Review Nederland – Macedonia 4-0

Something went wrong after the game when I wanted to post this. Sorry lads!

It’s early in the morning in Oz and I’m ready to watch our lads take on Macedonia live!

Well, live for me . Dodged the news flashes and comments, so all I know now is, we’re in for a grand match…

Macedonia coach Katanec recently stated that his team was up against one of the major contenders for the World Title. “Look at the tremendous players Oranje has. They’re all top class. And Van Marwijk has managed to find balance and team unity. It’s impressive.”

The Macedonia team manager doesn’t think his team is without a chance. “Look at the first game in Skopje. That was still close. And we’ll get our chances here too, why not?”.

And we’re off!

And now Sneijder has indeed started due to Van Persie’s knee injury. We’ve got a Danish official, Rasmussen.

Macedonia isn’t hiding in the first minutes. They’re taking the game to us.

3″ Van der Wiel knees Pandev in the butt… It’s not funny…

4″ First deep pass by Sneijder (playing with number 10) to Robben, not precise enough.

6″ Excellent deep pass with feel by Van Bommel into the box on Kuyt. Too much on it.

6″ Tremendous attempt by Hunter. Good first touch and a half volley towards the goal, slightly over the bar.

7″ Horrible tackle by Macedonia on Van Bommel. Leg stretched out forward, hitting Mark high. Watch out buster. Not smart to pick out Van Bommel with that.

8″ First actions of Oranje look good, but Holland purposely soak up some pressure, it seems, happy to take the counter to the Macedonians.

9″ Van Bommel takes revenge on the Macedonia player…

10″ No real impact from Robben yet. Huntelaar looks lively, Kuyt is doing a great job in being available and working… Sneijder looks busy but no brilliance yet. Van Bommel sticking out.

11″ There was the brilliance of Sneijder. Wonderful turn and a through pass on Robben, who just can’t break through…

13″ And again Sneijder – Robben. First corner kick of the game, Robben was closed down. Well defended by the Maces. Not a bad corner at all.

15″ Sloppy loss of possess by Ooijer, break out by the Maces, resulting in a shot wide… Once Oranje dominates and has possession, Maces are all back in their box. Very crowded. Oh, again a wonderful action by Sneijder. How quick do his feet work?

16″ Kuyt 1-0!!! A typical Kuyt goal… It’s Sneijder working his magic, setting up Robben who shoots on goal, going wide. Kuyt slides in with his right feet and flicks it in. Nice scenario, this early goal.

First quarter is impressive. Passing is good, movement is great. No miracles by Robben yet, but Sneijder is clearly giving a message out to Van Marwijk.

17″ Another great chance on a flick on in the box, close to 2-0! Corner kick, flicked to the far post where Ooijer almost tapped it in.

Oranje means business. They’re focused, working hard, playing like…clockwork Orange.

20″ Long range effort De Jong after another great combination Sneijder and Robben. Another attempted cross in, blocked by the goalie.

21″ Ooh…great counter by the Maces. Heerenveen player Popov with a good cross in, corner kick Macedonia.

22″ Van Bommel defends the weak corner. Robben slips up. First real mistake in the game.

22″ Good chance Pandev. Another break and than they’re threatening. Game is not over with 1-0. Good stop by Stekelenburg. Macedonia more fluid than Scotland. More loss of possession by Oranje.

24″ Arjen Robben gets an elbow on the chest and is down and out for a second.

25″ Nice little dribble by Sneijder through the center channel, one man too many.

26″ Superb goal by Huntelaar 2-0!!!!!!! Great run by Robben coming in from the left, looking for the 1-2 with Huntelaar. Ball is deflected right in Hunter’s stride. Huntelaar eye to eye with the goalie and the ex-Ajax man scores a classic Ajax chip goal a la Bergkamp and Litmanen. Great goal!

It’s all going as planned for Bert & Co.

28″ Van der Wiel comes through on the right flank, but can’t create anything. Robben playing on the right now. Kuyt is a bit invisible in this phase, while Van Bommel is totally in control in midfield.

Macedonia doesn’t get a lot of time on the ball. Oranje plays energetic and tight.

30″ Excellent Pandev break taking on three players in the Dutch box, but running out of steam.

32″ Robben playing left back now, covering for Gio. And he does well…

33″ Good cross in by Van der Wiel, but it’s a lone Hunter in the box, being outfoxed. Everything Sneijder does is smart, quickly executed and with an idea behind it. Impressive play. Corner kick Oranje.

34″ Not a good delivery by Sneijder. Some of the fans start to boo the team?? You gotta be joking…

Missed 10 minutes of text here due to laptop failure. I’m sorry.

42″ Dirk Kuyt 3-0!!! A wonderful break. Turn around led by Sneijder. Kuyt finds space behind the defense on the left. Sneijder delivers, Kuyt seems to slip and seems to forget the ball. Cuts back inside, sees Robben unmarked in the box, but decides to score himself. A precision shot in the far corner.

Second half started already, with Ryan Babel for Arjen Robben. Excellent distance strike by Sneijder. One of those bouncy balls to the near post. Keeper saves. Sneijder wants to score it seems…

48″ Little row on the pitch. With Andre Ooijer leading the attack with Stekelenburg in his stride. De Jong is elbowed down, very visible, and the Dutch players decide to show their teeth. Remarkably enough, Van Bommel keeps quiet.

Anyway, tremendous demonstration in the first half. Great work ethics, good pass and move play, the team looked hungry all the way through. Sneijder and Van Bommel stand out players and if you have a player scoring twice, he needs a mention as well…. Kuyt of course.

Holland impresses with their “can do” mentality and is giving a clear message to the world.

Normally a second half can become a tedious bit of tv watching, but clearly Sneijder and Babel are looking for some personal success, keeping it lively.

52″ Sneijder again in charge on the pitch, Babel is sent away and places the ball to the far post, stopped by the goalie. Almost a hattrick opp for Kuyt. Ensuiing corner kick results in a header chance for Ooijer, ball sails over the bar.

54″ Wonderful combination play between Van Bommel and Sneijder. Macedonia is totally confused. The ORanje players are all over the place. Now, Sneijder is playing left winger, the lads are changing positions constantly. And they’re clearly having fun. Well, Sneijder will only have fun when he gets his name on the score sheet, I suppose. Macedonia player is stretchered off here…

56″ Oopppssss…. Huge chance for Macedonia suddenly. What happened. The striker is down. Mathijsen is down. Stekelenburg is down. Auch. A deep ball between Joris and Ooijer. Stekelenburg leaves the goals and hammers the ball. And Joris Mathijsen….

Ouch…Another view from another angle and it looks like Rocky. Tremendous blow on the head. Oranje with ten men.

De Jong plays on Joris spot. Sneijder more in a holding role. Mathijsen back again.

60″ Wonderful deep ball by Huntelaar on Babel. All free road to the goalie but ruled off side. Wrongly.

61″ Sneijder and Kuyt try to set up Huntelaar in the box but the ref saw a foul. Sneijder curses in Spanish…

63″ Sneijder looking for some gallery play, chipping the ball to Hunter. And why not?

64″ New life in the team. Led by Kuyt who’s still chasing loose balls, Sneijder tackling heavily on the ball. The lads look hungry and motivated still.Quality sags a bit. Fatigue and of course, Macedonia is not intterested anymore. They close everything down and want to not concede anymore.

65″ Van Bommel puts in a flying tackle as well and Sneijder is being tripped in a turn around. Yellow card for the Maces.

67″ Oranje pressuring the Maces all over the park again. And this was the best attack of the night!!
Tremendous positioning play, coming in from the right: Kuyt, Huntelaar, Sneijder with the vision and a streaming shot by Babel. Saved by the goalie but ruled off side. Which it wasn’t, in my opinion. Great play.

The ESPN commentators feel it’s time for Oranje to win the big trophee this time around.

70″ Bit of pressure by Macedonia, but they can’t get past our last line of defense.

Time for another replacement, Bert. Bring Raf!!

And it’s not like Macedonia is a bad collection of players. They can surely play football, but they’re outsmarted, our run, out tackled by a set of individual talents playing as a team. Corner kick Holland.

73″ High drama in the ArenA. The linesman’s flag is broken. What does the UEFA rule book say? Will Blatter come down to solve this?

74. Corner kick Sneijder easily fetched by the goalie.

One more goal, at least, boys…

75″ Deep pass from the back on Babel in space, but ruled off side again and again, a bad call!

76″ Huge chance for Maces! Good cross in and a Mace player is unmarked but heads it over.

77″ A widely smiling Sneijder leaves the pitch and is replaced by his Madrid buddy Van der Vaart.

78″ Van der Vaart immediately excites the crowd with a typical carrousel…

80″ Vaaet is lively and appears at the back to pick up the ball and appears as a right winger later. Good break Oranje and a shooting opp for Van Bommel, stopped by the goalie.

81″ Another change. Dirk Kuyt gets a great farewell applause and makes way for Ibby Affelay.

82″ Unsung hero De Jong stops a lot of gaps right before defense.

83″ Dangerous free kick for Macedonia. Pandev stopped by three defenders. The wall blocks the ball. Cointer opps for Oranje. Van Bommel ends up left winger, but De Jong is being tackled. Babel again ruled off side on a Gio pass. And again, Babel times it right. The linesman has it wrong again. Poor Ryan.

88″ Rafael 4-0!!!! A great ball by Van der Vaart. Gio places the ball behind Raf, two defenders in his back. Raf falls, turns and slides the ball in his turn into the goal. Out of reach of the goalie. A goal made on instinct and talent. No thinking. But doing. Wonderful celebration of the frustrated Madrid player.

90″ Wonderful dribble by Affelay into the box, pass on Van der Vaart is not good enough. Ball brought back in and Gio’s shot sails wide.

Interesting. Van Bommel oversees the free running Affelay. The pass is not good and Affelay gives it to Van Bommel verbally who apologizes. In the 90th minute of a game you’ve won! That’s mentality.

92″ Affelay wants the ball and takes a crack from outside the box. Stopped by the goalie.

And it’s over….

Looking back, you can always start by saying that Macedonia is a poor side. But they aren’t. They’re shrewd, they’re skilled and physically strong. But, the Dutch players are better individually and surely as a team.

Oranje looked lively, motivated, hungry and looking for glory. A footballing machine. Van Bommel and De Jong rule the midfield. Everything Sneijder does has an idea behind it and every pass is aimed forward. Robben is a constant threat, Kuyt runs for every ball and Huntelaar only needs half a chance.

And every player that comes on has the cojones to say: I want the ball. I want to impress. Affelay, Vaart, Babel, doesn’t matter… They’re all hungry.

This time around, Van der Wiel was quiet. He had a real opponent in Popov and decided to play thrifty. Gio on the other hand, had more space to commit and played a good match.

Van Marwijk can be proud of his lads and can rest assured that he’s doing things the right way.

Man of the Match: for me Wesley Sneijder. The brains and the feet. Van Persie will have to concentrate on another position, I’d say.

The Tiju Trophee of Excellence in Performance goes to Dirk Kuyt. Working hard and scoring two goals!