Sneijder leads, the team hunts…

Oranje plays it’s best football whenever the opponent’s possession is turned around. Last Sunday, Wesley Sneijder again claimed the lead role against Wales.

It was after 25 minutes or so in the first half, when Wesley Sneijder tried to connect with Ruud van Nistelrooy with gestures and yells. It was clear that he instructed his Real Madrid partner to fall back a bit to create more space for the moment Oranje would turn around. It was a crucial telltale moment. Holland is feverishly looking for the right moment and spot to re-possess the ball and out play their opponent. And Wesley Sneijder is the leader in this quest. The Real Madrid midfielder determines the moment of the hunt, so to speak.

It’s clear after three warm up games, that Oranje is most dangerous when it can counter. Whenever the attack of the opponent is halted, the skills of Oranje stand out. All opportunities that Oranje had, came forth from so-called turn around moments.

Holland scored a beauty against Denmark, with five one-touch moments by five different players. Oranje found the space to execute their lethal counter because the Danes lost possession. The first goal against Wales was also scored, when Oranje successfully stopped them from marching up to Van der Sar.

It’s ironic, really, because since the 1970s, Oranje wants to dominate and play the opponent to pieces with fast-paced positioning play. As such, Holland doesn’t really play counter-football, it’s just that most opportunities occur when the team gets the chance to counter-attack.

Snijeder: “In those situations you can see who quickly we can move out of our tight positions and with what speed we can get into the opponent’s box.” Still, most players don’t want to play more counter-football. “No, we have too many great players to just sit back and absorb pressure,” reacts Robben. “Look at Manchester United, or Zenith St Petersburg. Teams that can counter as the best. Man United won the CL with counter-attacks, but you wouldn’t call them “counter-teams”. Sometimes, you intend to dominate, but if it doesn’t work and you can score from a counter-attack…fine, right?”

Robben lectures on: “I think this is the way for us to go. Playing dominantly on the side of the opponent is in our DNA. I don’t think we should now call it counter-attacking play. AC Milan, in their golden days, played very tight when they lost possession, but when they had the ball, they fanned out and dominated the game. We need to play different styles within one match.”

ORanje wants to be able to play with the moment and spot where it puts pressure on the opponent. Sometimes, you want to pin them down at the edge of their box, in other situations, you allow them space till the middle line. “You want to keep the opponent guessing,” says Dirk Kuyt. “In today’s game, most goals are scored right after the other guys lost possession. In the days of Cruyff and Van Hanegem, Oranje could have long build up play. Sometimes, the opponent didn’t touch the ball for minutes. And then, papapapap, the free man was found and GOAL. Same with Van Gaal’s Ajax. But nowadays, it’s hard to win matches like that. I think you need two teams, so to speak. One tactics when they have the ball, and another tactics for when they lose possession.”

Kuyt knows what he is saying. He has played right midfielder, right full back, right midfielder and goal scorer for Liverpool. And all in one match!

It seems like an irrelevant detail, but the place where the ball is repossessed is also very important. Last week, the Oranje players were unhappy with some of these elements and wanted a team meeting to discuss this element in depth. Sneijder: “Those are very indepth talks. We use video material and discuss different situations in the game. Sometimes, a player decides to allow an opponent space to pass or to keep possession, where more pressure would be a better option. Or the other way around. Hunting and pressuring by one or two players won’t work either. We need to do this as a team. But, against Denmark it was better already and against Wales you could tell in several situations that we’re growing fast.”

The Madrid midfielder is the right man to signal the team for the hunt. “Great that he does,” says Kuyt. “A matter of reading the game. Wesley is dominant and likes to lead.”

Edwin van der Sar sort of put every in their place with his own ideas. “Listen, when we finally possess the ball and create a chance, it would help enormously if we also score! We do get lots of opportunities, but we don’t score enough, relatively speaking. I saw it against Denmark and again against Wales. We had more chances to score in those games and we should benefit more. We haven’t scored enough in the last two years, is my humble opinion. We need more of the “do or die” mentality in the box. Like “this is my only chance, I have to score this one’. We need to take that attitude to the EC, than that would help a lot.”