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Matchday 4: what did we learn?

June 11th, 2008 | By: Jan | 17 Comments »

The World Champs can be beaten and so can the reigning European Champs.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic knows how to hit a ball.

Fabregas isn’t sure of his starting position in the Spanish side.

Spain seemed to have paid attention to Oranje’s game. They’re good students.

Xavi doesn’t handle any ball wrong.

David Silva doesn’t need a lot of chances to score.

Russia could have scored right after the 1-0 (they hit the post). What would that have done to the match?

At times it looked like we watched Dynamo Kiev from the 1980s.

Fabregas was off side when he scored the 4-1 . And I mean, really off side!!

Sweden is a dark horse.

The BBC commentators refuse to accept the FIFA rule 11.4 and still declare Oranje’s first to be an off side goal.

But…they confess…it is a moo point. A “moo” point? Yes. Moo. According to Joey from Friends. When you ask a cow her opinion on the matter, the cow will answer…”moooooooooo”

Guus needs more time to work his magic with Russia.

Germany team manager Low wasn’t impressed with Oranje.

Tags: Cesc Fabregas, Euro 2008, Hiddink, Oranje, Sweden, van Nistelrooy, Zlatan

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Comments

By João | June 11th, 2008 at 5:57 am

I believe the proper word is “moot” ;p

Posted from Netherlands

By Sweet | June 11th, 2008 at 6:29 am

so…Fabregas will start on the bench next game against Sweden too ?

By Alexander | June 11th, 2008 at 6:33 am

I dont think so…he will play in the start 11 next time

By ejb | June 11th, 2008 at 8:18 am

another thing we learned: spain is coming to play, so the #1 spot in group C will most likely be a big advantage

By richard | June 11th, 2008 at 9:17 am

Spain: They looked good but I see that a lot of fans think they will struggle against better competition. That is true of everybody.

Russia: The team has some good, fit athletes–and I was surprised at how aggressively they played. They attacked, but seemed to rush their offensive incursions and paid a price for that against the more skilled Spaniards. I can never root for Russia.

Greece: How did Greece win the title last time? I will NEVER understand that.

Germany: I will never root for germany and if the germans and russians ever play for the title I’ll have to jump off a bridge. Germany always seems to have any easy draw while the Dutch are usually in a tough group. In a way, now that the Dutch have won their first game, I am hoping and thinking that the tough group c will help Holland in the end.

Some say that teams will play the Dutch more defensively now, after seeing the Italy performance. Gallas says the opposite–that the French need to be more offensive minded. I think we want Romania to beat Italy, yes? If Holland wins, they are through. If Romania wins, Italy is out and France must beat Italy to be level with Romania in points.

Posted from United States

By Marc | June 11th, 2008 at 9:41 am

what has low said bout oranje? i truly dislike that guy

Posted from Switzerland

By martijn | June 11th, 2008 at 10:06 am

If i was the German coach Low i wouldnt be impressed with hollands football as well, Holland plays much better football then they do and the chance is quite large holland will meat germany in the final, and that prob the last thing he wants hahaha

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | June 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am

spain always have a good team, the thing that always kill them is they don’t have a solid back four, they don’t know how to defend a lead. similar to the dutch.

Posted from United States

By Marc | June 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am

@martijn ur far too optimistic… oranje played one fantastic match but we we were kind of lucky that italy didnt score… it could have been 3-3. France is a very tough and smart opponent and we must not take them on with over confidence.i hope oranje keeps up this level of play and outplays france to win. How can u even think of a final at this point with such tough oppnents remaining. HUP NEDERLAND

Posted from Switzerland

By jose peña | June 11th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

quisiera ver goles de holanda italia

By richard | June 11th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Holland is a team that, like all offensive-minded teams, benefits hugely from scoring first. That is massively important because it opens up the game. We saw that against Italy. Conversely, most any team that scores first against Holland is sure to clam up–that is a potential problem–and yes, Holland isn’t always very good at protecting leads either. Italy had a couple of half-chances early in the game before the Dutch got things cranked up. You can’t be soft in the back and win a championship–competency, at the least, is necessary when you like to press forward. I am optimistic about this group!

Posted from United States

By Jan | June 11th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

Van Hanegem said it before the EC. A tough group has as advantage that any rival team can lose or draw so you can afford to slip up one time.
I will post my Crystal Ball predictions in a separate post, but if Italy and Romania draw (likely) and Holland loses against France, it will be Oranje and France with 3 points leading, Romania 2 points and Italy 1.
Italy will give France a run for their money and Oranje “only” needs a draw against Romania.

This scenario tells us you can survive this group with one win, one draw and one defeat.

Low said basically that Oranje played good, but he wasn’t that impressed because Italy got their chances and blablablabla…

Posted from Australia

By bunchapooha | June 11th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

I wasn’t particularly impressed with Germany either..

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | June 12th, 2008 at 10:16 am

jose peña - you can see the highlights here:

http://www.eplmatches.com/index.php/2008/06/10/netherlands-vs-italy-highlights/

Posted from Canada

By martijn | June 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Its in our blood to think we will reach the final. It makes us want to party and cheer for our team as best we can. I meant the comment in a funny way. And the score line with italy coould also easily have been 5-3, but it wasnt

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | June 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Marc,
stop standing with the hat in your hand. You may live in Switzerland and be very conservative and good at private banking, but I tell you this Dutch team has me more excited than in years.

I take nothing for granted, but I feel faith is Orange this year, and I am an old Norwegian Viking and that is exactly what those fellows believed in back in the day. Whatever happens, happens, but I believe this year it will be many long nights and parties in Dutch homes and abroad. I can feel it in my bones, which I have not done since Argentina and the Junta bought the world cup in 1978.

Posted from United States

By Jan | June 12th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

I’m with you Finn! I feel that too. Van der Sar was asked whether this team was better than the WC1998 one and he had to think really hard….

Posted from Australia

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