Match day 8: what did we learn?

Guys:

van Basten is San Marco hehe…I agree but hopefully he continues like that until the end of the tournament.

I think we should rest Van Nisteltoy and just play the Oranje Angel upfront. She is sure to get at least one penalty for someone trying to pull that shirt off.

On a more serious note, I pose a question to you fellow fans: Do rather want to play Sweden with a banged up Ibrahimovich (most likely to only go 45 mins and change or a Russian team with the old Fox Guus behind the wheels? That is a tough one for me. Not sure what I think here.

Anyway as I can read Swedish I just checked their papers and to sum it up:
1)The Swedes are all blaming Vink (Dutch ref) and say that the Spaniards intimidated him classic Chelsea and John Terry way.
2) They also claim there is a UEFA report just after the game supporting that view. Knowing how fast UEFA works, not sure how credible that statement is. Either way, sounds like Vink may be sent home packing as you say Jan.
3)Ibrahimovich knee is getting worse. He only was given 45 mins and subbed in the game, but they say his injury got worse, some are talking that he may not even start and be rested for the quarterfinal, assuming they still get there. Either way, that is the biggest concern Sweden have.
4)The players are promising the fans at least a draw against Russia and that will see them through to see Oranje
5) The Swedish fans wants revenge on Vink and say the best way to that, is to send Holland home packing…

Not sure what to think, but a weakened Sweden maybe a good thing and I don’t like playing Gus in the quarters.

Posted from  United States

Russia anyday.. It’d be a similar match like they had against Spain and the friendly we played a while ago. They’re no match for us, unless Guus has a masterplan.

Posted from  Netherlands

I watched the Spain Sweden game and didnt think much of either of them. Also do not think Russia will pose too much of a threat but agree that old Guus probably knows Dutch football better than any other coach there (even Legchopper)
Sweden’s defence (actually Spain’s too) looks vulnerable, but the old fox Henrik Larson is still a handful. Zlatan would probably like to square up with his old adversary at Ajax, Raf and that would be nice to see. So yes I prefer Sweden.
May I ask bloggers if they can ever remember ANY team being so dominant against top opposition at ANY majors early rounds? (Oranje 74?)

Posted from  Singapore

Oh Jan
What did we learn ?
That by being stoked on Dutch Delights, living in Singapore, grew up in Australia playing cricket soccer and rugby, one tends to forget ALL the other sports you so love to follow whilst dressed in Orange.
1. US Open Golf
2. Oz v Qatar
3. Test v Windies
4. Aust v Ireland

*sigh what a tough world !

Posted from  Singapore

Definitely want Sweden in the quarters. Not much pace to the team, load of old has-beens, beaten Sweden before in major tournaments.

Russia have been without their best player and captain Arshavin. On their day they can close a game down much better than Sweden.

Posted from  Japan

Yeah, but that’s what we want.. A team that attacks. Please no Swedes. Why do you think we have had so much trouble against Romania in the qualifiers? Their tactics, they all sit back behind the ball with 10 men, close in on you fast, they make it physical, Holland has always had trouble with those kind of teams. Swedes play largely similar, closed midfield, closed defence and 2 lethal strikers on top of that. Compare that to Russia, their tactics suit us much better. At least we’ll get to see some football then.

Posted from  Netherlands

Russia is more athletic than Sweden. Sweden seems to have more savy and smarts than the Russians. Should be a good match.

Posted from  United States

Jan, don’t get too cocky my man, still a LONG way to go for us.

I don’t really care who we face. If we can’t beat whoever it is that we end up playing then we obviously don’t deserve to win. We should be able to beat teams who play with all types of style and tactics. Only then can we truly be the champions of the World…. i mean Europe. Bring ‘em on!!!

we should worry about others..my guess is the Swedes but it all depends om Zlatan..without him they look helpless, with Russia we would have a more open game wich will suit us since we have the strogest attacking force of the EC

AANVALLUH!!!!!!!!!!

ps. so glad to see Greece out!

Posted from  Netherlands

thats should be; we SHOULDNT

Posted from  Netherlands

Guys I know this is history and it makes no difference, I just looked at replays of Henry’s goal and it’s really Off Side ? I haven’t read anything about this. I guess thats why the French coach said the Ref Needs Glasses..or at least the linesman.
Anyone notice this too ?

Posted from  Singapore

Jan
France 84 beat Denmark 1-0, Yugoslavia 3-2 Not exactly in the top 10 world teams let alone Champs n Runner Up
Brazil 82 (also luv that team) had NZ and Scotland which they beat easily, again not quite in the top 50 countries (they went out next round)
Holland 2000 just (and luckily) scraped past the Czechs, and were down 0-2 to France, just beating them 3-2.

I meant was there a team that played it’s first 2 games against top opposition so convincingly ?
I really cant recall any ?
Holland 74 (Argentina 4-0, Bulgaria 3-1 Sweden 0-0)

Posted from  Singapore

I am truly happy of the results so far and i cannit help but to thank the fortune weve had. There is true talent and collectiveness in this team. There are however some things to be looked at that were worrying.. during the lats 15 mins of the 1st half and the 1st 15 mins of the seconds half we were dominated and were lucky to not have been scored one… putting two more strikers was a geniuos idea of van basten but i am scared to play opponents like spain or sweden who are a bit more effective when it comes to scoring goals.(ibrahimovic + villa, torres). I also think that oranje shuld go for the win vs romania to not lose the momentum on which they have been building and to not regret later on to have let romania win… These last two games have been amazing and i cant wait to see the rest. hope this keeps up. HUP NEDERLAND!

Posted from  Switzerland

Hi guys
Should we lose to Romania?
yes should lose to romania to eliminate France and italy so bye bye italy and france.
O my dear portugal assholes i hope we can meet in the final.we reserving bula for the final haha.

Jan
I dont remember ANY games with Brazil having a zero scoreline
But in 1990 it was 2-1 Brazil and in 94 it was 1-1.
In 1982 Brazil did not play Sweden.
However let me continue with some ominous facts about 1974.
- Holland didnt lose any matches up to the final
- Only one goal (own goal) was scored against them
- Germany lost ONE game before reaching the final

NOT AGAIN ??

Posted from  Singapore

I don’t think we should worry about who we play in the quarters. After the France game a perverse part of me wanted us to play (and defeat) Spain in the quarters, Portugal in the semis and the Azzuri again in the final … just so that there would be no arguments.

I agree with Finnster about swapping RvN for the Oranje Angel for the match against Romania … a win-win situation if we do get that penalty!!

Jan, Carlos: how about Denmark in the ‘86 World Cup. Dismantled Uruguay and brushed aside West Germany in the group stage before being steam-rollered by Spain in the next round.

Posted from  Australia

Carlos – are you seriously suggesting the Dutch-inspired Danish Dynamite side of Euro 84 weren’t a top-10 team? Most certainly were – Elkjaer, Simonsen, Arnesen, M. Olsen, Lerby! Great team.

Oranje in 1988 – remember that year? – lost to the former USSR in group match before going forward to do you know what ….. Brazil in World Cup 1982 with Zico, Socrates, Eder, Falcao, etc. looked super mighty in the group matches while Italy limped through the group stage before super sub Rossi did his magic. In World Cup 1990 at home, Italy looked really solid and Salvatore “Toto” Schilachi almost did a Rossi before eliminated in a heartbroken penalty kicks by Argentina.

While I’m really excited that jong Oranje had beaten 2 most recent World Cup finalists, it’s nothing until we actually go to the Final and win. I really do NOT want to see them peaking too early. So at this stage, it’s too early to declare Spain, Portugal and our Oranje “the favorite” despite the best showing so far in this tourney, while dismissing Germany (yeah, that team), France, Italy and probably Romania, the Czechs, Turkey or Sweden. Also don’t forget in most recent EURO, Greece did beat Portugal …. who would have thought?

With all those precautionary tone, there are still reasons for Oranje fans to be optimistic with the first 2 victories. Several key factors I observed so far:

1. The harmonious situation the current squad, i.e.: RvN scored only 1 goal BUT not b*tching about it, actually in another thread on this site, it’s mentioned that he feels good about the other players scoring. Similar fashion with David Villa approaching to thank Torres after he scored.

2. No more primadonna players vs coach drama a la Davids who got sent back home and RvN himself vs. St Marco in the last World Cup ….. I’m really glad that Seedorf opted out this summer’s squad, no need for primadonna and out-of-their-prime players (if we do win it this year, Seedorf can kiss his 3 Champions League cup with different teams thropies and reminiscing why he never won anything with arguably one of the best Oranje squad in the 90s)

3. This year’s squad just looked so confident in the first 2 matches. The 90s squad would have looked disarrayed in a situation when Henry scored for France and kept getting bombarded with attacks by Henry and Ribery. This year’s squad just keeps attacking and attacking. Probably because they are young and most football “experts” wrote off their chances prior to the tournament so they can play with nothing to lose mental attitude?

This is probably the first major tournament in the last 10-20 years when the Oranje was NOT considered a favorite going in, when football “experts” said about Group C being the group of death, they were mostly referring to Italy and France. In fact, anyone in the US who watched broadcast from ESPN would have caught that jerk commentator Smyth saying something like “the Dutch would be satisfied with a 1-1 tie for this match” at halftime after we were leading France by 1-0. WTF was that about?

4. Everybody says that “The Oranje doesn’t play defense”, yes, we have not been playing defense but that’s how the Oranje plays. Even in 1988 we did not “play defense”. We did have Ronald Koeman but he did not “play defense” full time. We never did, never do and probably never will, it’s just not in the Oranje’s DNA to “play defense”. We “played defense” in World Cup 2006 and see what we did.

I’m not saying that Oijer or Mathijsen or Bouhlarouz are exactly Koeman but I’m very encouraged and excited that they haven’t made blatant mistake (yes, we did get lucky when Oijer was not called for the handball, but to be fair, it was not intentional). Also, I’ve been seeing players like Kuyt, VdV and even RvN helping to go after the ball at our own half, in fact, Robben’s magical goal started a bit behind the middle of the pitch by RvN.

5. Last but not least, I see Sneijder to emerge as “the leader” of this year’s squad. He’s obviously a technically-gifted player who had previously shown his bad emotional side when he was younger. But I think he’s maturing now and look at what he’s been doing? he’s everywhere, creating chances, going after ball, helping with defense and scoring. If we’re to win this year, I’m tipping Sneijder to be our man ….. it’s probably a sign for us that he’s wearing #10 this year.

GO ORANJE!
–H

Jerome Brian
If I had to pick a team to support after Oranje it would HAVE to be Denmark…Love their style which I think is very similar to Holland

Posted from  Singapore

Sweden or Russia will be tough but if we play like in the first two games vs Italy and France they don´t stand a chance.