The EC is history. Spain won. So what? It’s old news. Bring on the new…

The next big thing will be the World Cup (have I lost you already? Us Dutchies know how to put heartache behind them and look positively into the future…).

We checked out the technical staff and the goalies in part 1. We tried to break down our defense and control our midfield in Part 2. Let’s look at strikers, systems and progress now…

Strikers
Holland has a bit of a history with strikers… Johan Cruyff, Dick van Dijk, Kees Kist, Ruud Geels, Marco van Basten, Wim Kieft, John Bosman, Peter Houtman, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Klaas Jan Huntelaar…

Ruud will be 33 years old in 2010. As will Pat Kluivert be… Who knows? But seriously, Ruud will play for Real Madrid some more and if he stays fit I’m not too worried about his motivation. Focus and determination are Ruud’s strong points, and recently he added the roulette to it. Danny Koevermans will probably not play a part next tournament. Jan Vennegoor might. Klaas Jan “Hunter” Huntelaar will, without a doubt. But, as was posted by many already, Robin van Persie is not a shabby striker either. Dirk Kuyt? Nah…Dirk will remain the right midfielder at Liverpool and I’m not sure if Dirkie will be part of the 2010 squad.

We will always come up with new exciting strikers and who knows, in 2010 we will be discussing yet another player. There’s some talent at Heerenveen, at Sparta and it wouldn’t surprise me if Ajax and Feyenoord have the next big thing awaiting in their junior teams.

It seems logical that the Hunter will become the next striker. Ruud may have to get used to a super-sub role. But, you never know with Van Gol and Hunter will still have to prove himself in a big league.

As for the system, I have said it before and will say it again: systems are overrated. It’s pretty obvious that Bert van Marwijk will proceed with Marco’s (well, not really Marco’s) 4-2-3-1. At Feyenoord, Bert played 4-4-2, with Tomasson and van Hooijdonk as the two strikers. Pierre playing deep, Tomasson coming from behind him (a la Bergkamp and Kluivert). I wouldn’t be surprised if Bert will repeat that, with Hunter deep and Van Persie prowling around him.

Robben on the left, Van der Vaar on the left and Sneijder and playing centrally. Or maybe not.

The good part of the EC, no matter how disappointing in the end for us, Marco did set a benchmark for Bert. It’s pretty logical to suggest that everyone - fans, media, the KNVB, the players and Bert himself - will expect nothing less than that level of performance. Maybe not during the qualifications, but with Spain, Russia, Croatia and Holland setting a new standard at the EC, Bert van Marwijk will have to focus at forming a football machine that can get results and play astonishing football.

The future does look bright. Wesley, Arjen and Ruud will further grow at Madrid, as will Kuyt, Babel and Van Persie in England. If Hunter stays at Ajax, Marco will teach him a thing or two and if he leaves, let’s just hope he picks the right club.

Nigel de Jong will develop at HSV Hamburg even more, under Martin Jol. Orlando Engelaar will move to Schalke 04, with Fred Rutten, and will surely develop as well. Ryan Babel, Afellay, Stekelenburg, Heitinga, all these chaps will have some big lessons to learn, in particular in winning mentality. In a way, all these players moving to big competition may be bad news for Dutch fans in Holland, but it’s great for the Dutch team.

Sure, we’ve lost Sar and we may lose Gio and Ooijer. But we will gain two years of experience for the rest of the team.

The downside? Marco van Basten was lucky to work with a young and eager bunch. Players like Engelaar, De Jong, Babel and even Van Persie, Sneijder and Van der Vaart were happy to be at this tournament. In two years, the progress of the players could work against them as well. Engelaar may fail in Germany. Van Persie, Sneijder, Drenthe and Robben could have won the Champions League in 2010 and Huntelaar may have become the Italian top scorer for the second time, for Juve. Will they still be hungry? Will Robin accept Sneijder’s role as chief free-kick specialist?

JC said it: every disadvantage has it’s advantage. It works the other way around as well….

Sneijder’s goal received 40% of all votes. Nihat’s late winner against the Czech Republic ended second with 14%. Arshavin’s goal against Sweden came third, with 12%.

What’s that? You missed this goal?

Here it is

Football mania has left the Swiss capital Bern, but they won’t forget the Dutch fans. Ever. Two weeks, the city was orange and the party went on for two weeks. The people of Bern found a way to thank the Dutch fans, via a website with photo’s and video-clips. The mayor also wrote a thank-you-note .

Here’s the url: http://www.oranjebern.ch/OR_SPLASH_NED.html

Thanks to Marc’s weblog!

He is quite something… Sent away from PSV by none other than Guus Hiddink. Played for AGOVV in the cellar of professional football. Made a switch to Heerenveen and not much later the switch back to Dutch top football at Ajax. Klaas Jan… Or the Hunter. Doesn’t look like a top athlete. Doesn’t look like a football player, even. He is the Dutch top scorer for two seasons now and scored against every Eredivisie club in his career. And all the big clubs like to sign him: Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United. Not bad…

And everyone has an opinion. Hiddink thought he was too slow for top football. Referees (in Holland) think he uses his body too much. Dentists see a huge cash cow in him and most punters think the Hunter will be Oranje’s striker in the WC2010.

What do his Eredivisie opponents say?

AZ Alkmaar’s Barry Opdam: I like playing Klaas Jan. He doesn’t have that individual trickery but he is the master in picking his position. He can easily move in between defense and our midfield, leaving most of us confused. He is smart. He can predict what his team mates do and what we will do in response. He also uses his body smartly. At the right time, before the cross or pass comes in, he’ll nudge you. That gives him those extra seconds or that extra half a yard. He has grown enormously, in particular physically.

Excelsior’s Jos van Nieuwstad: Klaas Jan’s only goal in life is scoring. He is so eager! Sometimes, it’s as if he is sleeping or daydreaming and then suddenly: boom! He has that Ruud Geels’ quality, the nose for the right spot, and he uses his body whenever he can.

Feyenoord’s Kevin Hofland: I saw him at PSV, when he was still a tiny, thin and timid junior. I never expected him to make it this big, to be honest. He didn’t look like an athlete at all. His strength in my view, is his willingness to work very hard to compensate his weaknesses. He is so ambitious and always took extra training time to better himself. That dedication to invest in yourself is something you seldom see these days and he should be an example for many other youngsters. It’s very hard to stop him. At least, for one defender. If you can stop the services and passes from midfield to him, you have a chance. If not, he’ll always get his chance and he has a remarkable hit-ratio.

De Graafschap’s Stephan Keller: How to stop Huntelaar? Pfff…no idea. The thing is, everything he does, every move is thought about. He sees the game so well and he has the ability to sense when you’re just not paying attention and then he’s gone. He is the best I’ve ever seen. He will definitely make it big in Europe somewhere.

Heerenveen’s Michael Dingsdag: The thing with Huntelaar is, that he will do everything to score. He will go for the rebound everytime some of his mates take a shot at goal. If you can keep him and Ajax away from your goal, you have a chance, if not, he’ll always find one moment to beat you. He is a real killer.

NAC’s Patrick Zwaanswijk: He’s not the best I ever played against, but definitely the most efficient. He can score from every angle. Simple goals, headers, bycicle kicks, you name it. It must be wonderful to play with him. He is always concentrated, and never does stupid things. He used to be very distant and closed off on the pitch, but lately you can even talk to him. He loosened up a bit.

PSV’s Dirk Marcellis: You can only stop Huntelaar if you stop the whole team from playing football. He is a smart chap, using his body in a good way. He may not look it, but he is very strong. Never mean, though. Just smart. Little nudges, a quick pull on the jersey, those kind of things. He sometimes looks distracted, but that’s just his thing. He uses that to lull you to sleep.

FC Twente’s Rob Wielaert: He reminds me of Roy Makaay. He can make himself invisible. Suddenly he’s gone, you know? He seems to be totally alien to the Ajax pass and move game, but suddenly he can decide the game for them.

FC Utrecht’s Sander Keller: He is sooo smart. And he is tough too. He has to recieve a lot of knocks, but he never complaints. He can hand them out too, by the way. When you can keep him out of the box, you have a chance, but he can turn so quickly and he always knows exactly where the goal is. Some players need to look up and that split second is enough for me. Huntelaar pulls the trigger whenever he can.

Vitesse’s Ciward Sprockel: I know him so well, by now. I know exactly what he does, and still he is able to score against me. Frustrating, really. He keeps on improving too. I wonder where is top is.

Willem 2’s Arjan Swinkels: His most dangerous thing is what I call the pre-action. Before the ball gets to him, he’ll do something to put you offguard. Sometimes, he yells at a team mate or he fakes that he needs to redo his laces or he’ll walk in one direction to suddenly make a turn. You can’t stop him, because as a defender you have to keep an eye on the ball and on him. So, there’s always that one second that you don’t know what he does and then…flash..he’s gone. That one yard and that one second is enough for him. And you have egg on your face.

Give them bread and games, wasn’t that what some Roman emperor said? The people will be docile and stay quiet as long as we feed them and entertain them… Well, we just had some entertaining weeks of European top football and we’re preparing ourselves for the Olympics now!

I must confess: I love the Olympics. Suddenly I find myself watching sports and going ape shit over athletes I’ve never seen before. Rowing. Synchronization swimming. Cycling. Darts. Well…not darts, ok… But still… And with football on the program, and the Dutch Olympic team being poised to snatch the Gold, ah… another series of weeks with hardly any sleep! My family is looking forward to it.

I will be posting some stuff on the Olympic team in the next weeks, so we can all get very enthusiastic about it once the Olympics start.

This is our program:

7 august 17.00 in Tianjin: Japan - USA
7 august 19.45 in Tianjin: Holland - Nigeria
10 august 17.00 in Tianjin: Nigeria - Japan
10 august 19.45 in Tianjin: USA - Holland
13 august 17.00 in Shenyang: Holland - Japan
13 august 17.00 in Beijing: Nigeria - USA

Foppe de Haan: “We don’t know our opponents that well, but we do know Japan is very disciplined and agile. The USA is physically and mentally strong and Nigeria is a dark horse. We know they’ve performed very well at earlier Olympics. They’re athletic, motivated and skilled. It’s going to be tough but at least we avoid Argentina and Brazil at this stage. I do expect us to finish in the top and I expect us to proceed. When we finish second in the group, we’ll probably have to face Argentina, but at these tournaments, anything is possible.”

Australia is in the one group with Serbia, Ivory Coast and Argentina, almost the same group as Holland had in the WC2006. Brazil is in group C with Belgium, China and New Zealand, what seems to be a walk in the park. Group D consists of Honduras, Italy, South Korea and Cameroon.

The times mentioned could be local Dutch times, or local Chinese times. I don’t know yet…

The ING Cup in Hong Kong is the warm up for the OS. Oranje will play Cameroon on July 30 and Ivory Coast on August 2nd. The USA will also be present at the ING Cup, but since ranje and the USA will verse eachother at the OS, both teams won’t play against each other in Hong Kong.

On July 23, before they travel eastward, De Haan’s team plays a friendly against the Belgium Olympic team in Genk (B).

The 2010 World Championship in South Africa is unique to start with. Never before was there a WC in Africa. Holland shares the qualifications group with Scotland, Norway, Macedonia and Iceland. None of these nations were at the EC2008.

The WC will be held from 11 June to 11 July 2010.

New team manager
After the EC2008, Bert van Marwijk will take over as team manager of Oranje. Van Marwijk was Feyenoord’s coach in the recent season. The winner of the qualifications will be qualified directly for the WC. The eight best numbers 2 will have to compete in play offs for the remaining four tickets.

Last fixtures

Scotland
The last time Oranje played Scotland was in 2003, play offs for the EC2004. Dick Advocaat’s team lost the first leg 1-0 away, but won at home with 6-0 led by man of the match Wesley Sneijder. The two teams played against each other at the EC 1996 in the group states. The openings duel ended in 0-0.
In recent years, Scotland invested a lot in their national football team. Rinus Michels was advisor for some time and German icon Berti Vogts used to be their team manager. Rainer Bonhof is still youth coach at the Scottish federation. Scottish football is making its way back, with Celtic and Glasgow Rangers performing nicely even in Europe. Will the days of Kenny Dalglish, Charley Champagne Nichols, Archie Gemmill, Mel Gibson, Joe Jordan, Gordon Strachan, John Wark and John Robertson return? France experienced the strength of the Scots in their qualifications for EC2008. The French lost twice against Scotland.

Norway
Holland shared the qualification groups for the WC1994 and EC1996 with Norway. Norway was a tough opponent for Holland. It played 0-0 and 3-0 at home and lost 2-1 in Norway and drew once 1-1. In 2002 Holland played a friendly in Norway and won 0-1. Edgar Davids was the goal scorer.
Norway has always been a tough opponent for Holland. Both the national team and clubteams like Rosenborg has proven to be hard opponents to beat over the years. The disciplined, tight and physically strong Norwegians’ gameplay is not liked by the more creative Dutch players.

Macedonia
Holland was pitched against Macedonia in the WC2006 qualifications. Two draws was the result: 2-2 and 0-0. Although Macedonia is regarded to be a small football nations, like Croatia and Serbia they can field skilled and shrewd players. For Holland, playing Macedonia is seen as necessary game to win on the road to bigger things. Macedonia on the other hand, approaches games against big nations as a finals and appears to be tough to beat.

Iceland
In 1983 Oranje played Iceland for the last time. This game was Marco van Basten’s debut. Holland won 3-0. Although Iceland ranks in between Andorra, Luxembourg, Malta and Albania, the Icelanders are a tough bunch and have brought forward fine players in the past, such as Petur Peturson and Aisgir Sigurvinson.

Holland will most likely enter this group as the faves and will have everything to lose when the concentration isn’t there.

Jaap Stam is one of those players who took the long and winding road to the top. Never acknowledged by the selection-masters of Zeist when he was young, Stam started his pro career at FC Zwolle. Went to Cambuur before making a name for himself at Willem II. There, he played full back and sometimes midfielder and impressed with his runs from box to box. At PSV, Stam was converted to center back and decide to invest heavily in his strongest asset: his mentality and concentration.

Stam was fast for such a big boy, a great header and physically strong. Another strength was the fact that he knew what his weaknesses were. Still, Stam was a much better player than most people think, but he stuck to his role: disarming the opponent and passing the ball to a better player. The fact that as a youngster, he was never seen as a talent helped him in his career. He always worked super hard to prove to his new employers and his criticasters that he could do the job. I still remember how he was called up for the EC1996 late before the tournament (another defender got injured). Stam was filmed how he went to the KNVB costume designer to have a fitting for his suite. Stam was shy, overwhelmed and humble. Stuttering before the cameras. He’d make his debut on the EC1996 on the big stage in England and never looked back. After PSV, the big man went on to play for Man United, Lazio Roma and AC Milan. His last employer was Ajax (not a bad resume), but he had to stop earlier than he wanted. The big, strong body and the focussed brain couldn’t handle top football anymore.

Romario: “I don’t know Jaape Stamme but I just wanted to play in the FC Zwolle stadium again…”

On July 26, Jaap Stam will play his farewell match in the FC Zwolle stadium and a number of big names from the Haute Cuisine of International football will be there: Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Romario (PSV), De Brothers De Boer, Jordi Cruyff, Phillip Cocu, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Aron Winter, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Wim Jonk and Patrick Kluivert will be the other players in Stam’s team, coached by none other than Guus Hiddink. Other international names that will support Stam: Pippo Inzaghi, Gennaro Gattuso and Allessandro Nesta.

Stam’s Star-team will play Ajax, coached by Marco van Basten. Who knows, maybe Marco can outsmart Guus this time after all…

Deco will move from Barcelona to Chelsea. The Portuguese midfielder will be reunited with his Portugal coach Scolari.

Patrick Kluivert returns to Holland! He will move from Lille to AZ Alkmaar and will be reunited with his old Ajax and Oranje coach Louis van Gaal. Kluivert is not at AZ as a player though, but as student-coach since he’s started the coaching-course in Zeist. Shota Arveladze - former Ajax and AZ striker - will be joining him.

Australian international and NEC player Brett Holman moves to AZ, as a player.

As mentioned in the comments before, U21 winger Daniel de Ridder will leave Birmingham City. The former Ajax talent played a couple of impressive games in the first team, but couldn’t make in New York. I mean, Birmingham…

Adebayor hopes to leave Arsenal soon and play for Barca.

Eric Cantona wants to return to football as a coach. ” I want to be the best coach in the world!”. But he can’t. Louis van Gaal is already the best of the world…

Ajax wants to sign Henrique of Barca on loan.

UEFA has major doubts about EC 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine. The latter doesn’t seem to be on schedule.

Wesley Sneijder and Edwin van der Sar have secured a position in the UEFA star-squad, chosen by “a select team of football experts” (they didn’t consult me!!). 23 players in total and Spain dominates this group with nine players.

Xavi Hernandez is part of the group obviously, chosen as the best player of the tournament.

This is the EC2008 group”

Keepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Holland).

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).

Midfield: Hamit Altıntop (Tureky), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland).

Strikers: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).

And a collection of goals, jokes, supporters, quotes, etc… This post will end the EC2008.

THE GOAL
Repeated ad nauseum by enchanted experts from all over the world: Holland’s second goal against Italy. The Gio-sprint, the Raf-pass, the Gio crosspass, the Kuyt header, the half volley by Sneijder. Alan Hansen said: “The perfect team goal.”

THE HOWLER
Petr Cech wanted to catch a simple cross against Turkey, but he dropped it as if it was a hot meatball. A crucial mistake, not much later Czech Republic would be out of the tournament.

THE WORST JOKE
Dutch comedian after the defeat against Russia: “I think the mourning armbands were too tight.” No one laughed.

THE SILENT FANS
There they were. Dressed in oranje clogs, with plastic cheeses on their heads. Looking at some point in the distant. Lifeless. When Oranje needed them, they were silent. Shellshocked. The conga line the day before in Basel was really fun, though.

THE QUOTE (1)
“I look forward to being Holland’s biggest traitor,” said Guud Hiddink before the Holland - Russia match

THE ASSAULT
Like a butcher, Mehmet Aurelio went for Nani’s leg. The Portuguese striker could still walk afterwards, miraculously and the Turkish player didn’t even get a free-kick against him. One of the few dark spots on this remarkable fair tournament.

THE COMEBACK
Black football boots. Weird coloured boots are suddenly out of fashion. Purists, rejoice!

THE LOSER
Turkey had beaten Czech Republic, but goalie Demirel thought it was handy to push Jan Koller on the ground, without a ball in sight. Dumb. Only seconds to play. Red card, two games suspension. End of EC. The Loser.

THE COMEBACK (2)
Three times, the Turks fought there way back. But the last one was the best. Croatian Ivan Klasnic thought he made history for his country in the 119th minute. Coach Bilic was already uncorking the champagne, but Senturk thought differently. Boom, goal!

THE MUSTACHE
Luca Toni would allow his mustache to grow until he scored on the EC. Every day, he looked more and more like Groucho Marx.

THE EXIT
Seldom would a title defender leave the tournament as honorless as Greece. The playing style is so old-fashioned even Socrates wouldn’t approve of it.

THE SUBSTITUTES
“That’s how I like to see Holland play,” said Gunther Netzer. Van Basten had seen how his team struggled to keep the lead against France and brought two super strikers to defend the lead. Both Van Persie and Robben would score in that match. “Genius.”

THE QUOTE
“Let’s be reasonable. We are much better than Germany.” Luis Aragones, one day before the final.

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