The Netherlands on their way to Gold!

May 29th, 2010 | by: Jan |

The Blog Gods – my humble employers – asked me some time ago to answer some questions for them.

I did. And I never posted that piece here. So, here ya go. It’s almost on behalf of all of you, but I never asked for your consent.

Sorry for that .

Hope you like it.

I’ll try to post the Danes, Cameroon and Japanese entries…

1. Who is your best player?

We have many “best players”, which is one of our strengths. Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder will most probably compete for this tag, but holding midfielders Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel might claim this title too. Or will it be newcomer Eljero Elia?

2. What do you think of your coach?

Bert van Marwijk might not be the most inspiring coach the Dutch ever produced ( amongst Cruyff, Hiddink, Van Gaal) but he seems to have the right profile for team manager. We try not to think about our 2002 campaign under Van Gaal… Van Marwijk is a decent man, doesn’t say or do silly things, is diplomatic and respectful to his players and is above all a realist. He might not discover new ways to play football or perform air-karate kicks along the touch line. He will never insult the media or be caught with his pants down somewhere. He won’t be the most adventurous coach, which is good because the Dutch would like to win a world cup this time, thank you very much….

3. What do you think of your World Cup 2010 kits?

I can’t be bothered, really. I don’t care what they wear as long as it’s orange and as long as they win games. I did like the vintage WC2006 kits but other than that I am not fuzzed at all. I do like the blue socks, white shorts, orange shirts combination,

4. What’s your team’s biggest strength?

Our pass and move game combined with “total football”. Most of our players have tremendous technical skills and we are always looking forward, looking to create something. Another big strength – since recently – is that we can play as a team.

5. …and biggest weakness?

Our biggest strength is also our biggest weakness. We tend to rely on our creative skills to win games. When the going gets tough, we need to be willing and able to work and battle for a result and that’s where we let ourselves down regularly. Another typical Dutch issue is the Battle of the Ego’s. Infighting and power-struggles and all that jazz. Lastly, we tend to think we’re the champs already after two decent games…

6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why?

We wouldn’t. There would be the language barrier and…sorry…just kiddin’. But I don’t think we would steal a player… Maybe a central defender like John Terry. Our offensive players can compete with the best of the planet and so can our holding midfielders. Our defenders don’t have the international status of big name players, but their statistics are pretty good. So, we’ll stick to the lads we have.

7. Tell us one thing about your team that the rest of the world might not know (either a bit of trivia or a promising player we might not have heard of)…

Ah, where to start… The Dutch play in Orange due to the link to the Royal Family of Holland, who are named Van Oranje (of Orange). Our most successful and famous squad – the WC1974 squad – shouldn’t have qualified for the World Cup. We played our last qualification game against Belgium. Belgium scored a surefire goal but it was disallowed for off side. The replay clearly showed it wasn’t.

We missed a number of center backs due to injuries (Drost, Israel, Laseroms, Hulshof, Mansveld) so coach Michels had to improvise. Young midfielder Arie Haan was put libero and debutant Rijsbergen became stopper. The risk of these two young players was compensated by goalie Jan Jongbloed, a very fast runner and good with his feet. He essentially played libero.

Johan Cruyff didn’t go to the World Cup 1978 in Argentina. The rumor was that Danny – his wife – was jealous and didn’t want another Bild-swimming pool incident and told Johan not to go. Recently, Johan disclosed information how right before the WC, some Dutch burglar broke into JC’s house with a gun, trying to rob the Cruyffs. He tied Danny up and had JC at gunpoint. Some hero-stunt got them out of there but Johan decided not to leave Danny alone after that.

8. What would you consider success/failure for your team at World Cup 2010?

I personally believe we need to go for gold. But if we are ousted at quarter final level after a great game against a better opponent, I wouldn’t be too sad. If we get to the semis with luck I might be less impressed. But all in all, I want them to win it with great football.

9. What are you most exited about at World Cup 2010?

Just the mere fact that it’s on . Waited 4 years for it. I also believe Holland has a squad that could win it.

10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010?

The obvious answer is Holland or Spain. England has a good squad too. Germany is always a contender. And then there’s the South Americans… Brazil and Argentina. The latter have Messi, but they also have Maradona. And who knows, one of the African nations may get far this time around.

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 55 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Alex | May 30th, 2010 at 6:09 am

the shirt numbers are official
1. Stekelenburg
2. Van der Wiel
3. Heitinga
4. Mathijsen
5. Van Bronckhorst
6. Van Bommel
7. Kuyt
8. De Jong
9. Van Persie
10. Sneijder
11. Robben
12. Boulahrouz
13. Ooijer
14. De Zeeuw
15. Braafheid
16. Vorm
17. Elia
18. Schaars
19. Babel
20. Afellay
21. Huntelaar
22. Boschker
23. Van der Vaart

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | May 30th, 2010 at 6:11 am

looks like Robben will play on the left if the first 11 will be our starting line up…hm, dont really get that.

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | May 30th, 2010 at 6:27 am

Ooijer = 13

By Mohamed | May 30th, 2010 at 6:48 am

Haha , i gave Ooijer the No.13 in a previous post i swear

btw Alex i don’t think the Numbers with V.marwijk have anything to do with the positions , unlike san marco ..

By ejb | May 30th, 2010 at 7:09 am

Mohamed Argentina barely qualified, and I don’t buy it that they are all of a sudden going to string together 5 good games. Their coach is capable of sinking them as well

Posted from Germany

By Mohamed | May 30th, 2010 at 7:25 am

@ EJB ,
wow , you’re from Germany and you support Netherlands , how cool is that !
I know that Argentina barely qualified , but brazil in 2002 also barely qualified .. You never know what will happen .
I dislike Argentina to be honest .. I hope they don’t get over the quarter-finals .

By ejb | May 30th, 2010 at 7:26 am

Ha I’m not German, just traveling

Posted from Germany

By Mohamed | May 30th, 2010 at 7:34 am

Ah i see , sorry

By Mohamed | May 30th, 2010 at 7:36 am

O GUYZZZ , HELL !
Japan 1-0 England ! ¡

By finnster01 | May 30th, 2010 at 7:40 am

Reposting the WC tipping competition as Carlos has a few very good suggestions which will be incorporated. Every score (when we get to the knock-out stages) are after 90 mins only (No ET or pens).

After you have entered the competition, should you miss a game/set of games, the default will be a 1-1 pick.

We are now up to 14 and growing but still want plenty of more (Alex, Sol, Mohamed, Goose, Mario, M-O, Tiju, Carlos, Lerkot etc. You know who you all are)

So far we have the following “experts”:
Steve
Finn
Jake
Dave
Jad
Sonneveld
Abhirup
Ferenc
Fred
Caleb
Dirk v d Berg
Jan
Leon
Peter vdl

Here’s the original post:
OK Ladies & Gents, Here is the first chunk of games to pick correct scores for. It is all the first games from each group. DPG means Double Point Game, so this game counts double in the standings. (To enter just cut and paste the below, type in the score after each match listing and email your answer to wchupholland@gmail.com). I will post updated league tables on this thread after each round of games. OK, here we go and good luck all!!:

South Africa vs. Mexico
Uruguay vs. France
Korea Republic vs. Greece
Argentina vs. Nigeria
England vs. USA
Algeria vs. Slovenia
Serbia vs. Ghana
Germany vs. Australia
Netherlands vs. Denmark
Japan vs. Cameroon
Italy vs. Paraguay DPG!!
New Zealand vs. Slovakia
Ivory Coast vs. Portugal
Brazil vs. North Korea
Honduras vs. Chile
Spain vs. Switzerland

By Deckard | May 30th, 2010 at 7:42 am

If BVM is gonna play with the “Big 4″ which I think he will, Robben is gonna play on the left anyway. Cuz it’s either him or VDV and Raf it totally in-effective from the right so it has to be Arjen. However, VDV will probably be the first to come off when it’s time for subs and Robben will switch to the right with either Elia or Kuyt taking over the left.

Posted from New Zealand

By Jan | May 30th, 2010 at 7:54 am

Eh Deckard… are you making no sense then ?

So, Robben is gonna play on the left because Raf is ineffective on the right???? But VDV will come off and so Robben switches to the right and Kuyt will play on the left?

Me thinks you’re watching Oranje play via the mirror? Hahahaa….

By Mohamed | May 30th, 2010 at 7:56 am

@ Finn the man ,
i’ll send you my picks at the 7th of July

By Michel-Olivier | May 30th, 2010 at 8:16 am

@finns
june 9-10 for me

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | May 30th, 2010 at 8:17 am

6. lucio

Posted from United States

By Kyle | May 30th, 2010 at 8:36 am

@Alex thanks mate for the shirt numbers.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Bob | May 30th, 2010 at 8:46 am

Jan, great blog! I did not know about the Cruijff reason for not going to WC ‘78. As to the weaknesses of the Dutch team, having recently re-read David Winner’s “Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football”, I agree with your assessment. Winner gives example after example of how the mentality of the Dutch players have really damaged many opportunities at many major tournaments. Perhaps the style of van Marwyck can help in avoiding such nonsense, but the team’s history would suggest otherwise.
Finally, I would agree with your offhand comment about having a very strong defender join the team. If I could, I would replace every one of our defenders. Without that possibility, I would put both van Bommel and Kuyt in defense. Yes, “we” do have the talent in forwards and mid-fielders to win the Cup. I believe that the defense is so weak that it was make this much wished for victory impossible. Also, I really hope that I am a wrong as I can be!

Posted from United States

By Fredo | May 30th, 2010 at 9:57 am

Hello guys, if you have funny fotos or videos, please come post there here in comment : (http://www.mixin.com/users/worldcup_netherlands)

Posted from France

By Deckard | May 30th, 2010 at 10:15 am

Jan, I made a mistake. Yeah, so Robben on the right and Raf on the left. I got confused cuz Robben got #11 so in my mind I presumed he’d be a left-winger. However, when Kuyt comes on, I think Robben could switch to the left as Kuyt’s more comfortable on the right. But maybe Robben will be the first to be subbed instead of Raf seeing Arjen is so vulnerable to injury.

Posted from New Zealand

By Deckard | May 30th, 2010 at 10:17 am

Btw, I’d trade someone like Lucio any day for Heitinga or (especially) Mathijsen. I hope our one hard-line defender, Boula, gets to start, but I don’t think that’ll happen.

Posted from New Zealand

By Jalepinho | May 30th, 2010 at 1:51 pm

Alex, you are the man. thanks for the numbers.

By Jan | May 30th, 2010 at 4:47 pm

Haha, gotcha Deckard .

@Bob, that Cruyff story came out recently. I dedicated a whole post to it last year or so.

You can search the archive I believe and “Cruyff” will get you a long way .

By gold coins | May 30th, 2010 at 5:21 pm

i think it is good idea you ask about this things. Well, i can see read that they are very honest in answering each question.

Posted from Philippines

By Ralph | June 2nd, 2010 at 7:08 pm

“But if we are ousted at quarter final level after a great game against a better opponent, I wouldn’t be too sad. If we get to the semis with luck I might be less impressed.”
???? What kind of talking is that???
I would be terribly sad if Oranje got out after 1/4, no matter what. I would be satified if they got to the semifinals (with chance of final) no matter what!!!

Posted from Poland