But first we need to discuss the rumor that Maradona will coach both Argentina and France at the World Cup . Ah, funny…

Not!

Feyenoord hosted a game against FC Utrecht in De Kuip and there was no need for electronic help devices or extra refs on the goal lines, simply because the ball never actually got there! The fans were the biggest losers in the boring 0-0 draw between two impotent teams. Highly disappointing and Mario Been’s comments said it all: “I could have played along in this game, even. Soooo slow…”.

The Ajax fans, on the other hand, got some haute cuisine in the ArenA, against former foe Heerenveen. The Sons of Gods impressed particularly in the first half, with De Zeeuw scoring twice, and seemed to be on their way to score a double bagger. In the second half, the score halted and the game ended 5-1 for Ajax.

PSV did what it normally does. It won. And relatively simple too, against Heracles Almelo 4-0. Goalie Pieckenhagen was sent off for a kindergarten foul and Afellay, Dszudszakm, Toivonen and new comer Vukovic scored for Eindhoven.

FC Twente kept on winning with season sensation Ruiz scoring the all important winner. The Costa Rican saw his chances on WC football destroyed by Suarez’ Uruguay but the winger shrugged of his woes against Vitesse: 1-0.

AZ won 4-2 against Roda JC.

Check out this Ajax:

And check out Afellay’s goal:

Haven’t seen any great performances by the Dutch this weekend, bar Clarence Seedorf. Sneijder didn’t play, Vaart and Ruud didn’t play, Robin didn’t… Ryan Babel did, but one of the best destroyers in England – Nigel de Jong – blocked his shot. And his leg. And his other leg… Dirk Kuyt worked hard but was unlucky. Drenthe played an ok game. Robben didn’t play, but neither did the rest of Bayern Munich. The photo’s in the media show a troubled and red-skinned Louis van Gaal… Could be over for him really soon!

John van den Brom (42 years old) only played twice for Oranje. The current AGOVV Apeldoorn coach did score and got a penalty for Holland. The ex-Vitesse and Ajax libero/midfielder tells us about his past, present and future.

Past

“Bert Jacobs was my coach at Vitesse. We were out in Arnhem, in some pub and he walked in: “I just spoke to Rinus Michels. You’re selected for Oranje. Get the hell out of here and go home!”. He came to look for me, eleven p.m in the city, haha… It was 1990, the time before mobile phones. The second time I was selected, the group was announced in Studio Sport on telly. I remember sitting in front of the tv, totally nervous. I think I regularly just missed being selected. I was always part of the pre-selection, and sometimes part of the last sixteen, but I didn’t get to play much. Making your debut is a dream. My debut jersey was a white one, away against Malta. I replaced Gullit. That was the game in which Marco van Basten scored five goals, one was a bycicle kick. I got fouled in the box and was rewarded a penalty. Marco took that one, obviously. We won 8-0. I remember enjoying myself immensely. Tactically, it didn’t really mattered what we did, it was like a training session.”

“Being an ex-international is quite something. Like being knighted. My best buddy Peter van Vossen always says that we played 33 international games amongst ourselves. I played 2 and he played 31, hahaha…. But I’m still proud on my two games. My second was against San Marino and I started. We played in a full house, my whole family was there and I scored in the third minute. John de Wolf took a free kick and hit the bar, I scored the rebound with my head. That was my last game for Oranje, despite that goal. I may have stayed with Vitesse too long, I don’t know. But I must say we did have quite some players back then. And some coaches didn’t know where to play me… In the youth, I was the shadow striker and playmaker, scoring a lot. Later on, coaches put me on the libero spot, but the competition was fierce with Danny Blind, Ronald Koeman, Frank Rijkaard and Frank de Boer… Some say I was too slow for the real top, but no one ever told Willem van Hanegem that, haha….”

PRESENT

“I quit pro football six years back, but in 1992 I realized I wanted to be a coach. I’ve always been a leader. I always handled communication, I saw the game well and I think I was a good coach on the pitch too. In 2007, I reached my license and work for AGOVV now. Coaching is harder than playing. It’s running training sessions, preparing games, doing the talks… When you work for a smaller club, you’re working 20 hours a day. But it’s a good life. I have the same ambition as I had as a player: to reach the top. I want to learn in the Jupiler League and hopefully work my way up. I want to keep on working with Peter van Vossen. We decided to work as a team. He’s the ideal assistant to me. I never have to worry about that aspect, I trust him totally. He may get the jitters and want to become a head coach himself, who knows, but for now he doesn’t have the diplomas.”

FUTURE

“I see all Oranje’s games live. I’ve been to the major tournaments and I will also go to South Africa. I’m an Oranje freak. I mainly watch the creative lads, like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. Driven players with a unique individual action in their legs. They can create something from nothing. I can enjoy them as a fan, although I always watch as a coach, even when I’m watching my little nephew play. What needs to change, where are possibilities, stuff like that.”

“Our current Oranje oozes quality. The only thing for Van Marwijk is to manage the ego’s. It won’t be the first time Oranje shoots itself in the foot because of fringe issues. But with De Boer and Cocu there, I don’t think that will happen this time around. They know exactly what you need to do and not do in order to perform. If this becomes one team, I think they can get far. I hope, no…I think we’ll end up in the last four with this lot.”

It’s weird. Men who work in factories and have to sort apples all day… Put them in the right color box. I don’t care, really. Or girls at the supermarket, sitting on their knees to fill up the shelves with new types of chips. And then being told of by the supervisor for putting the paprika in the regular shelf. Whatever. I couldn’t care less. But Klaas Jan Huntelaar at AC Milan… I suffer for him.

Which is weird. I grew up in a lower class family. We could live for a whole year on what Klaas Jan uses every month on new shoes. It’s such a cliche. Whenever a coach wants to motivate his players while they’re listening to their new iPod he starts talking about the past.

They should be ashamed of themselves. The customers, the fans, the supporters…they don’t buy meat on Monday and drink self-brewed grog so that they can buy tickets for the game. These players, they get paid for playing football! It can’t get any better. And more of those sorts of motivational speeches…

Lots of coaches think like that. As a player, you need to be grateful and remind yourself you’re a chosen one. Compared to actual working class men, you’re a whimp. Huub Stevens did the season’s prep in the coal mines with his players. His players needed to make triangles with those lamps on their heads. If you don’t know what death and loss means, you are a spoiled brat, according to Tough Huub.

You should thank God on your bare knees if you can make a living with playing football. You can’t even call it work.

I never got that. I’d rather work in a factory putting socks in their packaging for six days than working in football, a sector that’s still in the dark ages in terms of work ethos and hierarchy. You have to call the coach “trainer” in Holland. Or Mister in other countries. I wouldn’t be able to. Can you imagine a knob like Robert Maaskant as your coach? And having to call him “trainer” or “sir”?

Or Ton Du Chatinier. You’d expect him to be the assistant manager in a building materials warehouse. You’d hit him on the head with a piece of plywood and say: “How was your weekend, egg?”.

And that’s why those pep talks of coaches don’t work. It’s horrible to be a professional football player. Okay, you are on the grass, outside but you need to listen to incompetent blokes like Andries Jonker. There you are, best job in the world, but taking directions from a guy you’d normally chuck in some river.

But I do sympathize with Klaas Jan. Don’t know how. He doesn’t play a lot at Milan and if he does, he doesn’t score. Normally, I wouldn’t care. I’ve always enjoyed watching players like Peter van Vossen and Rinus Israel suffer. They were good at it.

Van Vossen, lonely in Turkey, dreamming of a Zeeuws bread roll. I could only laugh. Or Israel in a hotel room in Romania, with a phone bill of 23.000 euros because he wanted to hear his wife talk about the last stew she made for the grandchildren. Sorry, I could only laugh. But with Klaas Jan, it’s different. I feel for him.

It’s because Klaas Jan is too good for football. He is. Klaas Jan is a nature freak. He loves fishing. And he can sit in the players bus and suddenly call out: “Look, a wren!”. Because Klaas Jan is a bird watcher too. The actual birds. He doesn’t have any tattoos. He is a sweet boy. He reads.

You really want Klaas Jan to be happy. Whenever he’s interviewed his face betrays him. He’s bored. He hates the football world he’s part of. But yes, Klaas Jan does call his trainer “trainer”. But he doesn’t mean it. He can’t be subservient.

Klaas Jan is the real deal. Genuine. A smart lad who is a football player against his will. He’s even more normal than Foppe de Haan.

Huntelaar is intelligent and an intellectual. Like Frank Rijkaard was. They’re untouchables who will do what ever it is they want to do. Klaas Jan wants to play football and then go home to look through a bird encyclopedia with his wife. Because that is the best job in the world….

Hugo Borst’s column in the AD

People ask me often – while the WC is still seven months away: “Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?”

Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax?

There’s a good chance, but how do we know?

I personally think we have a slight chance of winning the world title. A very slight chance. There’s 32 nations competing, so statistically we start with something like a 3% chance. Then there’s a number of really poor nations. New Zealand won’t win it, for instance. The real number of nations with a chance is probably 20 or 25. Which means Holland has a 4,5% chance.

Our odds improve with the following situations:

+ Van Persie plays center forward instead of right winger ( +5%)

+ Mathijsen indeed is the rock in defense that Van Marwijk thinks he is ( + 2,5%)

+ Van der Sar is our goalie ( +3%)

+ Van Marwijk sorts the hierarchy out (+3%)

+ Van Persie holds on to his current Arsenal form ( +5%)

+ The refs aren’t against us ( +3%)

+ The refs actually are for us (+3%)

+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamated back when he lasers the name Ramona of this back ( +1,5%)

+ Van Bommel is alert when an opponent wants to get away from him ( +2,5%)

+ We practice taking penalty kicks ( +4%)

+ Van Bommel doesn’t get red-carded ( +3%)

+ Oranje plays disciplined ( +5%)

+ Sneijder doesn’t get an inflamation when he tattoos the name Mourinho over Ramona’s tattoo ( +1,5%)

+ Oranje decides not to get into a streetfight against South European or South American nations ( +3%)

+ Yolanthe and Sylvie stay in another hotel ( +1%)

+ Oranje stays away from whores and groupies ( +2%)

+ Frank de Boer sometimes whispers some tactical advice in Bert’s ear ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t need to play with black mourning armbands ( 0,5%)

+ Van Bronckhorst doesn’t get to play a fixed right winger ( +2%)

+ Van der Wiel stops using Twitter ( +1%)

+ Van Persie and Sneijder decide who takes which free kick beforehand ( +3%)

+ Van Persie and Sneijder don’t get into fights on the pitch, in the hotel, in the dressing room or in the disco ( +5%)

+ The players don’t start to hate each other after spending six weeks together ( +5%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Germany in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Spain in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet Portugal in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ Oranje doesn’t meet England in the knock out phase ( +4%)

+ The players won’t get the 1974 finals virus: arrogance and self-absorption

So, do I think Holland could win the title? See above…

I don’t care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players…

It doesn’t work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions… How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The whole mental pressure of needing to win isn’t there and that’s a big big thing. New players try hard to impress and take it seriously or new players feel the pressure and can’t play freely…

Again… Friendlies are for the coaching staff. To have the lads together, test some stuff or simply work on tactics… I don’t know.

So we didn’t score in three games? In Autumn 2009? Big deal… As long as the guns are loaded in Summer 2010.

People plead for new players, but to me it doesn’t make sense. Bert has all spots double booked.

Elia/Robben on the left flank and they’re both capable of playing right. Hunter/Van Persie/Babel centrally upfront. Kuyt/Van Persie/Babel on the right flank and we know Afellay can play there too. Sneijder/Van der Vaart/Afellay/Van Persie are all capable of playing shadow striker and so can De Zeeuw.
For the holding positions we have Van Bommel/De Jong/Schaars/De Zeeuw/Mendes da Silva/Engelaar. At left bank we have Gio and Braafheid. As center backs Mathijsen/Ooijer/Heitinga/Loovens/Boulah and on the right back spot we have Van der Wiel/Boulah/Heitinga.

Now, there’s obviously question marks. But if we approach it from Bert’s perspective, Ooijer and Gio are not among them.

Gio is even captain. He might not impress too much, but Bert trusts him. Braafheid could be an even bigger question mark, what with his Bayern woes. And he didn’t play too well against Paraguay, I take it?

So, who else do we have then? Drenthe? Nah…not consistent yet. Doesn’t start at his club even. Emanuelson? Good player, no left back. Pieters? Definitely not consistent enough. De Cler? He demonstrated he can play there but doesn’t start for Feyenoord (because Gio plays there) and he’s injured.

Hmmmm….

Ooijer might lose it. He doesn’t impress in Eindhoven and he’s becoming vulnerable with injuries. It seems Vlaar will get a call sometimes in March IF he keeps his level up. Loovens will remain a strong candidate too, although Vlaar has more potential.

As right winger? I can’t see too many great options. Castelen? Amrabat? Wijnaldum? De Guzman? All big maybe’s. Nice players at Eredivisie level, but Oranje is two levels up. At least!

Center striker than? Huntelaar in trouble? Clearly. Hey, who’s that on the phone from Madrid? Ruud! How are you man? Pack your bags, pronto. Let’s take some pressure of Hunter, he should go to White Heart Lane and put his head against those crosses.

If Van der Vaart disappears in that Madrid swamp, we will have alternatives. Afellay, Aissati maybe, Emanuelson if he keeps this form up, De Guzman…. Nice, bring it on.

Funnily enough, Oranje has the most potential in the holding midfielders realm. Unbelievable. Van Bommel is surely getting older, but probably also smarter. Mark can’t play well in friendlies. There needs to be something at stake. I think if you want Mark to play well you need to kidnap his wife and tell him you only release her if he plays a good game. De Jong is feared and much more skilled than people think. At Ajax, he was a creative playmaker before he made his debut in Ajax 1. Engelaar is a question mark for me and so is Mendes. Nice club players. Schaars has potential, like De Zeeuw. While Brama and Fer could be our next stars. And now Fred Rutten discovered another holding midfielder in Ibby Afellay.

We might not have the best individual players, but we might have enough quality to reach far.

The ifs:

If our top players are fit, we have the best creative players in the world.

If Ruud comes at his old level we’ll have the best pinch-hitter ever!

If Mark and Nigel stay fit, no mouse will enter.

Then we need Vlaar to come off age and Gio to shower in Placenta juices and we’re done.

Stekelenburg is good enough, I think. Not spectacular (yet). But good enough.

How’ bout:

Van Persie
Robben Sneijder Elia
Bommel De Jong
Gio Mathijsen Vlaar Wiel
Stekelenburg

That’s the players. But on top of that they need: grit! Hunger! Focus! Team tactics. Luck.

Voila, may I present you Holland’s first world cup?

Ok, now on the topic of new players. Why? Why would van Marwijk disrupt the process by selecting several new players? Is he going to risk the progress and see if Urby, Otman, Royston, Georghinio, Hedwiges, Ron and others fit the bill? Will he know after one friendly? No. So he needs to select them again and again. At the cost of regular squad members. What good will that do?

If it works, what do you know? You have three other candidates for a position? If it doesn’t work, you’ve wasted time and opportunities and you have frustrated the new lads and the regulars!! Costly decisions!

It’s a fact of life that Eredivisie level is way below Oranje level. Look at Schaars! The best player in the Eredivisie last season, had trouble keeping up. Look at how hard it is for Huntelaar now. And we all know he can score….

Bert is right! Players really need to deserve a spot after a long consistent run and at the same time these new lads need to solve a problem we have. You can’t convince Bert that our defense is a problem. Or that Kuyt has lost it. What proof do you have to tell him that?

I do think Vaart and Hunter need to worry, to not even mention Babel. But these players will be replaced in time. Vaart by Afellay? Or De Zeeuw? Hunter by Ruud van Nistelrooy? And Babel by Wijnaldum/Biseswar/De Guzman? Who knows…

We’re seven months away from the World Cup and Bert is going to go for the core squad that got us the qualification. Can you blame him? I don’t think so.

Consistency is the key now. Playing a lot together. Talking, socializing, doing tactical improvements.

I can see Brama, Vlaar, Bakkal and maybe maybe Emanuelson getting in the picture, but the 22 players for the WC will most probably already be known to Bert, IF they all stay fit and IF Ruud gets to his normal level.

I’m with Bert!

Oranje scored 5 times against Paraguay! At least in the version I saw….

Arsenal confirmed that Robin van Persie will be out for six weeks. He tore his ankle ligaments against Italy and was stretchered of after a tough Chiellini tackle.

Van Persie will travel to Serbia this week to undergo a unique treatment. PSV midfielder Engelaar informed the Gunner about this method and Arsenal decided to follow that up.

Cell material from placentas is being used as massage oil and will support the speedy recovery of the ligaments. This treatment will take some days and Van Persie will do his remaining recovery in London.

Liverpool players Benayoun and Riera – like Engelaar and Ola Toivonen – have good news for Van Persie. Both Liverpool players are recovering fast of their hamstring injuries thanks to the Serbian treatment.

Benayoun: “I’ve been to Belgrade and feel a lot better. We’ve worked hard with the team there and it does look we will be able to return quicker than expected.”

Van Marwijk is currently researching a new therapy based on grizzly bear sperm to massage on Huntelaar’s forehead so his headers will have a higher success rate. Another avenue is Pinguin breastmilk for Andre Ooijer to use as throat gurgle tonic to make him faster, more flexible, younger and add some feeling to his feet, while Frank de Boer examines the French Kissing Gorilla therapy in the Congo, which would allow Robben to grow some facial hair and balls and power in challenges.

Young Oranje made a huge step towards the play offs for the Youth EC in 2011. Cor Pot’s team won 2-1 against Spain at the Sparta Castle in Rotterdam. There’s seven tickets for the Denmark EC 2011 for grabs in the play offs.

The confrontation with Spain was the first serious test for Pot’s talented team. Young Oranje had won their first games easily against modest opposition. It was clear on the outset that Spain and Holland will fight for the first spot. Oranje impressed after the break. The team started slowly in the game but dominated the match after that.

Vurnon Anita, the Ajax midfielder, was the boss on midfield. The youngster won all his duels and immediately passed the ball into the fast wingers Wijnaldum and John. After 15 minutes, it was Anita who started the gameplay that resulted in the first goal. The perfect through ball on Wijnaldum allowed the Feyenoord talent to bring the ball into the box, where Sparta striker Falkenburg scored on his own ground: 1-0.

Falkenburg started due to Siem de Jong’s injury. Pot couldn’t use van Wolfswinkel either while Biseswar was suspended. Luuk de Jong played for Wolf while Joshua John made his debut – like Falkenburg – for Biseswar.

Chelsea defender Jeffrey Bruma led the defense and they never got in trouble. The 18 year old Rotterdam born center back demonstrated why Ancelotti allowed him to make his debut for the Chelsea first team. After an hour, Wijnaldum scored the 2-0 after a John cross with a placed header. In the dying minutes, Spain pressed for goals and Azpilicueta found the net, but other than an attempt on the post, Oranje was clear.

Cor Pot praised the team’s discipline. “Spain is actually better than us from a technical perspective but our mental attitude and organisation got the better of them.”

The team manager was particularly impressed with Bruma. “He defended tremendously. He trains at top level with Chelsea and you can tell. He hardly makes any mistakes. He’s got personality, he can build up and will always push up. He has everything a player needs to become a great defender. Wijnaldum was unstoppable on the right wing. It’s great to have two of those gems in the team.”

Foppe de Haan’s successor can present perfect stats. 15 points from 5 qualification games and a goal score 12-1. “Are we on the throne now? Well, I remember Foppe scoring 15 from 5 and not managing to qualify, so it doesn’t say everything yet. We will probably reach the status of “best number two’s” but we definitely will intend to win this group.”

France is said to go in cup 1, although Les Blues still have to qualify. If Ireland qualifies at France’ expense, Holland moves up one cup.

The preliminary categories:

Pot 1: South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, France

Pot 2: Holland, Portugal/Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia/Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece/Ukraïne,

Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

Pot 3: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt/Algeria, Paraguay, Chili, Uruguay/Costa Rica

Pot 4: Japan, South-Korea, North-Korea, Australia, New-Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Happy and proud. Those are two words that came to mind when Otman Bakkal heard he was called up to replace the injured Wesley Sneijder at Oranje. It will be his first appearance in the big team. Right after receiving the call, the PSV midfielder jumped in his car to drive to Heerenveen to join Van Marwijk’s selection. “This is very special to me,” the 24 year old said.

“I heard it at the end of the day. Team manager Hans Jorritsma called. Please report tonight at the players’ hotel. So, I jumped in my car to join the group for the game in Friesland.”

“I think it’s rather special that I can train with all those great players. I did play in most representative teams in the Oranje youth, but this is truly special,” gushed Bakkal.

The creative midfielder from Morrocan descent made a name for himself under Hiddink in the PSV selection but lost his spot under Stevens. Now, with Fred Rutten at the reigns, the dynamic player is one of PSV’s key players, scoring prolifically. He’s the third PSV player in the group, with Afellay and Engelaar…

Bert van Marwijk praised his defense. Which basically means Oranje didn’t play well. “We couldn’t bring it tonight. It was disappointing. You sometimes get those games. But it was pretty poor. Still, to not concede against Italy when you’re not at your best means our defense and controlling players were alright. We normally have the creativity to come out on top, but we lacked that extra this time around.”

Van Marwijk still thinks he saw some impressive stuff. “Particularly tactically. I mean, sure…we didn’t entertain and dazzle, but apart from the starting phase, we never got in trouble. Sometimes you have to be able to play these tight games and still get the 0-0. Us Dutchies don’t like it, I know, but it could be a quality we can use at the World Cup.”

Rafael van der Vaart was more open and honest. “It was a boring game, eh? Both teams played well in a tactical sense. We both didn’t give anything away defensively and you know, when both teams don’t make mistakes at the back, nothing happens. Sometimes you get that in matches like this. At the World Cup we might not be able to impress every game. To play a poor game against the world champs and still get a draw…. It’s not that bad. We didn’t have it today and still kept a clean sheet. That’s a positive thing.”