Wesley Sneijder wants explosive start…

Hey, people, I’m still here.

I don’t think Oranje will struggle in the next two matches. But the injuries made Van Marwijk’s life a little bit more difficult. Anyway, the starting 11 sounds good to me. My idea was:

Edwin
Kromkamp—-Ooijer—-Mathijsen—-Gio
Van Bommel—De Jong
Afellay—–Van der Vaart—–Kuyt
Hunter

Maybe it’s not perfect, but I think putting Marcellis is throw him to the lions. Maybe wait till the 2nd half and give Dirk a chance would be the best choice.

About Kuyt: well, he’s mainly a striker. But I think he can play in midfield. With his stamina and physical, he can open some valuable spaces to Hunter. And even reach the area, sometimes, to score. He does just this on Liverpool. He washes the dirty laundry to make sure Fernando Torres will wear it cleaned.

I’ll try to return with more comments!

Posted from  Brazil

Finnster, you beat me too it.
Kuyt played as a striker at Liverpool his first season and was not very prolific. I’m not sure how he was able to do it in De Eredivisie (easier defences I guess), but to me he lacks the strong killer instinct of a top level striker. He is much more suited to a midfield role because he can run and run and run, and he’s better at creating opportunities than he is at finishing them.
Playing Kuyt as a lone central striker in Oranje is a bad idea. He should be in the midfield with Huntelaar up front, or beside Huntelaar if we play 4-4-2 (which we won’t).

Posted from  Canada

As I read at Voetbal International, Oranje will play tomorrow either in 4-2-3-1 or in the old and good 4-3-3:

Sar
Marcellis—Ooijer—Mathijsen—Gio vB
Van Bommel—De Jong
Kuyt—Van der Vaart—Babel
Huntelaar

or

Sar
Marcellis—Ooijer—Mathijsen—Gio
Van Bommel—VdV—De Jong
Kuyt—Hunter—Babel

That’s exactly the same, both 4-2-3-1 because V.d.Vaart won’t really stay between V.Bommel and De Jong, he’ll move forward to function as a number 10, you can bet on that.
Any way Marcellis does deserve it, and I think he’ll stay in the selection from now on. Even with Boulahrouz and Heitinga back.
The odd thing with Marcellis is that it shows how bad the defending problem is with players like Ooijer, Mathijsen and Kromkamp. If a twenty-year-old defender can so easily obtain himself a starting position in his national team, the other guys should be ashamed to call themselves internationals. Too bad our 3 best defenders are injured, Heitinga, Boulahrouz and believe it or not, Bouma,Who Bouma……… yes, Bouma.
He played way better then Mathijsen every single time he was on field, does his work, joins up front when he can, has enough experience, makes very little mistakes. The man can even stop a counter that would otherwise result in a dangerous situation in front of his goal. I haven’t seen Gio, Mathijsen or Ooijer do that very often, he is better in one-on-one situations then Gio, Mathijsen and De Cler, so I would always put in Bouma as a left-back. Think Boulahrouz-Marcellis-Heitinga-Bouma would be my prefered defence, throw Ooijer and Kromkamp out, keep De Cler, Gio and Mathijsen a little while longer, and I would also bring in Braafheid, for me, together with Marcellis, absolute best Dutch defender in the Eredivisie.
I would wait with players like Zuiverloon, Donk, Loovens etc. until they prove that they can really perform well over a longer period.
And about Jordy Buijs, good talent, but at the moment still nothing better then other talents Daley Blind(Ajax), Patrick van Aanholt(Chelsea), Gregory van der Wiel(Ajax), Erik Pieters(PSV) or Norichio Nieveld(also Feyenoord).
Kuyt is at his best on the right, where he can work till he drops dead, Think Marcellis won’t have a lot to do in his debute if he has Kuyt in front of him. V.d.Vaart and Afellay would be my replacements for V.Persie, Robben
I think V.Marwijk will play like this, don’t think he’ll have the guts to bench Ooijer for Marcellis. I’d like to see Ooijers’ face.
V.d.Sar
Marcellis-Ooijer-Mathijsen-Gio
V.Bommel-De Jong
Kuyt-Afellay-V.d.Vaart
Huntelaar

Posted from  Netherlands

Just found out that the Daily Mail reported Jaap Stam is working as a scout for Manchester United in South-America, interesting. Also, Arsenal supposedly want to offer 7.6 million euro’s for Afellay.

Posted from  Netherlands

And pretty funny considering he is originaly an attacking midfielder, all of a sudden, according to BBC, international herald tribune and tons of other mindless copying sites, Engelaar is a defender.

Defenders: Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), >>>>>>>Orlando Engelaar (Schalke)<<<<<<, John Heitinga (Atletico Madrid), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn), Dirk Marcellis (PSV Eindhoven), Jan Kromkamp(PSV Eindhoven).

Posted from  Netherlands

hmmm, thought Engelaar is used as a defending midfielder with oranje… Physical strong, tall, good header, good pass, but slow, though. Van Bommel and De Jong can do the dirty work on midfield. Why not use Engelaar as a libero?

Posted from  Netherlands

the line-up i was thinking of is actually the same as the one posted by Alex, although i would let vdv play in the center (no.10) and push affelay to the wing. starting marcellis in the centre would put a little too much pressure on him, really think that bert will stick with ooijer and mathijsen to provide stability if nothing else. this way with kuyt on the right (his best position in my opinion since he’s not good as a lone striker and i can’t see bert changing the system to allow kuyt to play alongside the hunter) marcellis will have plenty of cover.

another question for everyone, what is your opinion on melchiot not being included here? Its not that i mind kromkamp getting another chance at the right back position, but i thought that melchiot always played well there in the euro qualification.

Posted from  Canada

Engelaar as libero? Heck no, the fact that he is slow rules out this possibility in the first place. You need a defender who is quick on his feet to coupe with today’s game. Besides, Engelaar has a poor positioning and is not a good marker at all. His best position is midfielder, dead center! He has excellent vision to build up attack, clever through ball passing- And the beauty is that, he can disrupt the opponent’s attacking flow by the means of his long leg and heading ability (first line of defense).

Defender youth talents in the rank of their likelihood to making it to the next level: Marcellis, Pieters, Zuiverloon, Donk, Daley Blind (Ajax), Jeffrey Bruma (Chelsea), vd Wiel, and Luijckx. The rests are average.

Hey Guys - Great Reading again !!! Some super line ups (I can’t add). Welcome back Felipe ? You can read Dutch ? (You must be a spy !!!)
I hope Kuyt gets a run anywhere as Finn said, he’s worth 2 players. If Affelay plays he should be on one of the wings.
I am getting a delay telecast in Singapore at 8 am (4hrs after result) so wont come here to see what happens

Posted from  Singapore

@Alex: not only Jaap is working as a South American scout for Manchester, but he’s here in Brazil! He’s watching some matches from southern Brazilian clubs, like Gremio or Internacional.

@Felipe: Is that all he is watching in brazil What a terrible job to have…

Guys, tomorrow game should not be a problem. We have to show the world again what we are capable again and our qualification group is not as tough as in other times so we have every chance of making the World Cup.

I simply don´t understand why Robben gets injured that much, it is a pity because his skills are great but this are good opprtunities for guys like Afellay. I haven´t seen play Marcellis but I have read that he is a great central defender, he will eventually have his chance because guys like Boulahrouz and Ooijer don´t have the level to play in Oranje.

My prediction: Iceland 0 - Holland 2

@Finnster: Until now, yes, that’s the only region “The Kampen Rock” is watching in search of youngsters.

But it’s already a work to do. Gremio and Internacional are among the best Brazilian clubs by now.

@Felipe; That may very well be the case, but I know I would have a hard time staying focused on my job in Brazil. Only been there twice (and on business) but man, what a beautiful country and friendly people.

If you go there, it helps to understand why their football is so free flowing. The people are just so happy go lucky, always looking for a party and very pretty too. Not much to dislike about Brazil, other than crime perhaps.

@Finnster: not only crime. Our lack of punishment and cares about corruption acts is other stain in our country. Also the poverty (the income concentration is one of the biggest in the whole world). But I do believe all of this can be solved. If I didn’t, I’d have already naturalized myself in another country… and, hell, our economy is not suffering that much with the crisis around the world. Not yet.

I’m watching an interview from Jaap to Brazilian ESPN. Oh, he’s a gentleman. He says that, though Dutch people do not follow Brazilian football, our players still are great. And so is our national team. A team which drew with Bolivia 0-0 and lost Venezuela (the old South America sparring) 0-2! He also said good about Ronaldo, his old mate at PSV.

After all, that pitbull-faced back who played against us on France ‘98 is not a bad-mannered guy!

Maybe I am getting sentimental (had a few beers so please excuse me) but just came thinking about the fact that here we are on this blog all talking about our love for Oranje, yet we have people from all over the planet:

For example (and please forgive me if I have left anyone out), we have a bunch in the US (Bob, Myself etc), Caleb and Dirk in canada, Carlos et al in Singapore, Jan and company in Australia, Goose lowiesje and Alex in Holland plus others, Tiju in India, Rob in Japan and the list goes on…

Yet the KNVB has never understood the opportunity to take Oranje overseas and has a shitty little website with a shop being the only English piece available. Now I understand the Dutch history of trading, but they are just being penny wise and pound foolish.

In any event, this blog is awesome and is the first thing I read every day.

@jan i mean kuyt is not a prolific goalscorer ,he wasted minumum three clear chances(i think total six) that to two one on one situation with ricardo that means he is fit striker for second divition dutch league like,goose,finni etc said.
abt vanpersie he dribilled too much in that game instead of that he could have tried some shots on goal(van persie and were excellant at that time).
but znijder did so many first time goal on shot all of the shots hitted portugese players body before going three feet.but he could have sliced the pass to others and they would have scored for us.
other wise let us see we will play kuyt as central striker and will watch the results and kuyt will prove this (Iam not a good striker)

Posted from  India

Jan, get a job here mate…I really cant stay up to watch all the football, All the major European leagues,most Int’l incl ALL the South American games this weekend. Just hope to see Oz play Qatar in my old home town (Brissie). Always get to see the Match of the day from Holland “live”.
But really just interested in Holland. Felipe your eloquence & in depth knowledge of Brazil socio economic situation still puzzles me, You should run for Brazil President.
Am watching Scotland Brazil “live” tonight, sorry Finn hopng for a Scotland win altho a draw probably best for Oranje.

Posted from  Singapore

Oops had too much of Felipe’s blog on my mind - Scotland - Norway.
As an afterthot - Iceland is seriously broke $$$$ wise, I mean VERY seriously !!

Posted from  Singapore

By the way, what is up with those blue Nike Kimonos in the picture? That is the most suspect uniforms I have seen in a long time. Did they borrow those from the women’s team?

@finn; agree; think we have a nice line-up here on this blog

Posted from  Netherlands

Wesley had a new haircut, he looks almost like Mr.T.Hahaha.

Posted from  Australia