The EC2008: what have we learned?

comments after a very long gap
i enjoyed this tornament pretty much( until quarterfinal stated)
but then after croatia my second best team in the championship went home, next day it was our holland
and then after i havent watched a single game from start to finish
even this early morning i slept during the half time hoping to wake up b4 the second period but i missed about 15 minutes or so.
overall the tournament was good
great to see spain winning the title
i have my views about the oranje:
Van persie is no more a winger. he was during the world cup but over the past two years he has developed himself into a striker he is best wen he plays behind the centre striker
arjen robben has developed himself nicely into the best among the man of glass
ruud can play yet another major championship for us
we can not have two very defense minded defensive mid fielders. ne shud be a bit more creative
huntelaar wont be able to gett his chance in the national team as long as ruud is fit
we have found two new dutch stars in this tournaent afellay and de jong( icant be too sure about engelaar he has much more things to prove)
edwin is the best goal keeper in the world (may be casillas wud join him as well)
sneijder and van der vaart are great palyers in the centre. if they r in top form nobody can beat us
Dirk kuyt has been the most favourite player for Marco van basten
It has been a great three weeks reading these articles and comments in this blog
Jan, U are absolutely Great

Posted from  Nepal

@sandesh; was wondering where you were…

agree with most but your Ruud comments…i think Ruud has had his time and should quit Oranje…time for some movement and speed up front (Huntelaar), i dont think he can combine Madrid and Oranje at his age anymore..

dont think Affelay has proved anything this EC but i do agree that he is our finest talent, deJong played the best EC of all field players; he was great! agree on Engelaar although i would go even further; for me he has proven that hes too slow for international football…i think he was awful and the weakest player in the team by a mile..

Posted from  Netherlands

I think looking at the overall performances you could say the best players were V.d.Sar, Boulahrouz, De Jong and Sneijder. Heitinga dissapointed me in the last game. I noticed that when Boulahrouz left the field, our defence looked like they didn’t know what to do anymore, this for me proves Boulahrouz was vital for our defence, could you imagine if we would have gone in to the EC without him, we would have had a lot more trouble coming past the groupstage i tell you. V.Basten should have put Boulahrouz in centre and let him take care of Pavlyuchenko, then Mathijsen would have had more air and De Jong could have really concentrated on neutralising Arshavin. And we needed a more attacking rightback, perhaps Melchiot or Heitinga. i think we would have won if he V.Basten did that. ITS ALL HIS FAULT.

Posted from  Netherlands

@Alex; Boula strong?? he played 2 good games and 1 terrible one…thats not good enough;
Boula should have left the Oranje camp after the awful incident in his private life…if vBasten made any mistake on Boula it was not sending him home
dont think positions of players mattered in the end, the players were totally out of form regardless tactics and not because of them…we could have played any brilliant tactic on the day and we still would have been beaten…it was just not our day!

Posted from  Netherlands

“Lads, please finish this for me… There must be more…”

Picking coaches from the Oranje group that won the Euro Cup in 1988, doesn’t do the trick either (see Rijkard, Van Basten)! Please do not try with Gullit now.

P.S. Still think Van Basten did a decent job, but in his own words “it is all about the silverware”…

Posted from  Albania

I think saying Wesley didn’t show up when Oranje needed him is super unfair. He was the only one (other than van der Sar) doing anything in that game vs. Russia. Early in the game (1st half) there was even a possession when he tracked back to cover when Boulah had gone on an adventure and lost the ball upfield somehow. The look on his face after that tells the whole story–he was so exhausted and looked disappointed in his mates. Wes, for me, was a step above everyone else in that team (van der Sar we all know has always been top-class) and he does deliver(!) when the rest of his team and the fans are awake.

Posted from  United States

@Lis;

There must be more…. in life than football!!

There must be more…. naked ladys in the streets

on a serious note; i dont know, thought we had a decent run this time… i accept the fact that Oranje is not gonna win any silverware in my lifetime (hope ill have some 60-70 years to go)

Posted from  Netherlands

“i think Ruud has had his time and should quit Oranje…time for some movement and speed up front (Huntelaar)”

That’s an odd statement, considering that KJH is a tad slower than RVN. Still not as all-round as Ruud is, but yeah, he should get more time in the squad these coming years.

Posted from  Netherlands

dont think Huntelaar is slower than vNistelrooij…and Ruud is far more static… Huntelaar needs time to ‘get in the team’and we need him to be there at the WC10, i reckon 2010 is too late for Ruud

i would go with a 25 year old Ruud any day btw

Posted from  Netherlands

Oranje Angel was sexy and all, but in 2010, there will be sexier Oranje Angels, believe me!!!!

Folks the Olympic soccer tournament will be fun as well!

For this edition I think it was a lot of fun. I am glad that Spain won. It could have been Holland but Spain by virtue of some amazing and very positive play was a very worthy victor.

Just finished reading an article summing up how the bulk of Holland’s talent is going to be right in the prime of their career in Zuid Africa. Let’s hope so.

I agree with most on the the heros of our team; van de Sar, Sneijder and IMO de Jong stood out.
The latter will likely make way for van Bommel. Too bad. What this team does not need is players that put themselves ahead of the team. Seedorf and van Bommel are perfect examples of that. I imagine though that both will be back.

Our biggest worry going forward is the backline. Huitinga could be the solution there if his Spanish adventure pans out. Royston Drenthe could be another that once upon a time looked like an amazing lb in the making.

Another worry is our keeper. So far what I see out there is average at best.

But midfield and our strikers are second to none. Zuid Africa here we come!! (Of course we have that little matter of qualifying first )

hope t see edwin will b back for the national team. i strongly feel van marwijk will convince him to do so.
van bommel i think will get back into the side and it wud exciting to see van bommel and nigel infront of back four.
lets not talk about seedorf anymore in this site. plzz guys.. he is old and full of ego. i wud agree he has been one of the most successful dutch players but he has got nothing to do with the natinal side anymore. i am sure marwijk knows that

Posted from  Nepal

Boulahrouz is a good player as central defender but when he plays as right back he seems clueless of what to do with the ball, he’s slow and we have no optiong of going forward from his side. He’s a good defender but I wouldn’t call him back until he gets a starting position at his club.

We have in Kromkamp, Melchiot, Zuiverloon or Marcellis a very good competition.

We can’t blame 1 player for our defeat against the Russians because they all played horrible but we did miss a true leader in that game, someone like Bommel or Davids who would scream at his teammates to wake them up, Davids inspired everyone with his passion. I see a lot of Davids in Drenthe.

@MR; think Marcellis should be used only as a central defender..totally agree on Boula looking hopeless on the ball

@sandesh; Seedorf told the press that he would ove to play in Oranje in the future…think Bert will give him a shot

Posted from  Netherlands

I do not see why Seedorf should return. Dow we really miss him? Van Bommel, do we really miss him? We have Nigel de Jong now, and imho he did well, maybe Engelaar schould be replaced… I think he’s a tad to slow, maybe Heitinga is better on that spot. As central defender, I believe Heitinga is failure-prone. Boula is our best man, alongside Marcellis, I happen to think; these guys are no… eh pussy’s… and that’s what we need; guys who shows that they are there.

Posted from  Netherlands

Should give Engelaar a chance to develop. Socrates of Brazil WC82 n WC86 was tall and seems to play ’slow’ too, but that guy sure could dribble and attack. Of cos its not the same comparison but given time and exposure, Engelaar could develop into his own.
The lasting impression about ORANJE at Euro2008 for me was not how badly the Dutch was defeated in the qtr finals by the Russians but rather ORANJE could play the kind of football that could beat the best teams in the world. They really need to find the ‘never say die’ mentality of the Turks.

Posted from  Singapore