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Some internationals won’t learn…

September 6th, 2008 | By: Jan | 20 Comments »

Straight after Holland’s defeat against Russia at the EC, Johan Cruyff expressed his confidence in Oranje’s future. But, he also had a warning. He said: “The main worry is to keep these great players functioning as a team. There’s quite some players with a “head on their shoulders” (he means a big ego) and there’s nothing more difficult for a coach than that.”

Players with a head on their shoulders….

Typical Cruyffian lingo. But, with a bit of fantasy, it’s easy to see what he meant. There are some headstrong characters in Oranje, players who are hard to coach. Despite the great performances against Italy and France, it was clear against the Russians that one mediocre - or less - performance would evoke the worst of the character traits.

In their desire to take Oranje by the hand and lead the way to victory, some players stumbled over their own - and their mates - feet. This will be the most difficult task for Bert van Marwijk, to control and integrate the personalities of leading players like Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Robin van Persie, Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben.

It’s clear that some players still don’t have the self-discipline needed for a top performance as a team. Arjen Robben, against Russia in the friendly match, again was blind for team mates in better positions and went for his own success.

Four days later, it was Mark van Bommel, only just back at Oranje, could leave the pitch prematurely for the third time iin ten matches. Van Bommel first mowed opponent Kehl off his feet with a stretched leg and three minutes later he smacked Hajnal on the back of his head.

President Franz Beckenbauer was not amused: “Van Bommel can’t control himself and is a liability for the team.” Coach Klinsie defended Van Bommel: “Everyone is just waiting for him to make a foul.” The player himself used a Dutch expression, puzzling the press: “High trees will always catch the most wind…” Tabloid Bild couldn’t care less about this prose and nicknamed Van Marwijk’s son-in-law Captain Red.

Later, it was Van der Vaart at Real Madrid who didn’t manage to reach the 90 minutes. It was a dumb challenge, resulting in red. Later on, Van Nistelrooy received his second yellow and was also ordered off the pitch. But Van Gol is not longer an international, of course.

But, more important that the explosivity of the Dutch internationals is their ability and willingness to take a step back in favour of the team, Oranje. They all play at the highest levels in Europe, they are all financial independent, have enormous status and they all want to show themselves to the world as great players. A wonderful but difficult challenge for our new team manager….

Tags: Oranje, Persie, Robben, Sneijder, Van Bommel, Van Marwijk, World Cup 2010

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Comments

By PEP | September 6th, 2008 at 11:50 am

Sneijder is a world class player.

Posted from Canada

By Bob | September 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

It seems to me that the relationship between coach and player has become much more complex than 10 or 20 years ago. That relationship is made even more complex at the national team level because of the limited time that the coach has with the athletes. Finally, the Dutch culture itself adds a third dimension due to the “free spirit” personalities created by such culture. It therefore takes a very special person to establish respect, credibility and authority with a Netherlands team now filled with far too many prima donna personalities. We are told that the van Gaal method of coaching is no longer acceptable, yet it may be the only method that will create a teammate/team oriented approach by the players. Coaches today are asked to be “social workers”, learn how to approach each player and cater to their individual needs. de Haan does this very well, but when the team spirit went sour at the Olympics, he did not have the force of personality to change the attitude. Superstar players today are all miniature corporations, wealthy with many employees whose only goal is to look after the “star.” How can a team manager overcome that disadvantage? Alex Ferguson does it, Wenger does it, Benitez does it, and I think Hiddink approaches it. van Marwijk is an unknown to me, so I do not know whether has the qualities suggested in this email. Time will tell.

I can not resist one final comment, concerning van Bommell. In spite of the affirmations of him by many other bloggers, I disagree. I see him as an arrogant, lazy, dirty player who is the antithesis of the best Holland has presented to the world. His return is, for me, bad news.

Posted from United States

By Bart | September 6th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

At least he isn’t a pushover like the rest of the team

Posted from Canada

By goose | September 6th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

@Bob; youre right on the money; esp. concerning dutch culture
we have a very ‘flat’ society, nobody is more importent than another

that was the special thing with Cruijff, he was so good that the rest knew he was the best and so they accepted him beeing in charge…a very un-dutch thing
since Cruijff we had too much trouble keeping a team together during an EC or WC but i was wondering; what made the differnce during the EC88??

cant help but respond; vBommel is not lazy; he is dirty and arrogant (on the pitch) and thats why i love him…cant have all schoolgirls Bob

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Hey guys, anyone who isn’t lucky enough to have the coming game on their t.v. will be very interested in this link:

http://www1.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?&matchid=17857&part=sports&timeOffset=-06:00&forcelogin=no&__utma=236023559.998059827.1220714171.1220714171.1220724434.2&__utmc=236023559&__utmz=236023559.1220714171.1.1.utmccn=(referral)|utmcsr=free-live-football-streaming.blogspot.com|utmcct=/|utmcmd=referral&__utmb=236023559&streamrate=5&streamrateid=3840

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Here, try this one instead:

http://www1.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football

And then click on the Netherlands game.

By SwissJan | September 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Norway is currently defeating Iceland 2-1 courtesy of two goals by Iversen to Iceland’s goal by Helguson.

Posted from Netherlands

By SwissJan | September 6th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

Gudjohnsen draws 2-2

Posted from Netherlands

By dirk v.d.berg | September 6th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

1-0 Huntelaar, after a low cross from Babel. Thanks for the link Caleb.

Posted from Canada

By finnster01 | September 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

Full time, Norway 2-2 Iceland.

An excellent result for Holland, and disappointing for Norway. Norway had most of the possession, but produced very little. Iversen with 2 goals (one a penalty), Helguson and Gudjohnon for Iceland. Gudjohnsen’s was a cracker. Freekick just outside the box. Set pieces again. The other goals were headers. The game was just as I predicted, a lot of aerial bombardment hoping to find a striker, but not a lot of accuracy serving the ball, not good technical play and very little on the ground. Both goalkeepers were underimpressive.

Holland should take care of business in this group, but you never know. Andorra - England 0-0 at half time…lol

By Michel-Olivier | September 6th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

@ Caleb
thanks

Posted from United States

By dirk v.d.berg | September 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

Austria lead France, and Lithuania lead Romania, so there could be a weird result from that group.

Posted from Canada

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Babel looks terrible with that gross beard he’s growing…

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

No way! Red card for Stekelenburg??
Terrible back pass from Heitenga…

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

1-1 at half time. Nice goal by Huntelaar at about the 6th minute, crappy penalty by Kewell just before half. I don’t know about that red card/penalty…

Oranje looks the more dangerous team, but Australia looks capable to catch our defense out.

By Peter vdL | September 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

hmmm, not a lot of good things to say at this point.

Posted from Germany

By Peter vdL | September 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

I wouldn’t say that Holland looks the better team… Ooijer’s once again having a shocker. Mathijsen also.

Posted from Germany

By Caleb | September 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

It shouldn’t really be a shocker because you shouldn’t be expecting great games from them in the first place

Babel is kind of annoying me… it seems like he is incapable of playing one touch passes. Every time he gets the ball he stops the momentum of the build up, taking too many touches and playing himself into corners until he’s forced to play it back to the defense. His assist on the goal was well done, but in other areas he still needs to mature more.