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Johan Cruyff: Oranje could have scored more!

June 9th, 2008 | By: Jan | 13 Comments »

He didn’t say this to be overly critical. He is just stating the facts. Ruud van Nistelrooy got two more chances and in the second half with Robin and Afellay, a tad more luck or smarter play and we could have punished the Italians seriously. But, JC also said: “I’m happy for Oranje. They did very well. But, don’t forget, Italy didn’t play that bad, in particular the second half, I expected them to score. Oranje had some luck, sure, but the Italians squandered their chances too.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy: “I hadn’t seen Panucci! I honestly thought I was off side. I was so revved up to go, you’re waiting and waiting… We were so eager. Totally prepared. And we started well. Putting pressure on them, push them back… We wanted Toni to be as far from our goal as possible. And we played wonderful football in between the lines, Raf and Wesley in particular. It is such a joy to be part of this team.”

Giovanni van Bronckhorst: “We did well, but there are two more games at least. This will make a mark in Europe and we can surely use that.” And about his part in the second goal. “Man, it all goes so fast. There was space in my channel. Raf had time and I just went. I first wanted to play Wesley, but he got marked. I saw Kuyt and he played in on Wes when his marker lost track of him. The turn around seems to become our speciality. This was very enjoyable. We’ll allow ourselves one day of celebrating and then we’ll prepare for France.”

Robin van Persie dedicated this victory to Ryan Babel, his buddy who had to leave the squad due to injury. “I received an sms right before the game. Ryan is so involved, I want to dedicate this to him. If I score at this tournament, I’ll dedicate that goal to him as well. We all feel so bad for him, this could be his platform.” Van Persie isn’t worried about his position in the group. “Listen, we’re going for the title and you don’t win prizes with eleven players, but with at least 15 or 16 and in principal with the whole group. If I can be important in 10 minutes, fine. If I can play a whole match, great! It’s not about me, here…”

Tags: Babel, EK, Euro 2008, Holland, Oranje, Sneijder, Van Basten, van Nistelrooy, van Persie

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Comments

By alaa | June 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

i love what robin said after the game, “it is not about me, it is about the team”. this is what we need:)

Posted from United States

By alaa | June 9th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

@jan and all the oranje guys in our blog,
the italians were whinning for the last few hours about the “offside” goal, i live in italy and i speak italian and this what the president of the italian refree association said:
”Il guardalinee ha applicato al 100% la norma prevista dall’articolo 11 del regolamento Uefa, valutando la posizione di Panucci come quella del giocatore che teneva in gioco van Nistelrooy”. Lo dice Cesare Gussoni, presidente dell’Associazione italiana arbitri, a proposito del primo gol olandese all’Italia, contestato dagli azzurri che reclamavano per il fuorigioco del centravanti. ”Il senso della regola e’ evitare che un giocatore si approfitti della sua uscita dal campo per mettere in fuorigioco un avversario”, spiega Gussoni. In pratica il guardalinee non poteva stabilire se Panucci, uscendo dal campo, avesse o meno l’intenzione di far diventare off-side la posizione di van Nistelrooy. (Agr) ”

i will summarize what he says, “the refrees applied 100% the rule 11, and then he explains the rule 11 and how it was made because they didn’t want players to try to fake injury and ruin the games.

so this is for all the people who whunning, i say go do something else in life and admit that you have been crushed by these orange boys!!

Posted from United States

By tjeerd | June 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

What van Persie said, this is good, I agree with alaa.
Interesting read alla regarding the Italian press.

By Ross | June 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

Wow. Great football. Although the build up was sometimes slow, it was methodical and opportunistic, taking advantage of openings as they came, not trying to force them. The midfield was simply amazing (Afellay who?!!!!) with quite the amount of chances. I don’t think Italy played bad, the Netherlands just played better and took the opportunities when they had them (Italy had a good few chances to score, 5 shots on goal compared to 9 for the Netherlands). I hadn’t even realized how on side Ruud was till I saw the replays online.

Holland seem to be quite the team now, compared to two years ago (see how even van Persie thinks so…) I can only imagine in two more years how this team will have evolved (with some of the most promising players being quite young and the good experienced players not being too old (the exception being van der Sar).

BTW: Just for fun, look at the number of articles in the other blogs… France is the closest comptitor at the Euro, while the Netherlands one has twice as many… Thanks a lot Jan for all the time you’ve put into this blog over the last 2 years.

By Miguel Rosado | June 9th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

I’m from Mexico and here in ESPN there was a very good referee who said it was not offside but I really don’t care if it was or if it wasn’t.

Remember Italy’s game vs Australia during the last WC?, well now everyone only remembers that Italy is the WC champion so I don’t care how we win haha.

By Rob | June 9th, 2008 at 11:29 pm

Persie’s a class act, if the game weren’t dead when he came on he would have done better. Still crossed nicely for Ruud, just offside. I agree with Cruyff - it could have been 6-3 quite easily.

Posted from Japan

By Jan | June 10th, 2008 at 1:04 am

Ideal circumstances for Robin to get some rhythm under his belt!

Ah yes, the WC2010…. Stay tuned to this blog my friends, we’ll have all the action here!

Posted from Australia

By Kevin Cheng | June 10th, 2008 at 2:19 am

+1 to RVP for his comment. This is something the team needs the most, team unity! This is one of the most critical ingredients to the making of a champion team that many of the past Oranje teams lacked.

Hup Oranje Hup!

By Jan | June 10th, 2008 at 8:24 am

Jan: do you know if Huntelaar is ok?
Has he become third choice?

Posted from Italy

By Jan | June 10th, 2008 at 11:00 am

Now, I think “normally” Hunter is Ruud’s stand in, but wih Italy pushing forward when 2-0, Van Basten recognized that the speed and ability of Van Persie would be better suited. Hunter is a bit slow… And of course, any minute Van Persie can play now will help his form.

Posted from Australia

By unabunbun | June 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Guys.. I’ve seen oranje for many years and I love them always.. and as i remember if they played against the big ones they would show the attractive one but not won it, that was why I’d always sad after the match. but last night.. incredibly delighted!
put boula in the right??? what a decision, you know for a few tryout italy match, di natale played so well and donadoni put him a trust last nite but san marco had a thought for that. thanks boula.. Gio is still the best! De jong is great to marked ambrosini, i don’t know why donadoni didn’t put de rossi there. Kuyt gave his contribution. wesley and rafa continously pressed pirlo. what a match.. thanks san marco

Posted from Australia

By dirk v.d.berg | June 10th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

What happened to de Zeeuw, why was he suddenly out of the lineup?

Posted from Canada

By Jan | June 10th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

De Zeeuw lost out to De Jong on training sessions. De Jong has progressed at Hamburg, while De Zeeuw had a shitty season with AZ. Apparently in the warm up matches, De Zeeuw was so so and De Jong impressed.

De Jong is also a good header, which De Zeeuw due to his length is not. Sad for De Zeeuw but his time will come…

Posted from Australia

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