Holland top scoring nation in EC’s

That’s wat makes a Dutch fan proud, being better than Germany We should play them in the final and win, then we’ll have more victories than them too

Posted from  Netherlands

Van Basten used to be the Dutch version of second choice Steve. What happened oh wait Dutch players are better than England players.

Posted from  United States

oh yeah 6-1 against yougo … kluivert four times !
remember me why he isn’t on the 23 !!? n’imp marco n’imp ! ^^
five goals for kluivert 2000, five for vanbasten 88, three for dennis 92
each time best scorer of the tournament, i guess i’d like to see sneijder this time, five goals seem to be well, thinking he won’t play against romania. keep the last two ones for final wes !

Posted from  France

At this point I don’t think it will matter but I think we play for the Win against Romania.
I would be more worried about playing Italy again than France if one of them makes it through but we wont play to lose so to speak.

Van Persie and Robben will probably start Tuesday. They are just now getting back from injuries and Van Basten will want to make sure they are fit for the rest of the tourney.
This is the team I see trotting out there against Romania:

Van Der Sar
De Cler / Bouma / Heitinga / Melchiot
De Zeeuw / De Jong / Affelay
Robben / Huntelaar / Van Persie

That is a squad that could beat Romania and probably any team in this tournament.

Posted from  United States

I think the Dutch are quite emotionally attached to comparisons with Germany. I mean we don’t see this kind of rivalry with England, France or Italy. Does this originate from WW II onwards?

I am really really sorry if I touch a raw nerve here. This was never my intention.

BTW this is a nice link
http://www.ajax-usa.com/desk/cheeseheads-vs-krauts-30-years-of-enmity.html

Ryan, I wouldn’t put de Cler on the right, he can only play left. I hope Huntelaar can play, but I’m afraid not. Everyone deserves some minutes though, put all the subs on the field I’d say.

Posted from  Netherlands

Jan, I truly think the whole WWII sentiment is something that plays not that big of a role anymore. It’s something that is used by tabloids to stir things up when a Holland-Germany game is coming up, but I’m glad to notice that this sentiment isn’t as present in relation to football as it was in 1988. The loss of the WC 74 final however is a different story…that was suppose to be our cup !! I wasn’t even born in ‘74 but somehow that loss still breaks my hart…

In the last 20 minutes of the first half, France got a lot of shot on goal. I don’t understand why Holland players let the France players did it almost without interception. France almost made it 1:1, and almost got a penalty (the ball hit Ooijer’s hand or Ooijer tried to hold the ball on purpose). Don’t let it happen again, when the opponent is Spain (they have David Villa and Torres who are very skilful).

Posted from  Indonesia

Well for the Germans anyway the recent animosity with the Dutch was due to two things. When Ronald Koeman (NED) said he used the shirt he swapped with Olaf Thon (GER) as toilet paper after Holland-Germany met in 1989 in Rotterdam, and the rivalry was made worse when Frank Rijkaard (NED) spat at Rudi Voeller (GER) three times when Germany eliminated Holland from World Cup 1990 (Voeller was red-carded for arguing with the Dutch goalie – so for nothing – while Rijkarrd was red-carded for spitting at Voeller).

Holland lost the 1974 World Cup because they were arrogant and showboated, and this is a statement directly from Johnny Rep one of the Netherlands players’ Now who is the big bad wolf?

Like Johannes said the war really isn’t a reason for the rivalry between the Netherlands and Germany. The war was sixty years ago and we’re not blaming the people for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. We’ve been giving them votes at the eurovision song contest for a lot of years now
It’s the things that happened in football as described by Johannes and Nick that fuel the animosity. (And not in a sense that we want to smash things when we happen to lose, it’s just football, we’d hate it, but we’re not going to turn violent )

Posted from  Netherlands

Forgetting history for a sec., there used to be 2 teams I hate the most: Argentina and Germany. They are just 2 teams that play in almost opposite style than our beloved Oranje and unfortunately both in 1974 and 1978 we lost to them in rather “questionable” ways. I still a kid in 1978 but recalled my dad and uncles said that Argentina played dirty at home.

The Rijkaard v Voeller incident was of course another highlight and my German buddy almost refers to Ronald Koeman as “the @$$hole” because of the wiping incident, but we enjoy sparring with each other as I frequently reminded him that Rijkaard spits were more macho than Voeller’s cry for help.

Fast forward to the next decade, I think I hate the German team less …. in fact, in the last World Cup under Klinsi, they actually played more like the Oranje while our Oranje played more like the Germans. Now, my #1 enemy is Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo as #1 player enemy! I hate the team/player with passion after what happened at the last World Cup. It’s probably the end of the world that I’ll be rooting for Germany if they end up at #2 and play Portugal in the next round.

HUP HOLLAND!

–H

My MOM for last night’s game is Van Dar Sar.Although the 2 goals from Robben and Sneider was spectacular.Holland should not be complacent.We’ve done the initial bit, now to plan for the knockouts.I would love to beat the portugese cheats along the course of this tournament.The defence still looks shaky, but may be with a little luck( which we already had!)we could win this Euro.GO HOLLAND GO.

Posted from  Australia

Good to hear from you dr., was wondering where you were..

Lerkot??

Posted from  Netherlands

@prabal , oh not only dutch.
the same for france about germany since the semifinal in 82 who spoilded the platini’s generation from the world prize they deserve. (and again in semi 86).
every tournament french hope they’ll meet germans in final for revenge.

Posted from  France

I hope the Dutch can continue to play great football. It is really fun to watch.

Posted from  United States

PROUD TO BE DUTCH

Posted from  Netherlands

I’ve never loved my grandma more for giving me Dutch blood…

@ jack

you forgot: Van Basten was hell of great player than steve in his wildest dreams.

Posted from  United Kingdom

@Prabal; like others already wrote; WOII plays almost no part anymore, 1974 is far more important and the fact that germany is our ‘big brother’, whether we like it or not (our royal family is more german than dutch for that matter)

a lot of the pain/frustration were taken away by the 1988 semi in Hamburg

the germans have always been succesful and we havent, guess the frustration is that we dutch think we play the better football but never get rewarded, unlike our german friends

and ofcourse its cultivated by the media

Posted from  Netherlands

Many thanks to dutch people from Romania…you let us win, but we were too stupid…Thanks and good luck to the final!!!

Posted from  Romania