling players were alright. We normally have the creativity to come out on top, but we lacked that extra this time around.”

Van Marwijk still thinks he saw some impressive stuff. “Particularly tactically. I mean, sure…we didn’t entertain and dazzle, but apart from the starting phase, we never got in trouble. Sometimes you have to be able to play these tight games and still get the 0-0. Us Dutchies don’t like it, I know, but it could be a quality we can use at the World Cup.”

Rafael van der Vaart was more open and honest. “It was a boring game, eh? Both teams played well in a tactical sense. We both didn’t give anything away defensively and you know, when both teams don’t make mistakes at the back, nothing happens. Sometimes you get that in matches like this. At the World Cup we might not be able to impress every game. To play a poor game against the world champs and still get a draw…. It’s not that bad. We didn’t have it today and still kept a clean sheet. That’s a positive thing.”

Willem’s column in the AD:

“What annoys me most about these friendlies Oranje plays, is that there isn’t any experimenting. It seems it’s all fixed already. Everyone knows his place and in order to change something, a lot needs to happen. Or so it seems.

The regulars will be very happy and content. Maybe it’s the ideal way of motivating our top players to perform at their peak at the WC, all this confidence. But I doubt it. Van Marwijk wanted to experiment with Van Persie, I know, but that singular test failed due to his early injury.

But I seriously doubt this change. Van Persie is the center forward at Arsenal and that works out well, but at the Gunners they have players like Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky playing around him. Lots of movement and constantly players supporting him in the box. Van Persie benefits from that.

He will become one of the world’s best players, thanks to that system. But that won’t work in Oranje. Our midfield excels in controlling, with lads like Van Bommel and De Jong. So when Sneijder isn’t on deck, the center forward is isolated. But I’m not sure if I would be proven right. We won’t know on the basis of this game against Italy.

I wasn’t too happy with Oranje’s game. In the second half, Italy pressured more and we got in trouble. The pace went up and we needed to play good football, with precision and we didn’t manage to do so. 0-0 is an ok score against the world champs, but what have we learned? Isn’t that the idea of these friendlies? To learn something?

I was shocked to see Huntelaar struggle. Everything he tried went wrong. Kuyt wasn’t too good either, but Huntelaar was really unacceptable. He made a number of bad career choices and this is the result.

I hope he’ll find himself in Milan, because he’s a pretty good striker. But the way he played against Italy… I don’t think you’ll need him in this form at the WC. Van Marwijk always said that players without rhythm aren’t welcome at Oranje, but he keeps on selecting Huntelaar and Van der Vaart so apparently Bert doesn’t see a lot of options.

Personally, I think it might be a tad too strict to say things like that. Maybe Van Marwijk should simply think it, but not say it. Now he has to budge his principles and the fans don’t like that. Now the media will question him and that will take up quite some energy. I do hope the team manager will start looking elsewhere now.

This Oranje needs fresh blood. We need some fighting spirit in the team. Players need to worry about their place, and particularly in defense. Why weren’t Vlaar, Drenthe and Pieters not welcome to come along to Italy?

I’m happy that Brama was able to taste the vibe around Oranje. I would have picked Ron Stam as well. It’s about time this lad gets picked. We have sixxor seven months for this Oranje to become strong, fiery and hungry. We need more players than the fixed group I keep seeing.

I actually pondered all that when I saw Russia play Slovenia. Guus Hiddink keeps developing with his team and keeps on trying new blood. His team has a high level of good football and he’ll probably get a ticket to the WC. Watching Russia play football is fun and that’s a compliment.

Hell Yes I’m mad! Angry, pissed off, you name it…

Seriously! Why would the KNVB organize two friendlies 7 months before the ^&*$# WC in one of the busiest times in the season??

Why risk all this? Sneijder out. Van Persie out! Congrats, people. “But we did make some euros!” Kesler will say.

Well, whoopdidoo, buster!

1. These games are always crap! Who cares, really? The only cool friendly I’ve seen was the one in Sydney against the Socceroos coz I got to see my two teams play together, because it was a big deal for the Aussies, because I won’t get too many opps to see Oranje at work live and because I could hang with Carlos and his charming wife and family. And Peking Duck!

2. If you play friendlies, at least try something new. Or new players. Moving Robin to center forward cannot be the main reason to play this game. Even Stevie Wonder can see Robin can play center forward by simply following Arsenal!

3. Sneijder is out for some time and will miss Inter-Barca and Robin might be four months out… For a fukcing friendly game!!!! Which even ended in a boring 0-0!!! What did we learn?? That the KNVB is run by MORONS!!!!!!!!!

4. The WC team will be gelled together weeks before the WC, not months.

I think this will not be tolerated like this much longer.

The season is too filled up. Too many games, at the cost of players’ fitness and safety. And we get to watch months of football sans Wes and Robin. And that’s cruel!

If the KNVB needs to make more dollars, let them invest in a friggin’ English website so 1000s of non-Dutch people will buy friggin’ jerseys!