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UEFA Cup results…what to make of it?

October 23rd, 2008 | By: Jan | 22 Comments »

Vermaelen scores at Villa Park

But we start with remarkable news from FC Utrecht: the club has a scoop, they must be the first club in the history of pro football where the management decided after a bad season start to fire all coaches, except for the head coach! That’s right… Willem van Hanegem stays, but all his assistants (John van Loen, David Nascimento and others) are fired on the spot. That’s a new one… Van Hanegem has even signed on to stay longer…

UEFA Cup football now!!

Our new national pride, NEC gave away a lead in Zagreb, playing the local dinamoes. With ten minutes to go, Mario Been’s mavericks were 1-2 up! A wonderful result, but there were still ten minutes to go…
The Croatians started ferocious. The reigning champs hadn’t won an official game this season and picked NEC as the opponent to start the turn around. From the first minute on, Dinamo Zagreb took the game to the Nijmegen club and a mistake of Babos meant the 1-0. It seemed NEC would be butchered but apart from an off-side and thus disallowed second goal, Zagreb couldn’t score more.
NEC came back into the game through a lucky and wonderous own goal. Check YouTube in the next days, because I can’t describe it. Tim Janssen scored the second with then minutes to go, but the pressure of Zagreb was too much for Been’s youngsters and they conceded twice in the last minutes. Tim Janssen had the chance on a very late equalizer, which would have been deserved, but he missed.

Ajax stumbled against Aston Villa in England, losing 2-1. Marco van Basten told his troups that Villa scores 60% of their goals from setpieces and corners. Danny Blind even demonstrated during a press conference how you should defend taller strikers… But the coach wasn’t seated yet of Villa had the 1-0 on the scoreboard. Vermaelen timed wrong, Vermeer was too late, bang… Within half an hour, however, Thomas Vermaelen got his revenge. A corner kick, all the time and space for the Ajax defender and bang, 1-1. Right before halftime, it was another cross into the Ajax box that was poorly defended and the 2-1 was a fact. In the second half, Van Basten brought three fresh players and changed his tactics to one-on-one (losing 4-1 or 2-1 doesn’t matter so much) and went for the draw. But no matter how hard Huntelaar yelled for the ball, Ajax couldn’t reach him and Amsterdam’s pride will have to wait for their first points.

Just when you think Feyenoord played it’s worst game, they are able to surprise you… The Rotterdam based club had to travel to Nancy, where two years ago the Feyenoord hard-core hooligans disgraced Dutch football. This time around, no Dutch fans on the stands and even the sponsors and VIPs had decided to stay home. Whether it was the lack of fan support or not, Feyenoord was clueless. Nancy, not the brightest light in French football, didn’t play too good either and the game can be categorized as poor, sloppy and tedious. Feyenoord got some chances but it seemed the pressure was too much. Gio missed two free shots, Michael Mols slipped in a decisive moment and Roy Makaay, who made his return, wasn’t able to turn the tables. When Nancy scored their first, the house of cards came crashing down. Feyenoord lost 3-0 and left the pitch with the heads bowed very low. Verbeek realizes a crisis is looming (Heerenveen is the next opponent) but refuses to panic and give in.

FC Twente did best, for Holland. The Steve McLaren coached side played an impressive game against Racing Santander, after kicking out Stade Rennes in the pre-group phase. Twente scored an early goal, a copy of the Dennenboom goal against Rennes, and Kenneth Perez was the big man for Twente. McLaren had said before the game: “We want to win and I don’t care how!”. But the “how” was impressive, although Racing never ever looked like they wanted to take the game to Twente. If the Tukkers weren’t so sloppy, they could have scored three more. Perez: “When you look at our opponents (Paris SG, Man City, Schalke and Racing) it feels like we’re playing Champions League football. We are the club with the lowest budget in this group, so winning this is really great. We will all try to rise to the occasion.”

Herenveen was in awe of all those AC Milan superstars training on their grounds, the last days. The fans realized Heerenveen wouldn’t have a chance, but they experienced this fixture as a present still.
The fairytale lasted 20 minutes. Then, it was Inzaghi who scored the first Italian goal. Coach Sollied had told the players: “Guys, go out there and enjoy. And entertain the fans. This might be the only time you will play against AC Milan, so give it your all.” The players of Heerenveen didn’t share the awe with their fans and tried to steal the game from the first moment on. The fans loved it, but the Rossoneri weren’t impressed. Gattuso scored the second goal and the game was over. Milan sneakily played the game out and allowed Heerenveen to huff and puff to their hearts delight. Inzaghi scored the 3-0, but Heerenveen did open their account, through a Panjic penalty kick (Panenka style). Sollied: “I’m not too disappointed. This was a huge lesson. We need to win our next game against Wolfsburg, that’s an opponent we can have. Normally, if you play AC Milan 100 times, you only win once. Today wasn’t that day.”

Tags: Ajax, Basten, Been, CL and UEFA, Feyenoord, Heerenveen, Holland, Huntelaar, Kaka, Makaay, Oranje, Perez, Seedorf, Twente, Verbeek

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Comments

By Bart | October 23rd, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Lol, I couldn’t understand any of your second paragraph. You kept changing the scores and it confused me.

Posted from Canada

By grammar checker | October 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 pm

Read normal to me. Scores not changed at all. Very well-written as usual in the entertaining Jan style.

Posted from United States

By Jan | October 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm

Thank you grammar checker . Is this your first visit?

Sorry there Bart…

By Jan | October 24th, 2008 at 4:38 am

I just posted reactions of the Dutch coaches on:

http://netherlands.theoffside.com

Check it out:

Verbeek confesses he is a Nancy fan and threw the game.

Van Basten wants Huntelaar to be the next goalkeeper of Ajax.

Sollied moves to the Norwegian national team.

Mario Been cries: does everyone still love us??

McLaren: what?

By goose | October 24th, 2008 at 5:39 am

Think Feyenoord/Verbeek need to watch it, its getting worse each match

Posted from Netherlands

By Ragnar | October 24th, 2008 at 7:44 am

Hmm getting worriend about the Hunter….is it the team´s fault or is he having a VERY slow start this season?

By goose | October 24th, 2008 at 7:57 am

off topic: strange news in the dutch press … the KNVB is re-installing an Oranje B-side (they had one 20 years ago) Johan Neeskens will be the Bondscoach and his assistant will be: …. Bergkamp!

Jan; did you know there was an Oranje B 20 years ago?? its all new to me!!

Posted from Netherlands

By ian | October 24th, 2008 at 10:08 am

what is this oranje B do u mean a secondary side

By ian | October 24th, 2008 at 10:08 am

what is this oranje B do u mean a secondary side

By Alex | October 24th, 2008 at 10:27 am

something for players who aren’t in the real oranje but can’t play in young oranje either, so players like Emanuelson, Bakkal, De Guzman, Maduro, Vlaar, Donk, Zuiverloon, Pieters, V.d.Wiel, Kruiswijk, Luirink, Verhaegh, Jong-a-pin, Luijckx, Elia, Lens, Amrabat, Beerens, Bruins, Schaars, Velthuizen, Vermeer, Braafheid, Drenthe, Sno, Brama, maybe Castelen, Jenner etc.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | October 24th, 2008 at 10:30 am

Pretty much every decent talent we still have lying around from U-21 EC 2006, 2007, and the Olympics, who are over 20 but under 26 or something like that.

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | October 24th, 2008 at 11:08 am

B teams are secondary football team similar to a reserve team. B international team/matches are not recognize by fifa only A international team/matches. B teams can play against A teams.
i only know 4 teams that use B team, france, england, germany, and argentina.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am

my orange b team

Vorm
Zuiverloon-Breuer-Donk-Pieters
Amrabat-Schaars-Seedorf-Emanuelson
Koevermans—Demouge

Posted from United States

By Alex | October 24th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Vermeer(does better now but I still think Velthuizen has more talent)
Zuiverloon-Donk-Loovens-Braafheid
Amrabat-Schaars-Emanuelson-Beerens
Bakkal-Elia(El Hamdaoui)

Vermeer, cause he does better then Velthuizen at the moment and Vorm probably has a good chance of staying with the real oranje.
Zuiverloon, speaks for itself,
Donk, tall, stron and is doing well with WBA
Loovens, also tall and strong, besides,Vlaar/Luirink injured so Loovens good alternative, and we get to see what he’s really made of, good chance to test him out.
Braafheid, Pieters is still a lesser defender than Braafheid, why do you think Twente is the only dutch club that won in UEFA cup:).
Schaars, finally the impressive AZ leader can return to one of oranje’s teams
Amrabat, cause, De Guzman, Castelen, Aissati injured, Bruins still lesser then both Beerens and Amrabat
Beerens, in form right now, best winger at the moment
Emanuelson, might not be the leftwingback that V.Basten wants, but he can play one hell of a game in a free role on midfield,
Elia, does well for Twente, Jeremain Lens not good, Emnes benched, Nijland Benched,
Bakkal, can play perfectly well in a sort of striker role.

After making this line-up i suddenly realise i only have half a striker with Bakkal, oops but this could also work

in defence also possible, Luirink/Vlaar in for Loovens when they’re fit.
reserve possibilities with players like Velthuizen, Krul, V.d.Wiel, Janmaat, Verhaegh, Pieters, Jong-a-pin, Tiendalli, Koenders, Bruins, Luijckx, Kruiswijk, Drenthe, Brama, Siem de Jong, De Guzman, Aissati, Lens, Nijland, Amrabat, Geert-Arend Roorda, Emne, Jenner, Collins John, Maduro, Castelen etc.
Maybe even Mounir El Hamdaoui as striker
Or even Medunjanin as supproting attacker/sort of number 10

other players are either older or already abroad, Castelen, Mendes da Silva, Kromkamp, Dingsdag, Zomer, Theo Janssen, Koevermans, and they’re specifically talking about talented young players born before januari 1, 1988(after that you can play in a lower selection), also Demouge not that good, although he or Amoah would be a good option for Feyenoord, since Mols is going to quit after this season and they could need some good goalscorers.

Posted from Netherlands

By lowiesje | October 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

No offence, but what’s this talking about a B-team? Against who they gonna play? Friendlies against U-21 teams? Or teams like Lithuania, Iceland? B-teams in my book says it all… a secondary side with a mix of youngsters and some older players; and not the real-deal. (Must be depressing when you not good enough for the A-side, for a side-note remark…)
I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a some-sort of dump-yard… but used as to gain experience for players (old or young) and a test-case if they really fit in the A-side. (its this the Philosophy behind it? Its that so, its fine with me) Anyway Bergkamp and Neeskens are the coaches, but only for a year.

Posted from Netherlands

By mario | October 24th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

A B team???can somebody explain me that ?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!

By dirk v.d. Berg | October 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

A while ago England’s B played against Albania’s A, and won. They were trying to bring Michael Owen back to his full international potential. I doubt that Seedorf would ever play on a B-team though.

I also think that the U-21 guys should stick to u-21 games, and the B team should be comprised of older players who can’t make the A-team. Players like Roy Makaay perhaps. He shows a bit of talent, and maybe makes the A-team if he wants.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | October 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

So, even more strain and pressure on players. More travel, more chances on injuries… Why are we doing this? What’s the purpose?

The only reason I see is to have a quality training/sparring partner for the A-team…

By mario | October 24th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I find it stupid. A B team for a national team? It doesn´t work that way.

By Michel-Olivier | October 24th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

i think B team is a good idea to test old and young players. since bert will keep on selecting the same players every friendlies and qualifies, a B team will test players(Hofland, Zuiverloon, Koevermans, Donk…) that deserve to be in the A team.

Posted from United States

By Jan | October 24th, 2008 at 10:43 pm

I think you’re right MO. I will post an article on this B-team later…

By finnster01 | October 25th, 2008 at 2:42 am

Hey all, I guess I couldn’t keep my fingers off the keyboard…Thanks for all of your encouragement and support to keep on posting. KNVB can go stuff themselves for all I care as long as we have this blog going.

Anyway, the notion of having a national B-team is nothing new, including Holland. It has been around since the 50′ies. England, Scotland, France, Holland, Ireland, Norway (and several others) all have or had B-teams. Before U-21 got properly organized (mid-70′ies), it was the only way to “recruit” and “experiment” outside of the full national side.

As the match schedule became increasingly congested for players, and the U-21 got better matching and proper tournaments, it has become non-practical for many countries to use it. The so called “friendlies” have taken over this role a bit. However, it is typically all up to the manager how he wants to use a B-team, if at all. Typically they play only 1-2 games a year (like England).

The idea of having a B squab is as M-O points out, to let the “old” and young players not in the full team, get a chance. It’s really no different than the “reserves” in the English Prem.

With so many players just “under” the full Oranje squad, this may be a good time to use it. In addition, it is at the start of a WC campaign and several of the bigger nations will use this to give as many players a run as possible prior to the squad settling for 2010. The scheduled friendlies don’t give you enough opportunity to experiment.

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