Dutch club football may not amount to much anymore in international football, but players and coaches with a Dutch passport are still highly in demand. Success guaranteed.

In Australia, they know this already. In a recent daily article, Dutch football is named the most successful of the last 40 years. And with Pim Verbeek and Henk Duut (ex Feyenoord) responsible for leading Australia to another WC tournament, not conceding one goal, the Dutch school is declared holy Down Under.

Verbeek: “It’s just great. We’ve started this series in February 2008 and obviously, playing these games is a real challenge on the body for the players from Europe. 22 hours in a plane, 7 or 10 hours time difference. And they never complained. Their mental attitude is top notch. They’re a tight team and they know exactly what they want.”

The admiration is reciprocated. The big names in the team – Kewell, Cahill and Neill – are very happy with their Dutch coach. They did have to google him first, when he was appointed, but now they can’t say enough positive things about him.

After securing the ticket to the WC in Qatar, Everton star Tim Cahill said: “I love working under this coach. You know exactly what you get. On the pitch and off. You can discuss anything with him. For me, that’s crucial and most players feel this way.”

“It was different under Guus. Nothing against him, he’s respected all over the world and rightly so, but I wasn’t always happy.”

A remarkable quote. Wasn’t it Guus Hiddink who gave Australia their confidence?

Pim Verbeel can answer that question, he and Hiddink worked together for South Korea in 2002 and reached the semi finals at that WC. “Guus is able to allign and finetune everything quickly and get results. That’s his speciality. He controls the management games and understands how to work the board, players and media.”

Verbeek smiles when he says that. He is still in touch with his former boss who immediately sent his congrats via a text-message. “I learned a lot from him and from Dick Advocaat. The main thing is, be who you are. This will be my first WC as a head coach and I look forward to it But I realize very well that I can do this thanks to the people I work with.”

One of those people is former Feyenoord defender and Fortuna assistant coach Henk Duut. “I worked with Henk before. He’s my left and right hand man, both in tactical decisions as in training build up and he’s a great scout too.”

Duut worked with Verbeek for the Dutch Antils and worked at Feyenoord under Ruud Gullit and Erwin Koeman. Duut highly enjoys working in Australia. “You can see the team come together and that’s the best thing about this job. I think both myself and my buddy Mario Been never dreamed of becoming a coach, but being able to move these processes along is just great. And I live in one of the world’s prettiest spots, so what more can I ask….”

The name Feyenoord is mentioned… “Unbelievable that they never contact me. They have my number. There’s a lot of talent here. Tactically, maybe not that good, but still a lot to work with. But they’re strong mentally and physically and love to learn and work hard. Most talents are now scouted by Twente and AZ. And it’s weird because Brett Emerton and Holman started their European careers at Feyenoord.”

The boss of the Australian Football Federation is Dutch as well. Han Berger, former coach of Utrecht and Groningen, took over from Rob Baan and is responsible for the strategic planning.

“I work on Baan’s foundations. The local competition needs to be stronger. But now there’s more and more players – like Culina – returning, so that’s good. The accomodations need to be upgraded and we need to work on the youth competitions and the youth selections. In Canberra, Jan Versleijen is working with the talented youth. We are all going to play 4-3-3, all following the Dutch school.”

Money is not the problem in Australia, but the “vibe” is. There’s still a huge English culture apparent (cricket, rugby) and AFL is sports number 1. “Soccer, they call it still on the streets. Aussie Rules is the most popular sports, but there’s lots of scandals and bad stuff happening there so most parents would love their kids to play soccer and sponsors turn away from these sports.”

Therefore, the performance and results of the National team are key. And Australia is also after the WC2018. A serious competitor to Holland/Belgium. Han Berger: “That would be the ideal impulse. And make no mistake, they can pull that off here. Remember the Sydney Olympics? But that’s all futures. We’ll focus on the WC2010 first and we also need to work on the know how of the public. We’ve qualified as one of the first nations and people start to complaint that we’re boring… We weren’t able to qualify for decades and then this. Pim Verbeek doesn’t mind all that criticism but I sometimes get agitated by it. But hey, we’re missionaries…part of the job…”.

Team manager Van Marwijk added Eljero Elia to the Oranje selection for the Iceland and Norway games.

The 22 year old former Ajax youth player – selected as talent of the year, will make his debut in the national pride.

Wesley Sneijder won’t be fit in time. He is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Afellay already had to bail.

Demy de Zeeuw is stricken with flu and spent the day in bed. Bert van Marwijk does expect to be able to add the AZ midfielder to the group soon.

Robin van Persie had his wisdom teeth operation today. “But Robin will be able to go full speed ahead on Tuesday’s training,” the team manager said today.

June 6, Oranje plays Iceland away. The home game against Norway will be in Rotterdam on Wednesday June 10.

A win against Iceland will be enough for Oranje to qualify for the World Cup.
Oranje’s last game is on September 9 against Scotland, away.

The selection:

Goal: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord).

Defense: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Edson Braafheid (FC Twente), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Atletico Madrid), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburger SV), Dirk Marcellis (PSV), André Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Gregory Van der Wiel (Ajax),

Midfield: Mark van Bommel (Bayern München), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), David Mendes da Silva (AZ), Stijn Schaars (AZ), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ).

Attack: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Eljero Elia (FC Twente), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Real Madrid), Dirk Kuijt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid).

Bondscoach Bert van Marwijk invited thirteen players for three extra trainings sessions with Oranje. It’s mainly to keep Eredivisie players fit for the two upcoming internationals against Iceland and Norway, early June.

The last competition round is on May 10 and players that won’t have to play playoffs are allowed to take an early holiday. Van Marwijk wants to keep the internationals, and a couple of youngsters, in their physical prime.

PSV winger Nordin Amrabat, Twente winger Elia and Ajax center back Robbie Wielaert are invited as well. Ibrahim Afellay, Edson Braafheid, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dirk Marcellis, David Mendes da Silva, Stijn Schaars, Maarten Stekelenburg, Henk Timmer, Gregory van der Wiel and are part of the core Oranje group.

Van Marwijk will entertain the 13 at Hoenderloo. The training sessions are on May 20 and 21, May 25/26 and May 28/29. Internationals playing abroad aren’t needed. The English and German competitions end on May 23 and 24. The Spanish competition stops on May 31.

Bert van Marwijk: “Well, now it’s safe to say that if we don’t make it to the WC, I will resign…”

“But seriously,” he went on, “we knew this could be a tight match. They’re very good in the limited spaces and are a dangerous counter-team, so we needed to play smart, with confidence and with a high pace. And we’ve done just that. In particular Sneijder made the difference. He knows what it takes to play in between the lines and has done so very well.”

“We played aggressive and focused during the whole game. Only after the 2-0 we wanted to do some gallery play. I understand that, but only when we lead 4-0 or 5-0. Luckily the boys realized it soon enough. We played well until the end. And it was a typical Kuyt-game. He pushed the whole team up and was an inspiration again. But the whole team deserves a compliment.”

Arjen Robben was gregarious after the game. Although he left the pitch at half time with a slight calf injury. “I asked to be replaced. We were 3-0 up and I didn’t want to risk getting a serious injury. It went well, but I think we can do much better. I saw many little mistakes in the first half, despite our good performance. Every player made a couple, and we need to work on that. We’ve got some time for that now. I can’t say we’ve qualified of course, but we can’t and won’t give this away anymore.”

Skipper Van Bronckhorst: “We’ve played our best half in this series today. We did everything right. Scored at the right times. Great goals too. And we kept pressuring the opponent. We should be satisfied with this game and result. We can’t really book the tickets yet, but I think we can take an option on them…”

Arjen Robben, asked whether he thinks Oranje is world class. “Hmm…world class. Well, when you beat France and Italy and you lead as we do in the series, yeah, you belong up there. But when you’re really world class, you win prizes as well. And it’s about time we do just that.”

Robben voiced the hangover the Dutch team still feels. “Winning is more important than “being there”. The only thing that counts, is getting our team fit for the WC in South Africa. We need more “automatisms”. And we will work on that.”

Dirk Kuyt started in both the Scotland and Macedonia game. “Fantastic to be part of such a great team. We have so much quality. When one player can’t play, another is ready to take his place. Sneijder and Van Persie, for instance. Both different players, but both world class. It’s a shame sometimes one of them is benched, but the quality of the team is tremendous. When one player is out, we still have that level of quality.”

Kuyt acknowledges that the loss of Van Nistelrooy and Van der Sar has been felt. “Those are both world class players, but on the other hand, Wes, Raf, Robin, Arjen, myself and all the others have gained two years of experience at top clubs in Europe. It’s time we do it now. I’m proud to be part of this.”

It’s early in the morning in Oz and I’m ready to watch our lads take on Macedonia live!

Well, live for me . Dodged the news flashes and comments, so all I know now is, we’re in for a grand match…

Macedonia coach Katanec recently stated that his team was up against one of the major contenders for the World Title. “Look at the tremendous players Oranje has. They’re all top class. And Van Marwijk has managed to find balance and team unity. It’s impressive.”

The Macedonia team manager doesn’t think his team is without a chance. “Look at the first game in Skopje. That was still close. And we’ll get our chances here too, why not?”.

And we’re off!

And now Sneijder has indeed started due to Van Persie’s knee injury. We’ve got a Danish official, Rasmussen.

Macedonia isn’t hiding in the first minutes. They’re taking the game to us.

3″ Van der Wiel knees Pandev in the butt… It’s not funny…

4″ First deep pass by Sneijder (playing with number 10) to Robben, not precise enough.

6″ Excellent deep pass with feel by Van Bommel into the box on Kuyt. Too much on it.

6″ Tremendous attempt by Hunter. Good first touch and a half volley towards the goal, slightly over the bar.

7″ Horrible tackle by Macedonia on Van Bommel. Leg stretched out forward, hitting Mark high. Watch out buster. Not smart to pick out Van Bommel with that.

8″ First actions of Oranje look good, but Holland purposely soak up some pressure, it seems, happy to take the counter to the Macedonians.

9″ Van Bommel takes revenge on the Macedonia player…

10″ No real impact from Robben yet. Huntelaar looks lively, Kuyt is doing a great job in being available and working… Sneijder looks busy but no brilliance yet. Van Bommel sticking out.

11″ There was the brilliance of Sneijder. Wonderful turn and a through pass on Robben, who just can’t break through…

13″ And again Sneijder – Robben. First corner kick of the game, Robben was closed down. Well defended by the Maces. Not a bad corner at all.

15″ Sloppy loss of possess by Ooijer, break out by the Maces, resulting in a shot wide… Once Oranje dominates and has possession, Maces are all back in their box. Very crowded. Oh, again a wonderful action by Sneijder. How quick do his feet work?

16″ Kuyt 1-0!!! A typical Kuyt goal… It’s Sneijder working his magic, setting up Robben who shoots on goal, going wide. Kuyt slides in with his right feet and flicks it in. Nice scenario, this early goal.

First quarter is impressive. Passing is good, movement is great. No miracles by Robben yet, but Sneijder is clearly giving a message out to Van Marwijk.

17″ Another great chance on a flick on in the box, close to 2-0! Corner kick, flicked to the far post where Ooijer almost tapped it in.

Oranje means business. They’re focused, working hard, playing like…clockwork Orange.

20″ Long range effort De Jong after another great combination Sneijder and Robben. Another attempted cross in, blocked by the goalie.

21″ Ooh…great counter by the Maces. Heerenveen player Popov with a good cross in, corner kick Macedonia.

22″ Van Bommel defends the weak corner. Robben slips up. First real mistake in the game.

22″ Good chance Pandev. Another break and than they’re threatening. Game is not over with 1-0. Good stop by Stekelenburg. Macedonia more fluid than Scotland. More loss of possession by Oranje.

24″ Arjen Robben gets an elbow on the chest and is down and out for a second.

25″ Nice little dribble by Sneijder through the center channel, one man too many.

26″ Superb goal by Huntelaar 2-0!!!!!!! Great run by Robben coming in from the left, looking for the 1-2 with Huntelaar. Ball is deflected right in Hunter’s stride. Huntelaar eye to eye with the goalie and the ex-Ajax man scores a classic Ajax chip goal a la Bergkamp and Litmanen. Great goal!

It’s all going as planned for Bert & Co.

28″ Van der Wiel comes through on the right flank, but can’t create anything. Robben playing on the right now. Kuyt is a bit invisible in this phase, while Van Bommel is totally in control in midfield.

Macedonia doesn’t get a lot of time on the ball. Oranje plays energetic and tight.

30″ Excellent Pandev break taking on three players in the Dutch box, but running out of steam.

32″ Robben playing left back now, covering for Gio. And he does well…

33″ Good cross in by Van der Wiel, but it’s a lone Hunter in the box, being outfoxed. Everything Sneijder does is smart, quickly executed and with an idea behind it. Impressive play. Corner kick Oranje.

34″ Not a good delivery by Sneijder. Some of the fans start to boo the team?? You gotta be joking…

Missed 10 minutes of text here due to laptop failure. I’m sorry.

42″ Dirk Kuyt 3-0!!! A wonderful break. Turn around led by Sneijder. Kuyt finds space behind the defense on the left. Sneijder delivers, Kuyt seems to slip and seems to forget the ball. Cuts back inside, sees Robben unmarked in the box, but decides to score himself. A precision shot in the far corner.

Second half started already, with Ryan Babel for Arjen Robben. Excellent distance strike by Sneijder. One of those bouncy balls to the near post. Keeper saves. Sneijder wants to score it seems…

48″ Little row on the pitch. With Andre Ooijer leading the attack with Stekelenburg in his stride. De Jong is elbowed down, very visible, and the Dutch players decide to show their teeth. Remarkably enough, Van Bommel keeps quiet.

Anyway, tremendous demonstration in the first half. Great work ethics, good pass and move play, the team looked hungry all the way through. Sneijder and Van Bommel stand out players and if you have a player scoring twice, he needs a mention as well…. Kuyt of course.

Holland impresses with their “can do” mentality and is giving a clear message to the world.

Normally a second half can become a tedious bit of tv watching, but clearly Sneijder and Babel are looking for some personal success, keeping it lively.

52″ Sneijder again in charge on the pitch, Babel is sent away and places the ball to the far post, stopped by the goalie. Almost a hattrick opp for Kuyt. Ensuiing corner kick results in a header chance for Ooijer, ball sails over the bar.

54″ Wonderful combination play between Van Bommel and Sneijder. Macedonia is totally confused. The ORanje players are all over the place. Now, Sneijder is playing left winger, the lads are changing positions constantly. And they’re clearly having fun. Well, Sneijder will only have fun when he gets his name on the score sheet, I suppose. Macedonia player is stretchered off here…

56″ Oopppssss…. Huge chance for Macedonia suddenly. What happened. The striker is down. Mathijsen is down. Stekelenburg is down. Auch. A deep ball between Joris and Ooijer. Stekelenburg leaves the goals and hammers the ball. And Joris Mathijsen….

Ouch…Another view from another angle and it looks like Rocky. Tremendous blow on the head. Oranje with ten men.

De Jong plays on Joris spot. Sneijder more in a holding role. Mathijsen back again.

60″ Wonderful deep ball by Huntelaar on Babel. All free road to the goalie but ruled off side. Wrongly.

61″ Sneijder and Kuyt try to set up Huntelaar in the box but the ref saw a foul. Sneijder curses in Spanish…

63″ Sneijder looking for some gallery play, chipping the ball to Hunter. And why not?

64″ New life in the team. Led by Kuyt who’s still chasing loose balls, Sneijder tackling heavily on the ball. The lads look hungry and motivated still.Quality sags a bit. Fatigue and of course, Macedonia is not intterested anymore. They close everything down and want to not concede anymore.

65″ Van Bommel puts in a flying tackle as well and Sneijder is being tripped in a turn around. Yellow card for the Maces.

67″ Oranje pressuring the Maces all over the park again. And this was the best attack of the night!!
Tremendous positioning play, coming in from the right: Kuyt, Huntelaar, Sneijder with the vision and a streaming shot by Babel. Saved by the goalie but ruled off side. Which it wasn’t, in my opinion. Great play.

The ESPN commentators feel it’s time for Oranje to win the big trophee this time around.

70″ Bit of pressure by Macedonia, but they can’t get past our last line of defense.

Time for another replacement, Bert. Bring Raf!!

And it’s not like Macedonia is a bad collection of players. They can surely play football, but they’re outsmarted, our run, out tackled by a set of individual talents playing as a team. Corner kick Holland.

73″ High drama in the ArenA. The linesman’s flag is broken. What does the UEFA rule book say? Will Blatter come down to solve this?

74. Corner kick Sneijder easily fetched by the goalie.

One more goal, at least, boys…

75″ Deep pass from the back on Babel in space, but ruled off side again and again, a bad call!

76″ Huge chance for Maces! Good cross in and a Mace player is unmarked but heads it over.

77″ A widely smiling Sneijder leaves the pitch and is replaced by his Madrid buddy Van der Vaart.

78″ Van der Vaart immediately excites the crowd with a typical carrousel…

80″ Vaaet is lively and appears at the back to pick up the ball and appears as a right winger later. Good break Oranje and a shooting opp for Van Bommel, stopped by the goalie.

81″ Another change. Dirk Kuyt gets a great farewell applause and makes way for Ibby Affelay.

82″ Unsung hero De Jong stops a lot of gaps right before defense.

83″ Dangerous free kick for Macedonia. Pandev stopped by three defenders. The wall blocks the ball. Cointer opps for Oranje. Van Bommel ends up left winger, but De Jong is being tackled. Babel again ruled off side on a Gio pass. And again, Babel times it right. The linesman has it wrong again. Poor Ryan.

88″ Rafael 4-0!!!! A great ball by Van der Vaart. Gio places the ball behind Raf, two defenders in his back. Raf falls, turns and slides the ball in his turn into the goal. Out of reach of the goalie. A goal made on instinct and talent. No thinking. But doing. Wonderful celebration of the frustrated Madrid player.

90″ Wonderful dribble by Affelay into the box, pass on Van der Vaart is not good enough. Ball brought back in and Gio’s shot sails wide.

Interesting. Van Bommel oversees the free running Affelay. The pass is not good and Affelay gives it to Van Bommel verbally who apologizes. In the 90th minute of a game you’ve won! That’s mentality.

92″ Affelay wants the ball and takes a crack from outside the box. Stopped by the goalie.

And it’s over….

Looking back, you can always start by saying that Macedonia is a poor side. But they aren’t. They’re shrewd, they’re skilled and physically strong. But, the Dutch players are better individually and surely as a team.

Oranje looked lively, motivated, hungry and looking for glory. A footballing machine. Van Bommel and De Jong rule the midfield. Everything Sneijder does has an idea behind it and every pass is aimed forward. Robben is a constant threat, Kuyt runs for every ball and Huntelaar only needs half a chance.

And every player that comes on has the cojones to say: I want the ball. I want to impress. Affelay, Vaart, Babel, doesn’t matter… They’re all hungry.

This time around, Van der Wiel was quiet. He had a real opponent in Popov and decided to play thrifty. Gio on the other hand, had more space to commit and played a good match.

Van Marwijk can be proud of his lads and can rest assured that he’s doing things the right way.

Man of the Match: for me Wesley Sneijder. The brains and the feet. Van Persie will have to concentrate on another position, I’d say.

The Tiju Trophee of Excellence in Performance goes to Dirk Kuyt. Working hard and scoring two goals!

How this team has grown… And I’m not referring to the victory over Scotland per se. I mean, they weren’t that good, were they?

But in general. We’ve seen San Marco qualify easily for two major tournaments. San Marco survived two Groups of Death ™. And got ousted after 1) a dreadful one out of a million games against Portugal (what a nightmare that was) and 2) after an off-day against Russia…

Our youngster have become men. They’re hungry. Motivated. On a mission. I’m very optimistic, you know?

We were all very happy one year ago when Marco decided to listen to his players and opt for 4-2-3-1. Now, we all seem to think the 4-2-3-1 isn’t necessary anymore.

And we also realize that our defense isn’t that bad after all. Like I said: I’m optimistic.

Marcellis, Braafheid, Heitinga, Boulah, Ooijer, Bouma, De Cler, Van der Wiel, Mathijsen… And I’m sure I forget one or two players.

We have quite some candidates for the holding positions: Bommel, De Jong, Schaars, De Zeeuw, Engelaar… Maybe El Ahmadi (Feyenoord). Twente’s Brama? Ronnie Stam? And do we need so many? Do we need two in the current team? And don’t forget: Sneijder and/or Van der Vaart can play there as well…

Huntelaar scores always and everywhere….

With all that talent available I would like to suggest to bring Van Bommel one line down (in Dutch we call it “linie” but I’m not sure what the English term would be….) to defense.

So, it’s…

——————–Stekelenburg——————
Wiel — Mathijsen — Bommel — Bouma/Braafheid/Gio/De Cler
Kuyt — Sneijder — De Jong — Robben
—Huntelaar—-Van Persie

Shadow team:

———-Vermeer/Timmer———
Marcellis — Heitinga — Boula—–see above
Affelay—-De Zeeuw—-Schaars — Vaart
——-Van Nistelrooy—-Babel

The second team could qualify for the WC as well and probably wouldn’t do too shabby…

But yes, with our current lads being pretty self-motivated, disciplined and allround, I can’t see the need for the 7 defensive players vs the 4 offensive ones. In particular against the “smaller” nations, we need more football from the back and Sneijder/Bommel in tandem can do that superbly. Mark from defense and Wes from the “holding” positions. The Pirlo position, if you like…

Against tougher opponents, like…eh…well…like Oranje ‘74, Oranje ‘98 or Oranje ‘88 we could maybe bring an extra destroyer…

But with all the national teams being devoid from creative, adventures football, I feel in 2010 we can again conquer the world with breathtaking football!

Bert, if you read this: don’t worry. Your son in law doesn’t need to go, he can drop a line. Raf is in trouble at Madrid so you can bench him without breaking a sweat.

And it doesn’t matter who you put on goal, since we’ll score one more than the opponent anyway.

So, what do you guys think? Mind you: I don’t have time for the “Systems Discussion”… All that formation stuff is a bit theoretical for me. I mean, 4-4-2 was played by AC Milan in the 80s and they rocked. They played very offensive. So, I don’t want to simplify football in a combination of figures and I’m absolutely not religious about those systems, but let’s give it a shot:

What do you think:

4-2-3-1?
4-4-2?
4-3-3?
4-1-3-2?
3-2-4-1?

When I played football, we played 3-2-5 …

And yet again, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar silences his criticasters the only way he can: by scoring goals, this time in the Real Madrid jersey. And even for Oranje, some people think he’s not good enough. “Ah well, I don’t want to focus on the negative…”, the Hunter says.

And what a sight it must have been. Huntelaar and Van Nistelrooy together on the sofa, watching television. Liverpool – Real Madrid. Feet on the coffee table, chips within distance.

“That was not a fun night,” Huntelaar looks back. Hunter wasn’t picked for the squad will Van Gol is recovering from injury. So, they find solace in each other’s company. Whining, complaining and cursing in a nice house in La Moraleja, a suburb outside Madrid.

Their career has many similarities. They both fought themselves up from the attic of pro football in Holland. Step by step. It took Ruud five years from Den Bosch to Man United. It took KJH the same time to move from AGOVV to Bernabeu.

“We talk about that stuff,” says Hunter. “Not very deeply or philosophical, but you know…talking about ambitions, about goals… Taking a new step every time. Ruud and myself are similar like that.”

The Hunter is not a lad of complicated, quasi romantic insights. Klaas Jan talks like he scores: without any frills. Wham bam thank you ma’m. But every now and then the PSV developed striker looks back at his first games at AGOVV, probably the least exciting pro club in Holland.

“Whenever I scan the weekend results, I always linger at AGOVV. That’s logical I suppose. I do have warm spot for that club. That season in Apeldoorn was important for my career. And it’s fun to compare it to Bernabeu. This is probably the most beautiful stadium in the world. Even when it’s only half filled, you know, you come onto the pitch and look up and then you realize how high it is…”

That view is more and more normal for the striker who came as a failed signing by Schuster and who transformed into a phenomenon. Eight goals in six games. “Well, I did ask the new coach what his intentions were, you know? I wanted to know what my perspective was… The first weeks were a bit confusing…”

Both the chairman and the coach who signed him had left (Calderon and Schuster), before Hunter could shake their hands. Huntelaar was benched and Real decided to use that other winter-signing for the CL. And then there was that AS article, claiming that Huntelaar wanted to leave Madrid. “That was weird. And totally untrue. I didn’t make the move to Madrid to leave within weeks!”

The striker never had any doubts. “I never really cared about it. I mean, how do these things happen? I don’t know and I don’t care, simply because there’s nothing you can do about it. I focus on football. That’s what I do. I train hard and work hard.”

The former Ajax skipper compares it to missing a chance. “You mustn’t linger too long. If I missed a sitter, I don’t mourn, I try to forget it immediately. It’s wasted energy. Negativity will bog you down.”

The turn around came six weeks back. With Oarnje, in Tunisia. Hunter came on as a sub an scored. “Scoring a goal is always great, but that one was extra good. Coach Ramos did tell me before Tunisia that I would get my chance as a starter, but that goal definitely helped.”

And yet again, Huntelaar can smile at his criticasters. Just as with Van Nistelrooy, there’s always people saying: can he handle the level at his new club. Can he score in the Eredivisie? Can he do it at Ajax? Can he do it in Oranje?

“And to me, the change isn’t that big. Did you know that the box in Spain is similar to the ones used in Holland? Honestly… I play tough defenders in Spain, but I did in Hollland as well. You’ve got to take the game to them, but I did that in Holland too. And of course, they tested me in Spain. An elbow, when the ball is somewhere else. But, I just follow my own instincts. The main thing for me always is sensing where the ball will come.”

Louis van Gaal recently said Huntelaar is the best “in-the-box” striker in the world. “Hmm…nice of him. That’s a great coach. And I’m happy with that, since most goals are made in the box. That’s where the action is.”

Van Nistelrooy also has the name to score mostly from up close. “It has a lot to do with your movement. The positioning. I talk about that with Ruud, a lot. He’s like me, focused on details. Obsessed almost. And again, it’s not like we’re philosophizing every day, but when we watch a game together we always zoom in on the details.”

The buddies could well end up as competitors in Madrid. Huntelaar is convinced Ruud van Gol will come back to the absolute top. “Ruud is so strong, mentally. He’ll be back.” So, who needs to play in the white jersey. Huntelaar: “There’s four options, really. It’s either one of us, or it’s neither of us… Or it’s both of us… We’ll see…”

Never before was there an Oranje team manager with so many fit internationals before two crucial qualification games.

So, this week Bert van Marwijk really strongly requests a high level of acceptance from his players. “We will never win the World Cup if certain players won’t be able to accept to be benched.”

Van Marwijk doesn’t see his situation as a luxury problem, with all the talented creative players in his group. “You can skip the word “problem”. To me, it’s purely a luxury. I don’t lose any minute of sleep over it. But, players will be disappointed. That’s how it is. And they are allowed to be angry as long as they accept it. These things are part of the deal.”

The 21 player selection has eight renowned creative players. “And only four will start,” said Van Marwijk. “So, four players will have to digest bad news.” But, in reality it’s only one player who will be disappointed. Affelay and Babel will accept their role as a sub. Van der Vaart also surrendered to the fact, knowing he has hardly played at Madrid. So, it’s between Hunter, Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder and Kuyt. The latter was the only one not totally fit. “Dirk had a hamstring issue, but a minor one. He trained full on on Thursday again.”

Oranje trained behind closed doors on Thursday. “I do think the players know who will play. I only want to say that Stekelenburg will start. Andre Ooijer is also fit, he isn’t bothered by that groin anymore.”

Van Marwijk does have more and more alternatives for the holding positions on midfield. He is happy with Van Bommel and De Jong, but Schaars and De Zeeuw are also reaching a very high level at AZ this season. “I’m blessed with the way more and more players develop themselves, mainly mentally, for the big stage. De Jong was a question mark for a while, but he saw the light. Schaars was injured for a long time and De Zeeuw seemed to drown in that bad season AZ had last year. The way these players fought back is very impressive and also inspiring.”

Oranje can put Scotland on eight points when Holland wins, this Saturday. “And that’s the whole point. We will go for three points, but we will have to be cautious in our build up. Scotland comes to defend. They will wait for us to make a mistake. We need to be on our toes…”

John Heitinga won’t be playing against Scotland. The 21 year old Ajax right back may have a good chance starting this time around. Who is Gregory van der Wiel?

Greg van der Wiel recently got his seventh tattoo. The lush letters on the lower right arm will remind him that his career path wasn’t always easy. Last year, he missed three quarters of the season due to a heavy knee injury.

Four years ago, he played in the youth of Haarlem and he had to play his age peers of Ajax. The same club who sent him away when he was 14 years old, for being “difficult”.

“I played three years in Haarlem and those years were crucial for me. I realized there what I was doing with my life. I was wasting my talent. I suddenly had to play in second hand jerseys, getting changed in crummy dressing rooms… I was a spoilt kid, not really nice and I was told off in a really harsh way.”

His return to Ajax was a special one. Ajax had a youth tournament in Italy, but many Ajax youngsters weren’t allowed to go due to study obligations. Ajax looked around at satelite clubs in the area and found Van der Wiel. “I played so good that PSV and Feyenoord contacted me for a contract. Ajax quickly stepped in but they only wanted me as an amateur. We didn’t have a lot of money at home, so I was tempted to sign for PSV or Feyenoord, but my new manager said: no no…invest in yourself. Go to Ajax. Revenge yourself. When you’ve made it through and show you learned your lesson, the money will follow…”

Ajax now sees Van der Wiel as a tremendous talent, who’s still developing. But much more relaxed than before. “When I don’t have anything to say, I don’t say anything,” he says now. Interviewing him is hard, because he doesn’t talk without being asked something.

But when you do your best, Van der Wiel reveals a lot. He finished highschool, with Greek and Latin. He buys his shirts at Zeeman (low-cost retailer). He has three younger sisters, wants to play the piano and Daniel Alves is currently his role model.

“Whenever I enter the Zeeman shops, people stare at me. But I don’t care. They have good shirts. I sometimes shop in expensive shops, but I can never find anything I like.”

Recently, he had another tattoo placed. A symbol, stating that people shouldn’t judge each other on external features. “That’s so annoying. I used to come to Ajax with a backpack. Other players would say: hey, did you just come from school?”

Now, his coach gives him all the space and time to develop. “Van Basten is relaxed. When you make a mistake, he doesn’t yell at you. He always allowed me to make mistakes. He gives me confidence, and that’s so important.”

Van der Wiel is proud to be part of Oranje. “But I will remain critical. I’m actually never satisfied about myself.”

It seems the choice will be between him and Dirk Marcellis as right back against Scotlan. You’d think that Van der Wiel, with his offensive qualities, will be the optimal choice in a home game. He made his debut against Tunisia, albeit six minutes. Van der Wiel shows a broad smile. “It’s weird man, when I was 15 years old I played on the street with a Van Persie jersey. I always wanted to be Robin. And now, we’re playing in the same team. How cool is that?”

Today, Van der Wiel focuses on another player: Daniel Alves of Barcelona. He hopes to become that good. “We do have the same style, we both play the whole right flank. Creating combinations, taking a man on, crossing the ball in and scoring. I feel much better on the flank than centrally. My ambitions are open. I don’t play to become a good solid Eredivisie player. I want to make it to the European top. And I’m not good enough to do that as a center back. Or good, good… I just don’t have the physical make up. Most center backs are strong, tall blokes. I think I have more chances to get there on the right flank.”

The Oranje players were together for the second time on the trainings pitch in 2009, yesterday. It’s been six weeks since the Tunisia game. In that period, the 22 internationals’ clubs played 183 games in total, in the competition, national cup and Europe. In 43 of those, they did without a Dutchman on the pitch.

It’s not a bad ratio, in a time of rotation systems and an ever bigger playing calender. This means: not a lot of injuries and most internationals are being valued at their club.

And interestingly, three internationals make up for almost half those 43 missed games: Maarten Stekelenburg, Raf van der Vaart and Nigel de Jong. The first two due to tactical choices of their coaches, Marco van Basten and Juande Ramos. The third because he isn’t eligible to play
UEFA Cup football for Manchester City.

Almost all players are in a rhythm, which is a good observation for coach Van Marwijk. And it’s a tough one for him too.

Competition for certain positions is almost murderous… The only spot Bert has some question marks is the spot where no team manager before him in the last 14 years had trouble: the goalie. Stekelenburg hasn’t keeped in the last seven Ajax games.

In front of Stekel, regulars Ooijer, Mathijsen and Gio are starters at their clubs. Joris Mathijsen is even the absolute number one in playing minutes: eleven games in a month and a half. The HSV players still competes for the title, the German cup and the UEFA Cup.

Competition has increased for the right back position. Heitinga lost his spot at Atletico, right after the trainers’ switch in Madrid, but he did start in the last four games. Ajax youngster Gregory van der Wiel is ready and poised to take over.

And then there’s the remarkable come-back of Khalid Boulahrouz. Van Marwijk omitted him for Tunisia, but since then the ex-RKC players is a regular at VfB Stuttgart.

The candidates for the holding positions, Mark van Bommel, Stijn Schaars and Demy de Zeeuw are like cement for their respective clubs: they play almost everything at Bayern and AZ.
They all missed one match: all due to suspensions.

Against Scotland, Van Marwijk will use three creative midfielders and a central striker again. He’s got eight choices for those four positions. And in terms of quality, they’re so close he will have to choose on the basis of details.

“When a few don’t play for two months and others play every game, the choice will be obvious,” he said. “And easier too… It’s harder to convince players why they’re benched when they play all their games for their clubs.”

Van der Vaart will therefore have to accept a spot on the bench, with only 32 minutes in six weeks. Ryan Babel will normally lose the battle with regular Arjen Robben, leaving six players for the remaining four spots: Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt, Affelay, Huntelaar and Van Persie.

In terms of rhythm and performance, the logical choices would be Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt with Huntelaar deep. But a line up of Oranje without both Sneijder and Van der Vaart would be a scoop in the recent history of Oranje.