Oranje: in what shape are we?

Rafael van der Vaart never played so much games in one season. Robin van Persie never played less. Two weeks before the EC, AD.nl looks at the balance. The State of the Oranje Union, in other words.
Marco van Basten said it almost casually on day 1 of Oranje’s prep: “Maybe it’s good for some players to not have to kick a ball for some days…”.
Now Sneijder and Sar are part of Oranje, as the last two, the focus of Oranje will be on the EC and more particularly on the starting match against the reigning World Champions.
Every player receives a personal training program for the first week. All players have undergone their physical tests. The results will be used to design the individual programs for training and nutrition. Fitness and mental freshness are crucial ingredients for a good tournament, as proved Greece in 2004 and Germany in 2006.
A quick view on the state of the players shows the big differences and discrepancies between players. Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van der Sar and Van der Vaart have played 50 games this season, with Joris Mathijsen as record holder with 4.000 minutes of playing for Hamburg SV and 600 for Oranje. He played 55 games in total.
Heitinga played 97.8% of all Ajax’ games this season and he played six out of nine Oranje matches. When Van Basten says some players could do without the ball, he refers to these two in particular.
Number 3 is Raf van der Vaart. Unique for him, because normally he would always have some time off due to injuries. Afellay has played 83.2% of all matches for PSV, but due to PSV’s title, he hasn’t played a lot since winning that. He made a well rested and hungry impression in the first days of training.
And interestingly, the players who are likely to make a difference for Oranje - Sneijder, Babel, Robben, Van Nistelrooy and Van Persie - have all had their different “resting” periods.
En er intrigeert nog meer aan de seizoenstotalen. Knip de ranglijst doormidden en je ziet dat van de mannen die straks het verschil kunnen maken bij Oranje, de meesten nog relatief weinig hebben gespeeld. Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie, Robben, Babel en Sneijder hebben allemaal hun (meestal gedwongen) rustperiodes gekend dit seizoen. Sneijder had a short injurie period but started in more than half of Real Madrid’s games.
Ryan Babel had it tough on a mental level, being part of Benitez unfathomable roulation system. The youngster was subbed 42 times out of 49 matches. However, Ryan Babel did win the prize of Most Talented Liverpool Player of the year.
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Comments


can anyone put the link up of the highlights, that is if they available thanks.
Posted from
United Kingdom




You can find them in YouTube. Key in Netherlands Ukraine football and you’ll see the Kuyt goal and the Babel goal.
Posted from
Australia




the jersey number for each player must have been decided for the euro
2008
may i kno who will b wearing which??
Posted from
Nepal




very tight selection for Basten now
robben, sneijder and kuyt in top from, Vaart, Afelly and Angelaar playing well..babel, ruud, persie hard to be benched
Posted from
Australia




I like Babel though. I think he shows real promise. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be able to put a fully consistent 90 minutes in, and his crosses are very suspect still. Takes out the defenders Ronaldo style, crosses are terrible though but his finishing is good. So what he should do is just get in position and use his hammer and nail it rather than try to find the striker somewhere.
He will be awesome for WC10, not sure if he has what it takes for this tournament though. Could do with a couple of more years between his ears. And I am a ‘pool fan and seen every game this year. Very good and humble lad, with very little trouble off the field. Will be an Oranje classic in the future. Not sold on him performing in EC08 right now though.
Anyway, my 14-1 bet on Holland to win looked a lot better after the Ukraine game!! I think there is a real shout here.
Posted from
United States




Babel’s a great lad to have on the bench in fairness. He’s big and pacey - no tired defender is going to want to see him come on. He’s been playing the supersub role a fair bit at Pool this season so I’m confident he can do it for Oranje no problem.
14-1’s good odds - I need to put some bets on too!
Posted from
Japan


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