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Babel impresses against Cameroon

July 30th, 2008 | By: Jan | 12 Comments »

The Dutch striker who just saw his starting position slip away looked a bit puzzled after the Oranje game against Cameroon. He’d seen who scored and knew enough. “That’s how it is in football.”

Sub Ryan Babel and Roy Makaay had just scored two goals to win over Cameroon. Babel assisted Makaay when he scored, and Makaay had the assist for Babel’s goal. Goals that livened up the game and supplied De Haan with answers, rather than questions like the Belgium game. De Haan confirmed his choice: “Babel and Makaay will be my preferred strikers duo up front. Although Sibon played a good game, I thought. It was a tad easier in the second half too, because Cameroon was getting tired and there was more space. And Babel didn’t even start that well…”

Sibon lacked luck. He missed a good opportunity with his head and Otman Bakkal forgot to pass the ball to the free-standing Sibon later on. “If I would have scored that first header, things could have gone differently,” said Sibon.

“But, that’s life. If my role changes in the group, I’ll have to live with that and flick a switch. It sucks, but it’s how it is.”

De Haan has to get used to his new duo as well. He meticulously picked the two over-aged strikers because they complement each other. “Yeah, I had high hopes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improvise or change things…”

And another surprising player was Urby Emanuelson. The Ajax player had a tough year, but impressed with his game as left midfielder in De Haan’s 4-4-2. His dynamic and unpredictable play gave the team an extra boost.

De Haan: “Urby was really good. It was easier to reach the forwards and we lost the ball less due to his work.”

It was Emanuelson who initiated the first goal. The midfielder played the throughpass to Makaay who found Babel. Not much later, Babel was sent away by Sno and the unmarked Makaay scored like he knows so well… Cool and collected.

De Haan: “Makaay can do better though. We need to get used to his ability to play so close to offside and on the other hand, Roy is sloppy when in possession. That’s not necessary and he’ll need to up his game a bit.”

Physically, the team looked fresh. “That was good to see. None of the boys complained about the conditions. These boys don’t whine.”

Holland started well with good opportunities for Makaay, Maduro, Sibon and Bakkel. After the break, the Africans were a bit more threatening but Oranje never got into trouble. De Haan: “We’re not there yet, but I am happy with where we currently are.”

Tags: Babel, De Haan, Maduro, Makaay, Olympic, Olympic and Young Oranje, Oranje, Sibon, Urby

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Comments

By alaa | July 30th, 2008 at 10:26 pm

sounds good, can’t wait till i see theses guys starting there games in the olympics.

By Carlos | July 31st, 2008 at 12:56 am

De Haan: “Urby was really good. It was easier to reach the forwards and we lost the ball less due to his work.”
Oooohhh – thats what I said last night …. we must have been watching the same game.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | July 31st, 2008 at 2:51 am

Carlos…? Are you actually…Foppe?

By Ronald | July 31st, 2008 at 4:38 am

De Haan was true, Urby make the difference, he’s far better than Bakkal in the 1st half. But I can tell you guys that he’s playing in central midfield along with Maduro, not the left midfielder as mentioned. Left midfielder was Drenthe then Bereens.

Posted from Hong Kong

By Carlos | July 31st, 2008 at 9:49 am

Haha Jan – I should be so lucky!
Ronald I even saw Urby scream up the right hand flank as well – no one expecting/covering him ! Now thats the Dutch Way of playing

Posted from Singapore

By Alex | July 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am

One player that really had me enthousiastic was Dirk Marcellis, in the entire game, he only had two flaws, one time he tried to clear but hit the ball horribly due to the pitch being a bit uneven. And one time a attacker got past him into the box and onto Velthuizen, Marcellis got a bit surprised by the strong attacker and slipped. But on the positive side, he did after a chase almost managed to get in front of the shot. Also Velthuizen did good coming out of goal.But what good defending did i see of Marcellis at times. My hopes are on him for the future Oranje defence.

I also really liked the passing and movement of Emanuelson and Sno, but i’m still a bit dissapointed, in my mind De Haan made mistakes by choosing Sibon instead of V.Bommel, Beerens instead of Amrabat(very VERY talented), and Jong-a-pin instead of Ryan Donk or even Christian Kum for that matter, Anyway Babel-Makaay works ten times better, a bit like the combination
Babel-Rigters
My line-up would be
Babel-Makaay
Drenthe-Emanuelson-Sno-De Guzman(actual positions could be swapped)
Pieters-Jaliens-Marcellis-Zuiverloon
Velthuizen
By the way, noticed we have 4 brothers with dreads, 3 in my line-up

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | July 31st, 2008 at 4:48 pm

I like this line up…

And yes, Marcellis is the real deal!

By Carlos | July 31st, 2008 at 5:59 pm

Agree Marcellis was a rock and always there when a defender is needed.
This could be the “Dreaded” Team everyone fears – there’s already too much hype after one victory. – But I like your line up

Posted from Singapore

By Ronald | August 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 am

Hey guys, I just uploaded some of the Holland Olympic team photos on my facebook,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141029&l=51e19&id=789560577

Enjoy!

Posted from Hong Kong

By goose | August 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 am

@Ronald; cheers!! you made them yourself i reckon?

Posted from Netherlands

By Ronald | August 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm

@Goose Yeh, I used my stupid DC to take them~
Copyrighted…