Van Tor is back in Oranje, and laughing…

Strictly from footballing standpoint, I’ve never been bothered with the exodus. Players can choose to play to whom their hearts belong, end of story … that has been my position all along. And let’s be honest here, those who switch to the other teams are those who think they’re not, or will be, good enough to play for their adopted team in the first place.

I am actually happy for them, because rather than being kept captive in long-life bitterness and disappointment, they can know fulfill their dreams of playing in NT jersey, in the World Cup, or whatever it may be.

Aissati, Amrabat, Barazite have no future in the Dutch NT (Heck, they can’t even get playing times in their respective teams!!). And in the past, the likes of Boussaffa, Boukhari, Boussaboun, Boutahar, El Ahmadi, El Akachaoui, El Khatabbi never did light the world (I am sure there are a whole lot of others whom I can’t remember on top of my head).

Btw .. I admit there was a 30-second period when I watched Ajax two or three weeks ago when I said to myself … man, I wish El Hamdaoui chose to represent Oranje. But then I looked at the list of attacker talents in Oranje, I forgot it all completely. No love lost!

Based on the last practice, it looked like Maduro is the leading candidate to replace the suspended Heitinga at the heart of the defence. Anita is in line for his first competitive match. De Jong – Van Bommel as usual. Vaart is to be deployed in the left side, accompanied in midfield by Sneijder and Kuyt. Huntelaar to lead the attack. Goal galore …

Anyone know the line up for today’s game yet?

Oops, didn’t see your post there Eric.

@Caelb;

not sure but it could be:

Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Maduro, Mathijsen, Anita; Van Bommel, De Jong; Sneijder; Kuijt, Huntelaar, Eilia.

Posted from  Netherlands

we dont need two damn defensive midfielders against san marino… should line up like this:

4-3-3 Stekelenburg; van der Wiel, Maduro, Mathijsen, Pieters; van der Vaart, van Bommel, Sneijder; Kuijt, van Nistelrooy, Elia

@Hib: we dont need 2 holding midfeilders against anyone! Bring back the 4-3-3! we have the players for it!

Posted from  United States

why 2 holding midfieldesr against san marino????

@ Eric, I don’t think it’s that simple, Imad Najah and Zakaria Labyad are pretty talented, I can understand why Aissati, Messaoud would go for them based on quality, talent, prospect etc., maybe Amrabat too, but Mokhtar, Najah and Labyad are actually pretty talented and have equal or more chance of making oranje in the future as a lot of the other talents, we’re not 60 million plus country, we can use whatever we can get in terms of talents. Who wouldn’t want to see El Hamdaoui in oranje…we don’t exactly have a lot of class strikers.. Pim Verbeek is busy with a sweet talking campaign towards european born players, who haven’t broken through yet and happen to have double nationality because of a dumb rule Morocco created for their own benefit. That pisses me off..most of those just decided because of Pim, instead of choosing on their own when they’re ready for it..

BTW Pim Verbeek is youth coach for Morocco, not Gert-Jan Verbeek, who is AZ coach.

Posted from  Netherlands

BVM plan is 4-2-3-1 till the end of his contract.

but i think…changes will happen through the game. who always said defence give confidence and good buildup

lately he said about Cruyff comments of playing wiht one holding midfielder that its not his way and even spain playing with 2 holding midfielders ( In reply to johan cruff spain play better football) so the problem is not in 2 holding midfielders to play beuatiful football.

I think BVM will play with 2 holding Midfielders against san marino and/or agains brazil and spain for him its about consistency and have a group of players that undestand his plans and execute on field.

It seems guys your guessing is right as per goal.com

Probable line-up: Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Mathijsen, Vlaar, Anita; Van Bommel, Van der Vaart; Kuyt, Sneijder, Elia; Huntelaar

Moderately good news. Redcard for one of the Finnish players in the Moldova-Finland game. Suspended for our match against them.

Moldova giving them a real hard time, I always like those underdogs biting back.

Posted from  Netherlands

Jad: if van bommel and vdv are the 2 holding midfielders i have nothing against because with vdv they are much more creative,but with de jong the creativity disappears and against 95% of the teams you don’t need the kind of ultra-security de jong guarantees. with vdv you have the chance to score more goals,with de jong you choose a more defensive approach. anyway,i think in a balanced team with good attacking possibilities 1 holding midfielder (who is also good in the build up) is enough.

I think BVM if he wants to make adjustment in his plan he will do it ealry in the qualifying because he is not kind of person who made changes at mature stages

@alex– No doubt Labyad is talented (never saw Najah or Mokthar to be able to comment), and I surely hope he turns out to a great player. But he’s young, a lot of things can happen in the near future. I was very excited when El Hamdaoui emerged from the Dutch U21 (circa ‘04), his move to Spurs somewhat derailed his career and it took the genius of Van Gaal to restore him. Same with Aissati, I thought he was the next best thing when he first came out. I even predicted he would surpass Afellay by miles when all said and done. Evidently, I was mistaken big time. Aissati’s career keeps hitting lower bottom every time I check the news these days.

The point is, talents come and go. I wished predicting who, when and how one would succeed is that easy. You can have people telling you where to go and stuff, but at the end of the day you know what yourself are made out of. Like your story earlier, if Labyad indeed has confidence he can succeed and break-through Oranje, let be it. He is already smart enough to know that he needs to wait before making decision. My belief is that, in the big picture, the inherent competitiveness in the Dutch youth system will tend to act as a filter to separate those who are good vs. those who are in the borderline. And this is true for everyone, regardless of their nationalities backgrounds. Mounir and Aissati took a long, long time to make up their minds. Perhaps they thought they could make it to Oranje, but realizing their competitions, they chose the other alternative. Good for them.

Yup, straight red card for Sami Hyypia. Btw, can’t believe 40-yr old Jari Litmanen is still playing for Finland!!

One of these two probable arrangements to start for the dutch team against san marino

1-Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Maduro, Mathijsen, Anita, Van Bommel, De Jong, Kuyt, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Huntelaar

2-Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Mathijsen, Vlaar, Anita; Van Bommel, Van der Vaart; Kuyt, Sneijder, Elia; Huntelaar

most probably “1″ as per voetbal central

HERE The official startup against San marino wwwwaw pieters and Elia are in RVN,VDV are not :

Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Maduro, Mathijsen, Pieters, Van Bommel, De Jong, Kuyt, Sneijder, Elia, Huntelaar

Anyone know any link other than myp2p?
It not working, thanks

Posted from  Australia

@Jake – I’m using a link from myP2P and it’s working fine – one of the sopcast links. Do you have sopcast?

Thanks caleb, my sopcast doesnot work, normally the wndows media player work, I gave up and back to sleep.

Posted from  Australia

lol, well if it’s any consolation I should be able to upload a replay of the game later on today (not right away, but maybe in half a day or so).

Highlight of the match for me – Ruud scoring a difficult goal to highlight his return to the team!

That’ll be great caleb
thanks mate

Posted from  Australia

Here’s the links to watch the game:

1st half:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/42jo97

2nd half:
http://uploading.com/files/863cc1mm/2.asf/

Unfortunately I missed the first 30 minutes of the first half, but most of the action is after that anyways. Enjoy!

I just linked this article on my facebook account. It’s an interesting read for everyone.