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Three players made the Iceland game interesting

October 13th, 2008 | By: Jan | 29 Comments »

In Oslo this Wednesday Holland has the chance to put two rivals for the WC2010 ticket on the back foot early on in the campaign.

If Oranje beats Norway, they will trail seven points only a month after the qualification’s start. And Scotland has a gap of five points to close.

When team manager Hans Jorritsma and assistant coach John van ‘t Schip negotiated the calendar for this group, Oranje was betting on a ideal course. Meaning that if feasible Oranje will have certainty before the 2009 summer already. In that scenario, the last game against Scotland at Hampden Park won’t even matter anymore.

The win over Iceland was calculated. The draw between Scotland and Norway was a bonus hoped for. Van Marwijk also saw his team starting ideally: “But, I warn the boys against optimism. Norway away is a very tough game. This is one difficult opponent for us. We want to make sure the players realize what kind of game we’re facing…”

Although many people say “small” football nations don’t exist anymore, every viewer will have seen that the Icelandic players disobeyed the basis rules of football. Ryan Babel was able to take on any ball passed to him and there was no double coverage on the flanks, allowing the Liverpudlian a field day.

Oranje could have and should have made more of those situations. But Babel’s cross deserted him and the movement upfront was poor. Holland was even lucky when Gio van Bronckhorst tucked an Icelandic shirt very obviously; another ref could have given a penalty to Iceland.

Three Oranje players gave the game some color. First there was Dirk Marcellis debut as right back. The Hunter scored his tenth goal and Raf van der Vaart showed his class with his ball skills and his smarts. His cross to Mathijsen, scoring the first, was the moment of the match. With feeling he placed the ball exactly in the Hamburg defender’s stride.

Van der Vaart rightfully earned the Man of the Match prize, who also gave the subtle assist for the 2-0.

In Van Marwijk’s system, there’s always one midfielder with depth (Babel in this case) behind the striker and two creative “playmakers” who can switch sides and roles whenever they feel like it. Afellay seemed the logical choice to replace Sneijder/Robben against Iceland, but Van Marwijk chose workhorse Dirk Kuyt.

In the players’ home Van Marwijk congratulated both Dirks. Marcellis had a fine debut (”I was surprised to see Marcellis coach his team mates on the pitch, something you don’t see often with debutants”) although Kuyt surely didn’t play a good game. Van Marwijk thought Kuyt played an important tactical part and had a good connection with the young debutant Dirk on the right.

Big question against Norway will be: is Van Marwijk prepared to take a risk with Sneijder and Van Persie. The Arsenal striker is testing his hamstring everyday and hopes to be ready in time.

With Oranje so close to a devastating lead in the group, the team manager shouldmn’t consider playing players who aren’t 100% fit. The risk of having to replace two players early on in the game is too big to take.

Van Persie says he’s fit for the match: “I can play. If the team manager needs me, I’ll be ready.” Wesley Sneijder feels he can play for 60 minutes. “The ten minutes against Iceland went well. I wouldn’t want to try to play a full match, but I can do an hour, I think.”

De Jong and Heitinga won’t travel to Norway with the group. Nigel de Jong seems to be out for at least a month. Demy de Zeeuw and Dirk Marcellis look like they’ll start. De Zeeuw: “That’s football for ya… A month ago I was so out of form that Van Gaal put me back in the AZ B-team and now I may start for Oranje.”

Tags: Bommel, De Zeeuw, Holland, Hunter, Marcellis, Norway, Oranje, Sneijder, Van Marwijk, Van Persie. Kuyt, World Cup 2010

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 29 comments.

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By ghost of steve finnan | October 14th, 2008 at 6:16 am

Yeah, Engelaar is dreadful. So slow with his feet, with the ball, with his brain. Oojier is tall enuough for carew, just not good enough.

Posted from United States

By ghost of steve finnan | October 14th, 2008 at 6:23 am

Also, V Persie is not a central striker, don’t force something that’s not there. He plays so much better as a shadow-type. Huntelaar is an assasin when in form. He will certainly be back around soon. And anyway, he still has 2 for 2 in these qualies.Give him a bit of a chance to get into a good flow.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | October 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am

@HUP: Didn’t see Sweden vs Portugal (0-0), but there has been quite a few stories floating about in the Scandinavian newspapers after the match. Nobody understands how a game with both Zlatan Ibrahimovich (new Swedish team captain by the way) and Cristiano Ronaldo can end up with no goals.

But the bigger story is that several of the Swedish players are complaining publicly about Ronaldo et co. falling over like they were shot and rolling around on the ground all the time at the slightest contact.Especially Isaksson had a go at Ronaldo..Sounds familiar?

You are right, HUP, everything is back to normal, and indeed making sense again!!

By ferenc | October 14th, 2008 at 9:37 am

huntelaar is not in form,but he almost always scores. i wouldn’t use van persie as the target man. he’s not for that. he is going to be a second robben: a super sub,but i wouldn’t build the oranje around him. sneijder is the key. what is interesting about wes: he always performs better in oranje than at real. i wonder why,but if you follow his club career as well as gis international games,it seems evident.

Posted from Hungary

By Michel-Olivier | October 14th, 2008 at 10:16 am

next friendly or qualifier bert should drop engelaar and dezeeuw from te squad

Posted from United States

By 3ric | October 14th, 2008 at 10:49 am

@MO: Why De Zeeuw? Can you suggest a better DM than him? I always like Demy, he is very limited skills-wise to be part of the national team, much like Kuijt. What he doesn’t have, he makes up with hard work and persistence. To my liking, De Jong is going to be no. 1 choice as holding midfielder for many years to come. He’s on the fast track to become the Dutch Makalele. I think De Zeeuw is a good back up for Nigel. If anything, it should be Van Bommel who should get a slap on the wrist. On his better day, he’s one of the most complete CM/DM in Europe, maybe even in the world. But he’s been out of form lately and can’t get his mind straight on the pitch. I lost track how many times he misplaced his passes vs. Iceland, and apart from his cooly taken half-volley, I didn’t see his meaningful contribution. He didn’t even have the aggression to close down opponents. If he doesn’t step up, I don’t mind if he was replaced with a more offensive-minded midfielder such as Afellay or another nutcracking midfielder in the shape of De Zeeuw. Engelaar .. He doesn’t get much playing time to begin with, I don’t care if he is called up or not.

Posted from United States

By Ragnar | October 14th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Maybe it´s a bit too soon for some of them but if it were up to me, the lineup would look something like this:
————-Steks————–
Zuiverloon—-Heitinga–Marcellis—–Gio
——V.Bommel—-DeJong————-
V.Persie—Sneijder——-Babel
(kuyt) (Vaart) (Robben)
Huntelaar

Thoughts?. I think that given the time left to WC2010, this lads could gel into a TEAM. V.Persie as a free roamer to help the Hunter up front. Khalid as a sub or a contingent for more physical opps, since I think that sometimes he´s too volatile. Excuse my grammar but english it´s not my first language…..

By goose | October 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

@3eric; agreed; if vBommel isnt in good form vMarwijk should bench his son-in-law … but with deJong out (hell be out for weeks) we still need a ‘basterd’in the team, the only one left is vBommel

@Ragnar; who’s Steks??

@ferenc; very true my friend; Sneijder is the man, the teams needs to be build around him…if vPersie fits in, fine .. if not, also fine…it was obvious in the Iceland game that he is miles better than any of his Oranje team mates

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | October 14th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

btw; look at the Huntelaar picture .. guess he had this same facial expression many times in school!! haha

Posted from Netherlands

By Ragnar | October 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Goose: by Steks I meant Stekelenburg…..

By goose | October 14th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

dont think he will play Ragnar, didnt you hear? vdSar is back for 2 games! Stekelenburg is injured (so is Timmer)

Posted from Netherlands

By Ragnar | October 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

Yeah so I read, but my lineup wasn´t for the next game, but more like an ideal one or something

By goose | October 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

ah, ok looks pretty decent to me although i have the feeling that Gio is getting a bit old..who will replace him in the (near) future?

Posted from Netherlands

By Marwan | October 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

i would say

VDS
marcilies – hetinga – mathijsen – gio

englaar – de zeeuw

snjder – vdv – babel
huntelar

Posted from Romania

By 3ric | October 14th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

@goose: I’d vote for Erik Pieters as a long term solution at LB. He looks sharp so far in his short tenure with PSV. If he continues to develop, I think he can be a solid starter for Oranje in 3-4 years. In the mean time, De Cler is a good cover for Gio. I don’t rate Jong-A-Pin, but knowing there isn’t anybody else in the pipeline, Calvin may come and go as perennial solution. Urby and Drenthe are not full backs and should never be ones. For RB, as I’ve said before, Janmaat is my boy. Zuiverloon is not a bad choice either.

Posted from United States

By Ragnar | October 14th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

True, who do we have as LB in the future?, my first pick would be Enmanuelson….maybe Drenthe after he proves himself at Madrid. The future is Orange indeed…..

3ric: I know people dont like Urby at LB because his tendency to slip off from defensive duties, but taking a look at the 2 p.k. that gio has given away recently I wouldn´t worry that much….

By Jan | October 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

I wouldn’t drop De Zeeuw. You don’t see the De Zeeuw of AZ in Oranje. In AZ he is the “Sneijder” of the team. Quick feet, quick wits and vision.

Oranje’s LB doesn’t need to be a good defender.
Most teams play with two strikers, so two markers sort them out. You have a free man at the back and the LB can play a half midfield role. Emanuelson could do this. De Cler is decent.

But, with all the talent we have, I say: move Bommel back to libero (he’s getting older too) and make room for Afellay. We should be able to play most opponents off the pitch, except for the big nations (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Argentina, Brazil). If we play those, maybe more bakance is needed, but for the rest we shouldn’t need two holding midfielders…

By Felipe | October 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

Well, I didn’t watched the Iceland match as I would like, because ESPN broadcasted the VT (yes, it wasn’t live…) from 5:00 pm at Sunday. Just the time Brazil did the kick-off against Venezuela. I love Oranje, but Brazil is my land…

But, from what I saw, that was a good game for Netherlands. Not excellent, but good. Van der Vaart is just mastering the team: what a player Sylvie’s husband is being! And Babel is calmly firming himself for the left side…take care, Arjen!

About Marcellis? He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t make mistakes. I dare say he started to get definitely a place in the squad. One of Holland’s best defenders by now.

Against Norway, it’s like Goose said on the last post: it will be not a day in an amusement park. Riise and Carew are well-known players and can cause some trouble. But I believe in a new triumph. Let’s watch.

PS: This time ESPN Brazil will show it live!

By Michel-Olivier | October 14th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

@ 3ric & jan
Stijn Schaars, Lorenzo Davids, David da silva, and Theo Janssen are all good cm/dm players. plus Sneijder can drop back to play along side vBommel. also Gio can play cm/dm.

Posted from United States

By Carlos | October 14th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

What I love about coming here is there are so many tidbits of info on players which I can’t find anywhere else. Agree with 3ric on de Jong and Ragnar’s future team looks great too. Can’t wait to see how we go against the Vikings. Like Jan, I hope to see more of Affelay too but we have so much talent there now *sigh

Posted from Singapore

By ghost of steve finnan | October 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Urby is brutal on Defense. Was just personally responsible for 3 goals allowed vs. Hereenveen. Its more than just slip ups mentally. He’s either a LM or not oranje. Most likely, just not ornaje.

Posted from United States

By mario | October 14th, 2008 at 7:19 pm

Holland should play like this against Norway:

1-van der Sar; 2- Marcellis, 3- Ooijer; 4- Mathijsen; 5- Gio; 6- van Bommel, 7- Kuyt, 8- van der Vaart, 10- Sneijder, 11- Babel;
9- Huntelaar.

De Zeeuw, is an Oranje material…I haven´t seen anything from him yet!

By 3ric | October 14th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

@M-O: Pls don’t take this as an offense, but you’d be awfully desperate to mention Theo Janssen. This guy is slow, can’t defend and has no business whatsoever in Oranje. Lorenzo Davids is raw and average. Schaars, Da Silva, and De Zeeuw are playing for AZ and fighting for the CM and DM spots. When/if all is fit, Da Silva is the obvious casualty. He’s far inferior than De Zeeuw in all aspects. Schaars is an intriguing idea. We’ve seen his potentials prior to injuries, yet to be known how he climbs back. For now, he needs to concentrate to regain his forms before even wishing to get calls up. Gio is a waste in midfield, he should be in the back line, there are other viable options. I’d entertain the idea to drop Sneijder or Raffie back, but not at the expense of De Jong. Van Bommel is not irreplaceable. This is my midfield lineup:

DM: De Jong/De Zeeuw/Van Bommel
CM: Sneijder (the number 10)
AM’s: Van der Vaart, Van Persie/Afellay, Robben/Babel

By Michel-Olivier | October 14th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

@ 3ric
ya i was desperate because i couldn’t think of any other names.
if only maduro and sno was fit and in top form.

Posted from United States

By ferenc | October 15th, 2008 at 3:59 am

to replace gio,i would say emanuelson. i know that he makes mistakes,but he’s got the talent and the potential for that. he’s not brilliant in defence,but very good in the build up and has a vision of the game. like Jan said: as a left back we don’t need a defence-minded player, but rather someone like gio. or maybe de cler,but i’d prefer urby. stekelenburg – boulah,heitinga,marcelis,urby would be my backline. drenthe: we should forget him. last summer i thought he would become one of our great players in the future. since i have completely changed my mind. he’s useless and too instinctive in the bad sense of the word (no brain for the combinative play). after watching quite often at real – when he played – he always did very mediocre or bad performances.

Posted from Hungary

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