UEFA Cup: where do we stand?

I can’t take anything away from them. Our defense played a great game, but it’s inevitable that you give opportunities away. The away goal we scored will prove to be worth gold. I am positive about our chances. If the fans will come and support us in two weeks, we’ll be ready for them.”

Posted from  India

@karole
where u now in india?

Posted from  India

@karole r u dutch?

Posted from  India

@karole
if you want to visit my place u r welcome.
Anand -Gujraat

Posted from  India

@tjiu; you old bird puller!! haha

off topic; any of you people remember the Belgium game in 2000 wich ended 5-5?? i remember the game but didnt remember the goals; heres the tube

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=2g_TMwtQn8o

now watch Bergkamp on 1.53 and watch the great Davids goal… enjoy

on topic;

Ajax won 4-1 last night and Suarez scored a pretty brilliant goal, here it is

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=cr7Vt_qK7w8

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Lookin forward to that clip of Belgium, Goose-meister, but it’s not longer available.

I’ll try later….

@Goose - thanks for the highlights, that seems like it was a very interesting game! Bergkamp at 1.53 - was he doing that to stick up for teammate who just got fouled? Also seems like the Belgium player got his revenge later on in the game with a tackle from behind. I love the commentator for the Davids dribble and goal

On topic, interesting results. Good for Ajax obviously, and hope the other ones can fight to keep their leads/come back from behind to make it to the next round.

Posted from  Canada

Van Basten is right: of course Feyenoord’s failure and Ajax triumph on UEFA Cup have some influence on what can happen at De Klassieker, but there are some other factors. As we like to say in Brazil, “a derby is a derby and vice-versa” (a lil’bit obvious, isn’t it? :))

I just fear what the Rotterdam hooligans can do in case of a new defeat to Het Legioen…

Anyway, I’ll watch it on telly on Sunday (even having to wake up at 7:00 am…)

@Carlos and Goose: No, I’m not an spy, I swear!

Posted from  Brazil

Hey Jan, did you hear that Hasselbaink put an end to his career just some days ago? And Kuijt had admitted that he wouldn’t mind playing for Jol in Hamburg, next season.

Posted from  Netherlands

dont think Feyenoord stand a change this sunday .. they just dont look very strong at the moment and i think Ajax came out much more confident

@Caleb; i remember Dennis stamping on a yougoslav defender during the WC98, ill see if i can find a clip .. he could be a real basterd sometimes

@Felipe; so no dutch links at all??? im impressed with you knowledge my friend

would love to see Kuyt at HSV, my fav Oranje player at my fav german team ..

Posted from  Netherlands

@Celeb; found it! its on 4.39… (Hol-Yoe)

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=83q4G0CoKgk&feature=related

Posted from  Netherlands

@Goose: that’s what following Dutch football can do with you… when Afonso Alves was called to Brazilian national team when playing for SC Heerenveen, many people I know came to me asking “WTF is this Afonso?”. And, during Euro, some men asked me for pictures of Dutch WAGs (with emphasis on Gertrude, Kuyt’s spouse)…

BTW, I like Dirk’s attitude when he’s on field. He may not be that very skilled player, but his “never-say-die” way of play pleasures many supporters. Mainly on a club whose supporters like this kind of players, as Liverpool. It can be very useful on Oranje. I’d like to see him at my team.

BTW, again, here’s an YouTube of Kuyt singing with Jan Smit, a Dutch singer, during the Eredivisie 2005/06 Awards Night. I think it’s funny: there are Hunter, Sar, De Cler, a De Boer (I must confess I don’t know if it’s Ronald or Frank)… even Guus De Geluk: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=FFqoN3ikPmU

Hey Felipe - Just love your comments and analysis (spy or no spy ) Wish I knew as much about Brazilan Football as you do about Dutch, not just names but the intricate club politics (wow!). All I know is that when a World Cup comes around and people ask me who is the favourite, my first and automatic answer is “Brazil”.

Posted from  Singapore

@goose haha
Kuyt sucks still i cannt pardon him (missess against portugal 2006WC)coz of that italy won the cup ha ha

Posted from  India

@Any of us are welcome to Anand(My working place) coz i love dutch that much.if had enough money in my pocket i would have came there and i would have met you peoples and i may jump into football coaching.

Posted from  India

Sory guys for not being more active recently, but I have been real busy watching the world financial system fall apart( a bit of the same feeling as after the final whistle in the Russia game in EC2008), hence did not catch enough matches to provide a lot of insight.

Luckily as usual, the rest of the posters are on the ball and have provided me with all the valuable feedback I need. Thank you all!!!

@Felipe, your knowledge is incredible. I bet there is not a single person in Brazil that know as much about Oranje as you do. Speaking of Heerenveen by the way, Tarik Elyounoussi was the guy that came in as a late sub to score the equaliser in the UEFA cup. He is perhaps the biggest soccer talent today in Norway and since the head coach of Heerenveen, Trond Sollied, is also Norwegian he decided to come to Heerenveen this summer over a lot of bigger European clubs. His father is Moroccan and he had a chance to play for their NT as well, but decided to play for Norway instead. He is real young and I bet Heerenveen will be making a mint on him when they/him decide to move on. They seem to have got their youth program in order as opposed to my dear Ajax…which pisses me off

OK I hate to spoil the “come to my house in India banter” but something has been bothering me lately.

Why would Ooijer make a move to Blackburn from PSV for any reason other than money? He was good at PSV but his Blackburn appearances have been “luke warm” at best. Do you think he made a mistake???

Posted from  Canada

I am not kidding, but I owe Tiju a huge thank you because I went for a big Indian dinner here in Manhattan, and it was absolutely brilliant on the occasion. Just what I needed to cheer me up a little bit (if that is even possible at the moment).

Tiju, keep those posts coming!!!

@Jason: I have followed Oojier quite closely at Blackburn, and he struggles. Between injuries and competition for the starting spot, the Blackburn fans has turned a bit against him. Now with the new manager, Paul Ince, I doubt his future (if he has any) lies with B’Burn. I think you are right, a player that should have stayed at PSV but if someone offer you EPL money, are you going to turn it down? Especially if you are Dutch

@finni
how was the dinner?you know nowadays lots of stupid indians migrating to other places and spoiling those countries.good luck to those countreis ha ha.

Posted from  India

i dont care abt ooiger i am looking into the future young talents i lost my total faith in our diffenders except bula (that to only in diffencive aspect)get rid of ooiger and co.

Posted from  India

Hey Finn, how bad is it on the workfloor and the street? Bottom in sight and go bulls, or is it a structural situation, according to you?

@Finnster: thanks a lot! By the way, do you believe that the plan from White House can help the crisis or other banks will meet the bankruptcy?

People, and how about AZ, huh? :O If there was a chance for Alkmaarder Zaanstreek to prove they’re not dead men, it was today on DSB Stadion. And they did it. Just against the trophy-holders. Thanks from FC Den Haag:) (will the dream continue, Goose? It depends on tomorrow against De Graafschap… )

@jan and Felipe (and others). Off topic, but I see there is a lot of interest in getting a view directly from Wall Street in terms of the state of affairs from the ground. This is a bit of a long rant, so if you are not interested, please skip. There is no soccer here whatsoever.

So I will tell you what people here on Wall Street really thinks, including my personal view. First of all, it is a complicated issue. It is certainly not as simple as our presendential candidates and TV anchors are portraying it to be: Greedy executives, no regulation, SEC doing nothing until too late etc. You name it. It is always somebody elses fault.

Why we ended up where we are has many guilty parties, including all of the above. But actually at the very bottom of the pyramid is really me and everyone else living in the states and elsewhere borrowing more money than we could afford to. The banks are guilty because they let us do it to grow business. The goverment is guilty because they did not have a regulatory body competent to audit and prevent the banks from doing this in the first place which is their job. And also it allowed the consumer to get cash through refinancing, and the consumer is the driver of the US economy, so why stop that, especially with elections coming up? That is all facts. I can write pages & pages about this but this is a soccer blog first and foremost.

Now with respect to the proposed “package” there are a few scary things first to keep in mind. If the fed had not stepped in when they did, it would have caused a global financial meltdown on the scale of 1929 within days, not weeks! But this time, it would not be just the US but the world. Scary, but true. In terms of the proposed solution there are bascially two main views on the Street:

1) Setting up this emergency fund is a good thing, and although it is expensive, over time the government will recoup the spend as happened during the 80′ies and 90′ies in the Scandinavian countries when they faced a complete collapse of their financial markets. In fact, the package (which has yet to be presented and passed by congress…) is from what I hear based on the solution those countries implemented, which ultimately turned very succesful. So in other words, there will be some jumpy markets going forward, but finally as time moves on, things will go back to normal because the government will be there as a guarantor, and because the economy will grow the will recoup the spend in future taxes.

2) The other view is that it is too expensive, the US economy is not capable to handle it given its dependency of selling their bonds (debt) abroad. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not cheap. On top of that, all it takes is China, Russia or Japan to stop buying bonds, or even worse selling the ones they already have, and then the only way the US can handle its mess is to print money, which theoretically opens the door to hyperinflation (case in point Zimbabwe currently with 11000% inflation). Not a pretty picture, and if that happened I would move to Amsterdam and become a bicycle mechanic.

My view is somewhere between. I believe there are still some scary systematic issues in the markets, but the fed is dealing with at least some of them (e.g temporarily stopping short selling and disallowing “naked” shorts permanently) but this whole mess started because the financial engineers at the Goldmans and JP Morgan invented CDO and CDS which are very complex financial instruments that is very hard to price correctly, even for them. Forget about the fed, they have a bunch of old men who were retired before these things got invented, and kids straight out of college. Financial innovation is always going to be one step ahead of the regulators, just like doping in sports. Everytime one loophole gets shut, another one opens up.

Expect jumpy markets short term, especially until whatever the final “package” gets passed in congress. I think next week will have a few bad days as Dems and Reps play games to pass this bill. Longer term I actually think it will work itself out. The economy always has, even in 1929, but the only problem is that it takes time. Also remember what happens in the US`markets typically takes a full year before it blossoms in Europe and 2 years in Asia/Pac, so if you wander if I could give you any advice it is basically to not panic, dont sell your stocks now, ride out the bad times. At the same time I would not recommend anyone at the moment to be “clever” and try to buy on the cheap, because this may not be the bottom yet.

I think the economy will be in trouble until 2010 before things will be picking up. So friends, best thing to do is to “batten down the hatches” until the storm is over, because eventually it will.