Oranje dominates but forgets to win!

The Dutch team gave Bert van Marwijk a warm welcome in their first international game together against Russia in Moscow. Oranje dictated the game throughout but forgot to score enough goals to actually win. Guus Hiddink’s team drew late in the game: 1-1.

It was quite remarkable that Oranje performed so well. Most players are still in their pre-season action, while the Russian competition is already 18 rounds old. This first game under Van Marwijk boosted Oranje’s confidence on the road to the first serious game against Macedonia next month. Van Marwijk is also able to use Orlando Engelaar and Khalid Boulahrouz for that match.

Wes Sneijder and Fred Bouma are seriously injured and will be absent against Macedonia, Norway, Iceland and Scotland later this year.

Bert van Marwijk works in the spirit of Van Basten, it seems. He used basically the same players as the current Ajax coach.

The only newcomer is Mark van Bommel, of course. The 31 year old confirmed in this match that he definitely is one of Holland’s best player. Van Bommel recouped the ball many times and played totally in service of the creative players upfront.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar took the role of Ruud van Gol as center striker. The Hunter couldn’t score though, and was subbed after an hour by Vennegoor. Arjen Robben, Raf van der Vaart and Robin van Persie played behind Hunter. The Arsenal striker played in the position where Kuyt played a strong EC this summer.

Van Persie thanked his former Feyenoord coach for his trust and scored the 1-0 beautifully in the 24th minute. He was close to scoring his second with a header, but the Russian goalie’s reflexes kept the ball out of the net. Based on the strong controlling play of De Jong van Van Bommel, Oranje didn’t give a lot away, this time around.

Russia did push more in the second half, but Holland got the best chances. Robben missed by inches in the 56th minute and Van Persie was stopped by the Russian goalie again. Van Marwijk brought Afellay, Kuyt and de Zeeuw in the second half. Van Marwijk couldn’t start with a win. Oranje missed their chances and captain Gio van Bronckhorst made an unnecessary tackle in the box in the 77th minute, allowing Zyrianov to equalize.

Vennegoor and Kuyt had good opps in the last stages of the game, to claim a deserved win, but it wasn’t to be.

Mark van Bommel: “It’s always hard to judge your own performance right after a game, but I think I did ok.”

His father in law Van Marwijk wasn’t unhappy: “Winning would have been nice of course, but I was more interested in certain details. The result wasn’t my primary focus. I wanted to see how the ax of the team would hold up (Huntelaar-Van der Vaart – Ooijer – Mathijsen- Stekelenburg) and I think that went pretty good.”