Month: June 2014

June 17, 2014June 18, 2014 by Jan

The Day After the Spanish Tapas….

Normally, I post this “day after” stuff …eh…the day after the game. But, as you know by now, we had a massive debacle with the hosting and our site was down for days. APOLOGIES again but it was merely the popularity of the site and the great win over Spain of course.

We will still see some changes coming, as I am working on upgrades, scaling up and better solutions in hosting. I never expected this success during this particular tournament and underestimated what could happen. This is something companies experience as well of course. You simply don’t know what kind of scale you need until you get to that point…. So lets view it from the positive angle: Holland is increasingly winning in popularity and we greet new friends here on an hourly basis.

Anyway, just like with Spanish tapas…. After you had it, it usually comes back the next day in a different sort of format and structure. Same with this game. I have been mulling over it and watching different media and angles and trying to make sense of it. Wonderful.

So I watched it at home, with friends and family. In the middle of the night. And don’t let the travel guides fool you: nights in winter in Oz can be cold. Anyway, I was not too positive (as the live blog will testify) until that RVP massive header. The second half, the roof went off in my house. I realised that at the end of the game I was disappointed that we didn’t score some of the other chanced we got, to really make an amazing statement… 1-8 would have been pretty cool.

Dutch football took a bit of a hit over the last years. In 1998 and 2000 we impressed but missing the 2002 World Cup hurt our image a bit. The Portugal clash in 2006 didn’t help us and neither did the dirty antics in the finals against Spain in 2010. Don’t get me wrong, I personally don’t think we played negatively in 2010. Despite the early fouls Van Bommel and Van Persie made and De Jong’s karate kick on Alonso, Holland wasn’t that negative and could have won it.

But the 5-1 victory over Spain and the way Van Gaal has been able to revitalise the “tired” 2012 squad has made a big impression internationally.

Diego Maradona – not a slouch on the pitch himself – compared the Spain victory with the impact Holland had in 1974. “A revolution in modern football” the horizontally challenged one said. “Louis van Gaal has done wonderful work and prepped his young team impressively. People who believe Holland will be going home soon will be disappointed. This team will go far!”

People expected Oranje to underwhelm after Van Gaal announced to play 5-3-2. This could well be the end of Total Football, people thought. But Van Gaal knew exactly what he was doing. We might all believe that attacking until you collapse is the answer to everything, but Van Gaal said it well: Dutch football is more than just play with wingers. Putting pressure on and taking possession as quick as possible is also part of it. And Holland did just that. We had close to 20 interceptions of the Spanish build up while Spain only intercepted our attacks 8 times. They didn’t have an answer to our forward pressure on the ball.

The fans loved it. Balotelli tweeted: “Wow Chocolate Holland!”. Gary Lineker said “This is football that you want to see at a World Cup!”. While icon Clarence Seedorf compared Holland with the best Brazilian teams of the past. Bora Milutinovic was coach on a World Cup 5 times! With Mexico, Costa Rica, China, the US and Nigeria. He is not surprised about the Oranje success: “You always do something spectacular. Since 1974. And all football supporters expect something special. Louis van Gaal is a miracle worker, he has prepped this team so well. And any nation would love to have Van Persie, or Robben or Sneijder. Your education is strong and players from Holland are well versed tactically and technically. Does Maradona calls this a revolution? Well, that is maybe a tad too early to say, but with Van Persie and Robben in tremendous form, anything is possible.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy calls it a “Statement” on ESPN. “Holland’s pride was hurt at the WC2010. We may have played a disappointing finals back then but we weren’t as bad as some say. And the 2012 Euros was a major disappointment of course. This is a statement. We are back.”

Thierry Henry took it a bit further: “Michels and Cruyff and later Van Gaal brought total football to Spain. This World Cup, Holland is taking it back.”

Four years ago, Sneijder was the man of the moment. The leader and the goal scorer. It seems the little general is now a supporting actor, with Robben and Van Persie taking the lead. “And I am totally fine with that. If we win the World Cup this time around, I will gladly be in service of the team, hahaha.” Robben scored the fifth and almost ran out of the stadium, with Sneijder chasing him to cheer. “I even called after him. “Hey, come here you!”. But he didn’t even listen to me, hahahaha.” Sneijder was the finisher in South Africa, this time he played the perfect pass to Robben but his run and trickery in the box claimed the limelight and Sneijder’s name is now mentioned as a afterthought. “I really don’t care. As long as we win. I would do anything. And I get a lot of satisfaction from giving the assist.” Sneijder was actually the player with the second most kilometers in the Spain match, after Daryl Janmaat. “Are you surprised? I am really fit man! I played between Xavi and Xabi Alonso and whenever they had possession I had to run a lot. It was key to get it right between De Jong and De Guzman and me. I think we did ok. And I can’t be unhappy with two assists. The pass to Robben was a bit like the one I played in the WC2010 finals. Arjen and I are so comfortable with each other, I can pass to him with my eyes closed, hahaha.”

As per usual, Robben, RVP and Sneijder get the most attention. Since the Spain goal, Daley Blind and Jasper Cillesen get heaps of recognition as well, with Daley Blind being touted as Man of the Match by the BBC analysts and on Arsenal and Man United’s wish list. Still, players like De Vrij and Vlaar and Martins Indo do deserve some acknowledgement as well. In the first phase of the game, the defenders relied on their backpasses to give the “problem” (the ball) to the goalie. Louis van Gaal is adamant that the defenders take risks and pass the ball deep. In the last stage before the break, De Vrij started to play deep passes. Five in a short time and he sort of seemed to inspire his colleagues, as Vlaar and Martins Indi started to skip the midfield and backpass in order to bring the ball fast to the forwards.

In the first 15 minutes of the second half, it was clear that Spain lost control of the midfield. Normally, this would motivate Xavi and Co to step up a bit and put more pressure on the opponent. But they simply couldn’t. The Spanish team fell apart and turned into little islands, actually not unlike the Dutch did during the Euros 2012. In that period, Robben and De Vrij scored twice and sealed the deal.

To finish off, here is RVP’s goal, in cartoon format. Worth your time :-).

And how about this :-)?

Post by SoccerHighlightsToday.

June 16, 2014June 17, 2014 by Jan

Oranje trashes Spain: 5-1 (could have been 8-0)

Hi my friends, we are back. I think….

So you know: my tech guru friend Icko (big Holland fan too) has helped me upgrade, migrate, manifestate, generate etc etc to sort out the new site.

We have had issues, tech issues, hosting issues, potential virus issues, upgrade issues, conflicting software issues… Almost like the Dutch squad 1996 :-).

All these issues.

I wanted to thank you all for being loyal and for being part of this surge of Dutch Soccer Goodness online :-). And thanks to all who donate some of their hard earned cash. It hasn’t gone to beers, but to making sure the site is stable. We now have a following of 30,000+ people here so it is quite something…

Thanks to you all!!

I have had one of the best match experiences since….2010. This was truly a historic game. And will go down in history as such. Whatever happens next…

And also history for our blog. The success of the Dutch coupled with our “success” here brought my host server on its knees.

I have spent the last days in heaven enjoying our win. The Aussies here are all Orange fans now and there is some amazing stuff being written which I will cover for you here. But also spent the days in cyber hell trying to get my site back online. It seems that our success means two things: a site upgrade and most likely a dedicated server for the site :-(…. So lets hope it is all worth it.

Spain took Total Football from the Dutch. Today, Holland took it back!

, I will humbly point out here and now that I predicted a big win for Holland on our blog. I do believe the signals were there for all to see:

Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie were extremely motivated as this is most likely their last World Cup and they have a point to prove
Louis van Gaal finally made it to the World Cup, is highly ambitious and knows Spanish football well
Robben in particular has some beef to settle with Spain
Spain is lacking in real desire and is getting on agewise (the average age in midfield is 30 years)
We had it coming (and so did Spain)
Holland is superfit while most Spanish players had a gruesome seasonSo, just like in the Brazil game in 2010, the team took some time to settle and needed to be pushed to the point where the backs needed straightening and the teeth needed to be clenched, and something special was produced to get us into the game.
Van Gaal has done it before. The Ajax 1995 finals vs AC Milan saw Van Gaal doing his karate kick to fire up his team. This time around, it was captain Van Persie, who after a quiet first 30 minutes felt he needed to lead the way.

It took a wonderfully time run by him and a superb pass by Blind (great vision, great execution) to produce what will go down in history as one of the best World Cup goals ever AND one of the best headed goals ever.

We all know Van Persie is an underrated header of the ball ( last season he scored a number of tremendous header goals with Man United) but most of us here do not know Blind is actually a really good player.

That goal, just before the break, and the way RVP celebrated it with Van Gaal made all the difference. The Dutch went into the dressing room with a smile on their faces. And the world champions knew they had a game on their hands.

Who would have known? The first 25 minutes were not our best. Lots of nerves ( BMI, Janmaat, De Guzman), lots of back passing and hardly any Sneijder or Van Persie. Robben found Sneijder in space early in the game and that was a 100% goal scoring chance. I thought Wes could have done better ( the ball was blocked by Casillas chest-height which is probably the biggest gift for a goalie) but it wasn’t an easy chance.

It did look like Spain would score as at times they glided through our shaky defence but it took a non-penalty to do it. I know many of you don’t rate De Vrij too much (wrongly, I believe) and predicted he would be guilty of causing a spotkick but Costa’s leg actually went to De Vrij’s… It was NOT a foul. And like in the Brazil game, should not have been given. De Vrij blocked Costa technically well, keeping his trailing leg close but Costa was looking for it. He even checked the ref while on his way to the surface…

Holland deserves a compliment for sticking in the game and taking the game to Spain, with Blind offering up some good interplay with Robben. We had to crosses from the left that deserved better (Janmaat with a mediocre lay off and Van Persie misjudging the cross). Shapes of things to come.

Holland needed something special. And got it. A special pass by Blind. A special run by Robin van Persie. A special header. And a special celebration with Van Gaal.

Robin ended Casillas almost-recordrun of clean sheets and established his own record too. The first Dutch player to score in three consecutive World Cups. Robben would follow suit in the second half. The record topscorer for the Dutch got his 44th goal in 86 games.

In the second half, a reborn Holland showed up. While Spain seemed to have left something in the dressing room. Van Gaal had to change a couple of things… He wanted the team to 1) be less sloppy with that all important pass to the forwards, 2) be tighter to the Spanish, 3) have RVP and Robben use the space between Spanish midfield and defence better.

It took another well time pass by Blind to reach Robben and Robben simply needed to perform some magic. Everything he learned in his impressive career came together in that defining moment. First, there was the run, second there was the velvetty take, third, there was the little flick to send Pique into the woods and four the dummy to send Iker into the corner while Robben went straight through the middle.

Everything that failed in that moment in the WC2010 finals clicked today!

And Oranje wanted more. It smelled blood. And Del Bosque decided to bring more attacking power… He brough Pedro for Xabi Alonso. A change that puzzles every Spaniard still. Without Alonso in midfield it seemed like Sneijder would have even more options. Just before that change, Robben stormed through the center of the pitch to find Janmaat just on his right. The ballsy Feyenoord full back laid the ball off to RVP who went for a vintage Van Persie finish with the outside boot and rattled the cross bar. Could have easily been 3-1.

Only 2 minutes later and it actually was 3-1. A foul on Blind gives Sneijder the opportunity to deliver a curler to the far post. Van Persie and Martins Indi seem to demand all the attention of the defence and Casillas gets it wrong. All the way at the back its Stefan de Vrij who had the opportunity to redeem himself. He tries to head the ball but there is so much curve on it that he misses the header but the knees do the job. While hitting the post himself, the central defender scored the third.

In the 70st minute, David Silva scores an offside goal and the fans all realise that this game is not yet in the bag.

We’re only 1 minute further when Casillas has a howler. A back pass jumps off his foot and Van Persie is sharp as a knife and intercepts the ball and scores the 4-1.

Van Gaal takes De Vrij (yellow carded) off and brings Joel Veltman. Van Persie, also on a yellow, is also taken off for Lens while Fabregas replaces Silva. Nine minutes later, great vision by Sneijder followed by a pitch perfect pass in the stride of Robben. He enters a sprinting duel with a Spanish defender and visible squeezes everything out of his legs. He wants this so badly! And tricks everyone in his path, including a pathetically flapping Casillas: 5-1!

Spain is totally wasted by then and in the 88th minute, Wijnaldum gets a big chance but is denied by the Spanish goalie. Robben picks up the ball from the air on the edge of the box and fires a rocket on target, again stopped by Casillas.

In the dying minutes, it seems Torres gets to score a goal but he dallies too long and Veltman cleans up while at the other side, Sneijder is gifted a golden opportunity but the Galatasaray man slips and fumbles the chance.

And thus ends one of the most memorable games of a World Cup ever. 6 goals (could have been 10!!), tremendous game play and lots of pathos!

The Spanish media talk about a humiliation and a nightmare. The Dutch media talk about a swinging Oranje, led by a sensational Robin and Robben. History in the making.

And within minutes, the coolest gems of pictures went all over the internet (I posted some here).

Robin van Persie was ecstatic. The skipper immediately commented on the game after the last whistle: “This is a dream come true! Ever since the 2010 finals, we were hoping for a re-match. And to do this now, with this team, at this stage. It was amazing. And the most important thing for me: Louis van Gaal predicted this almost to the detail. He knew how Spain would play, he knew when and how we could attack them. And everything he said ended up being reality. But let’s not get besides ourselves. We have won 3 points, but we’ll need to be ready for the next game now. So we will be proud for one evening and then our focus will go to Australia.”

After his goal, he went immediately to his coach. “But also the subs. I feel that we are doing this with 23 players. I wanted to include them in the celebrations. It’s 23 players and something like 30 staff hahahahaha. I’m a teamplayer. I don’t want the sole credits. I can’t score without that pass by Blind. So I need to emphasize that we all play our part.”

Arjen Robben was happy to leave that particular memory behind. “It was good for me to score twice against Casillas, hahaha. But honestly, that 2010 moment cost us the World Cup. We are not in the finals now, not yet at least, so we cannot be too happy as yet. By the way, I understand the goal scorers will get the attention but our young lads really stepped up. I am extremely proud of them. They kept a cool head, settled in really well and did the job for us. Without them, we can’t win anything. And I know from experience how overwhelming a World Cup can be when you are young. So well done to them!”

Louis van Gaal was susprised with the big score. “I didn’t expect this score. But I knew we could beat them. I know they always want to attack and dominate. Against our golden triangle, that would cause them problems. I expected them to score and I expected us to get opportunities to score as well. Playing one on one against Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie is quite hard. The media and the supporters always want us to dominate and press forward but against Spain, that is very hard. This was the best way to play them, I knew this. This is why we worked so hard to get this system under our wings. It worked out well. I will have to see if we will play like this against Australia as well. Depends… We’ll see.”

I was quite pessimistic, the first half our or so.

Janmaat was sloppy. BMI was sloppy. Hell, even De Jong was sloppy.

I felt like Spain could have had three in the first half hour. Although they failed to create any real chances. Their final pass was not good and Costa didn’t seem to be at ease too much.

After the 1-1, during the break, LVG finetuned the positioning of the players (Sneijder sitting deeper and closer to Blind), Robben playing between the lines and the four defenders and holding mids playing a bit more tight. At the same time, Spain looked sluggish in the second half and didn’t seem to be able to bring the energy needed to execute their game.

And we proved that you don’t need 65% possession to score 5 goals.

I will now let you listen to the great Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer on the BBC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D1MuFjyCjc

June 13, 2014June 17, 2014 by Jan

LIVE BLOG SPAIN – HOLLAND

Here we go peeps.

Cold in Australia. Dark. Early in the am. Yoghurt and muesli versus Sangria, Heineken, tapas and herring. But very ready for this. Waiting 4 years for this re-match.

Enjoy guys :-). I’ll be liveblogging here unless the game catches me in such a way, I can’t keep up.

VIVA HOLLANDA!!!

[liveblog]

June 12, 2014June 17, 2014 by Jan

Match Preview Spain – Oranje: Tapas time!!!

This is to tell you a bit about our first opponent, Spain.

Spain is a country in the south-west of ….of screw it!! You know who they are! Where they are! What they are! What they can do!

Hell, we taught them all they know… The likes of Michels, Cruyff, Beenhakker, Metgod, Hiddink, Neeskens, Koeman, Muller, Witschge, Cocu, De Boer, Afellay!!

The whole tiki-taka is a Dutch abbreviation of tik tak football. We say in Dutch “tik tak” if we mean pass and play. Tiki Taka is probably Cruyff’s way of explaining things in Spanish.

So Real Madrid was this powerhouse in the 50s and 60s and in the 1970s Barca tried to take the reign and for a long time they did very well in Europe with their clubs. Real, Barca, Sociedad, Valencia, Deportivo…. But the Spanish national team never really set the world on fire, like Uruguay, Hungary, England, Holland, Brazil and Germany did… They won the first European Championship in 1964 and repeated that consecutively in 2008 and 2012, which is quite good. But in World Cup terms, they were chokers. In 1982, they hosted the Cup but failed to impress under coach Santamaria. They were knocked out in the second round. They did fair much better in 1986 or 1994. In the 2002 World Cup, one could have expected Spain to beat South Korea but in a controversial match, South Korea beat the Spaniards on penalties.

Some people believe Luis Aragones was the inventor of tiki taka and it originated purely because in the mid naughties, Spain had a suspect defence. And the ball in possession in midfield strategy meant the defence would not be put under much pressure… We know better. Johan Cruyff and later Louis van Gaal will have done more for Spanish football than Aragones and the use of two former JC proteges as Barca coaches ( Rijkaard and Guardiola) will have added to this.

Historically, Spain always produced good players. Every generation had at least a number of above average lads although Barca and Real tended to find their star performers across the border. From Puskas and Di Stefano to Cruyff, Neeskens and Laudrup, to C Ronaldo and Bale to Messi and Neymar, but the Spanish squad currently is overflowing with talent and quality. The youngsters keep on going (not unlike the Dutch development) and this is probably the biggest issue coach Del Bosque has. Will he go for the more experienced lads that got him the two recent titles (2010 and 2012) or will he break down the existing hierarchy – like Van Gaal was forced to do – and select some young turks to keep the team fresh.

There is a risk in both scenarios and we will see what the man comes up with.

I think we will see Del Bosque play with Cesc as false striker. Iniesta and Villa from the flanks. I wouldn’t be surprised if Xavi starts on the bench, with Xabi Alonso centrally with Busquets and David Silva in midfield. A defence of Alba, Juanfran, Pique and Sergio Ramos. Although Javi Hernandez might get the nod over Pique. And I think Van Gaal will be playing 4-5-1 when Spain has possession and 4-1-4-1 in possession. I also believe we’ll see Clasie in our line up, as the little Xavi from Rotterdam has the feet to match the combination play in the tight spaces of Spain.

What can one say about this Spanish side. Oozing quality. Unbelievable quality. Mata, Corzola, Silva, Torres, Hernandez…just some names of players who might not even play. And then there is Michu and Isco who were left at home. To name a few players.

Spanish media have tried to create unrest in the Dutch team with stories of Oranje players living it up in the Rio night life. And claiming that Dirk Kuyt was actually involved in that. This rumour didn’t stick. If it was Depay, Fer and Wijnaldum one could have believed it but Kuyt and Robben would be the last players you’d expect to samba the night away :-). Van Gaal laughed it off.

Still, Holland’s golden triangle of Robben, Robin and Wes is seriously feared in Spain. And with reason.

I believe Holland will beat them with a shock 3-0 scoreline. Why? Because Spain is tired. And a little bit lacking desire. Real desire. Most of the players had a big season, with most even playing the CL finals. As C Ronaldo, Reus, Wellbeck and Van der Vaart can testify: the international football calendar is long. Spain doesn’t want to be put to the test this first game. They like to start a little bit relaxed. The big guns want to keep their powder dry. But Holland might only have 3 games to shine and Holland will be super ambitious and driven in that first game. Spain might see Holland as a nasty mosquito on their way to bigger game. While Holland will view the first game vs Spain as the finals!

So we will go out there and chase them all over the park from the first second and Spain won’t know what hurt them. I predict a goal in the first 20 minutes, with Arjen Robben being involved. I foresee a second goal before half time with Van Persie involved. And when Spain fights back with Costa in the second half, it will be a cool counter attack led by Sneijder allowing Oranje to finish Spain off! Just my feeling. And as I am the blog king here, I can delete this forecast during the game if things turn sour.

The ref is Italian. If I’m not mistaken, none of the Spanish players have a history in the Serie A. In the Dutch team, both Sneijder and De Jong have played in Italy and have encountered Rizzoli and speak the language. Could be a plus.

June 11, 2014June 17, 2014 by Jan

Does Van Gaal have an ace up his sleeve?

The temperature is rising, for sure. Not just in Rio (or Salvador) but definitely also in Holland and in Australia!!

You can almost touch the ball and smell the grass now..

And the question on everybody’s mind (in the Holland Camp) is: does Louis have a trick up his sleeve?

The tactically astute coach was clear in the press conference. “It takes something special to beat Spain. They have experience and quality on every single position. It is naive to say that we are as good. But we can still beat them. It will take something special but I am brooding on a little surprise for them.” Spain played some friendlies recently without a real number 9 (as Costa was also injured) but with Cesc playing as a false striker. Although it seems Diego Costa will be ready for Holland, Van Gaal seriously considers the fact that Spain might play without a striker. And he is planning accordingly. During training, in the last week, Oranje was seen playing with Clasie and De Guzman in midfield. De Jong and De Guzman played the more forward roles, with Clasie sitting just in front of the defence as the deeplying playmaker.

Robin van Persie declared he has not been pain free for 6 years. The groin issue he had was a bit overplayed in the media. Van Persie doesn’t even call it an injury. The Rotterdam born striker wants to be 100% ready for Spain and is looking to play an important role against the reigning champs.

The circumstances in Salvador and the other playing cities for Holland appear to offer Oranje Dutch weather. The last practice was witnessed by ex Oranje players like Van Nistelrooy and Aron Winter, while also Roberto Martinez, Everton coach, was present. They saw Clasie make the play from the mid circle with De Guzman and De Jong pressing up. They saw Blind, Janmaat, Van Persie, Robben and Sneijder finish in the box. Sneijder in particular was very impressive, with most distance strikes finding the net and most free kicks hitting the target.

Sneijder seems ready for Spain. The little general had a special week. For starters, he made it clear to all the doubters that he is back. Then he is about to play his 100st international game for Oranje. And he reached the age of 30. “Wonderful milestones, of course. But if we don’t win against Spain, I still won’t be happy. Those milestones are not that important compared to results. And we might not have a squad like Spain or Brazil, but we have quality and if we play our cards right, play tight and manage the turn around well, we can hurt them.”
Sneijder scored twice against Brazil in 2010 and is a famous face in Rio. The Brazil supporters and locals immediately recognise the “little one” as he is nicknamed here. “They are friendly. They mean well. They sell, cheer and wave to us. That is all fun.” Sneijder has a clear opinion about the 5-3-2. “What do you mean it is un-Dutch? That is ridiculous. We will play with eleven. And Dutch football is more than just playing with wingers. We play high paced circulation, forward pressing, using the flanks to attack… That is more than simply a system. I don’t follow all those debates. What counts for me is winning. And if the coach believes 5-3-2 is the way to go, then that is what we do. Simple.”

Asked about his status in Oranje. “I am not longer the captain. But I am still a leader. I think that is something you bring onto the pitch, with or without the band. Arjen has that too, and Nigel has it. We have many great personalities and you don’t have to be loud to be a leader. Someone like Fer commands respect with the way he can play and if you are marked by Martins Indi, trust me, you do check your back regularly. He can be a beast. The team spirit is wonderful. It’s much much better than in 2012 and I will protect it where I can. It’s important at this stage and that is something I know from experience.” Sneijder is starting his sixth big tournament with Oranje. “When I was 21 years old, I thought 30 year old players were old, hahahaha. Some of them retired after turning 30. But I feel so young still. I will play on for at least another 5 years and I intend to be present in 4 years again. You better get used to the idea.”

Nigel de Jong is ready too. Of course. And he knows his karate kick in the chest of Xabi will be mentioned and shown ad nauseum these coming days. “I really don’t care about my reputation. People will talk about you. My coaches are the ones that need to judge me on my performance and contribution. I have always been appreciated by my mates. That is key. I do not feel the need to defend myself for what I do. Whether you think I’m an asshole or a hero, I don’t give a shit.”

Janmaat (24) and Clasie (22) were both informed in the Feyenoord youth it was better for them to leave. Now, both are most likely starting at their first World Cup. “We are both examples that believing in yourself and never giving up does pay dividends.” The youthful fans with their Panini books can count on the patient signing by Janmaat and Clasie. Not that long ago, both players were also keen in collecting signatures of big name players. Janmaat indeed left Feyenoord, only to return after stints with ADO Den Haag and Heerenveen. Clasie refused to go. “A career can be made or broken by one or two decisions. Bad ones or good ones. It’s important to find the right coach at the right time. Alex Pastoor was key for me at Excelsior when I played there on loan.”

It seems that Janmaat is more and more becoming a trump player in Van Gaal’s deck. The right back is playing like a winger and has an impressive number of assists to his name. In particular his partnership with Van Persie works well. A transfer to Man United might be looming for the The Hague born player. Clasie admits to having to pinch himself at times. “I can sit in my hotel room and realising I am actually at a World Cup with Oranje. When I was little I was so busy supporting the Oranje players and now I am one of them.” And it was even four years ago when Oranje reached the finals and Clasie was just out on loan to Excelsior. Daryl Janmaat expected to play a Euro Tournament with Young Oranje but was one of the last players to be exited from the list. “I remember thinking that that might have been my only chance to play a bit tournament, hahaha. Interesting how life works.”

Jasper Cillesen is clearly Oranje’s number 1. Not all the fans are won over yet. Krul seems to have more experience, plays in a bigger league, is taller and seems to be much better with his feet. Van Gaal said about the topic: “Vermeer is the man with the best profile to be Oranje’s goalie, but Cillesen is simply the best in stopping the ball from going in.”

Cillesen saw Oranje lose the finals in 2010 sitting on the sofa with his parents. “I remember the toe of Casillas. That was luck. He went the other way and Robben hit this toe with the ball and he stopped Robben from scoring. A lucky for Iker. Bad luck for Robben. I know Arjen would have wanted Casillas to have made this tremendous safe. That is easier to digest. Now it is just bad luck. So lets hope we are more lucky this time.” Cillesen is a typical down to earth Dutch bloke. “When we came at the hotel, I saw all these cameras and I was keen to know what was going on… Normally, these scenes only appear when some celebrity is in the hotel or someone has died, hahaha. I asked what was the matter and they said: it’s us. Oranje has arrived. I realised suddenly we were at the World Cup in Brazil!!”. Asked about his role model, Cillesen has an interesting answer: A combination of Kahn and Van der Sar. The latter was the better goalie, but Kahn had that big personality. Very extraverted and loud. I think I am more like Edwin, but I do sense a bit of Kahn in me as well.”

We always had sensations free kick experts in Oranje. Willem van Hanegem, Jan Peters, Ronald Koeman, Frank de Boer, Pierre van Hooijdonk and now we have a number of them: De Guzman and Huntelaar can do it. Clasie has a nice kick. Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie are renowned but so is Nigel de Jong, apparently.

Other news: the Oranje players have two rules to abide to re: Social Media. No more tweeting and instagramming after 11.30 pm and no comments about colleagues. These rules are probably a result of the Eljero Elia “crisis” when the speedy winger – not part of Bert van Marwijk’s squad back then – retweeted a sarcastic comment from a fan about Kuyt after the Germany friendly defeat. “Kuyt played as if he still have the box around his shoes”. Elia thought it was hilarious. The KNVB didn’t.

He was also the center of a verbal outburst during the World Cup in South Africa when he was playing some PS3 game in his hotel room unaware that Boulahrouz had the camera on and the whole world (sic!) could enjoy this little bit of expression.

June 11, 2014June 17, 2014 by Jan

Memory Lane visit with Bert van Marwijk: World Cup 2010

Hi all, we made it to the World Cup!

Only 1 day to go…. WOOOHOOOOOO…. I remember how I felt in 1982, 1986, 2002…. I highly enjoyed ’82 and ’86. Hated the 2002 tournament.

But lads, this blog has made it (with you and the Oranje lads). Partly thanks to your donations and support.

A last request to anyone out there with some spare change left. I appreciate your support and I hope you appreciate my efforts in bringing you the cool insights.

I am planning to make this place even cooler (thanks to your suggestions) and will keep on asking you for more ideas in the weeks to come.

But. Now. Off. To. Brazil.

With our last World Cup Memory Lane Visit.

We will allow Bert van Marwijk the final say before we delve into the World Cup 2014 actualities…

“The World Cup was a success. The Euros2012 were a failure. But the irritation and internal strife was bigger in South Africa then in the Euros 2012.”

Bert van Marwijk was a talented but headstrong left winger. Feyenoord wanted him and he did play one game for Oranje but a serious injury impeded him. He started his coaching career in the amateur ranks, moved to Fortuna Sittard (where he met his future son in law Mark van Bommel) and made history with that club. When Feyenoord signed him, he was still a leftish, jumpsuit wearing roll-your-own smoking trainer. At Feyenoord, he transformed to a well-dressed non-smoking coach.

The last coach to win a European trophy with a Dutch club, he moved to Borussia Dortmund, where he started well and working under tough conditions, only to lose his job when things turned sour, partly as a result of poor financial means. It was clear that one day the somewhat conservative and loyal Van Marwijk would coach the National Team.

He inherited a fine squad from predecessor Van Basten, with a new 4-2-3-1 system engrained. He added Mark van Bommel (who refused to play under Van Basten post 2006) and worked diligently towards a fixed starting line up. The good news: if you were in, you had to really blow it to lose your spot. The bad news: if you weren’t ‘in’ you had to work really hard and be really good in order for Bert to pick you.

Van Marwijk has fine qualities as a coach, but one of the things I never liked was his tendency to play the best players as much as possible, even if it meant they had to play on spots they don’t really perform well… Rafael van der Vaart as left winger? Really?

Like Van Basten before him and Van Gaal after him, qualifying was not a problem. Bert broke record after record and mostly with attractive football. We won 8 out of 8 and had a broad list of goalscorers. Huntelaar played often and scored 3. The rest was scored by Van der Vaart (2), Van Bommel (2), Van Persie, Kuyt, De Jong, Robben, Ooijer, Elia, Mathijsen and Heitinga .

But for the World Cup 2010, there was quite some discussion in the nation: will Bert be ballsy enough to play the Big Four. Robben, Robin, Raf and Wes.

Bert decided to give it a go. The farewell match vs Hungary prior to the World Cup demonstrated that the Big Four enjoyed playing together. For 85 minutes, the sun was shining down upon Oranje. Until that moment when Robben got injured. The man of the moment ( with Sneijder) was out, at least for the group stages and Bert had to replace Robben. Elia would have been the logical choice. Depth. Speed. Trickery. Unpredictability.

But Bert didn’t dare to pick him and used Van der Vaart as left winger, with De Jong and Van Bommel as holding mids against the group opponents Denmark, Japan and Cameroon.

This is where I believe Bert got it wrong. There was hardly any penetration and no surprise factor. The first game vs Denmark was played in a slow pace, the lack of depth gave Denmark the possibility to contain Holland and the flow of the qualification games was gone. Couldn’t we have played with Elia on the left flank from the start? And Rafael as one of the holding mids? This worked well later in the tournament… Sand in the machine. Holland won the group games but without ever sparkling. When Robben was brought back into the team, Sneijder focused all his passing on the Boy from Bedum, leaving Van Persie underused.

The Dutch game became predictable. Van Bommel and De Jong and Co repossess the ball. Sneijder gets the ball played in and movement of Robben and Van Persie would then invite the killer pass.

It took until the second half in the quarter finals against Brazil. That is when the Dutch team woke up. And it was most likely one of the players (Sneijder?) who took the word in the break and said “we are either going to go home like sissies and be ashamed for the rest of our lives or we go back onto the pitch and take the game!”. Van Marwijk didn’t change a thing and allowed the same eleven of the first half fix the problem.

The Uruguay game was almost the reverse. We started really well with a tremendous goal by Gio but somehow lost grip on the game in the second half. But the finals were reached and Holland was quite confident. We were playing like true champions while Spain was a tad lucky against Paraguay and Portugal.

The Spanish side didn’t play the superior total football game we expected, just like Holland wasn’t able to set the stadiums on fire.

The finals were a disappointment of course. We started agitated. Too much testosterone. Van Persie with a sneaky kick, Van Bommel with too aggressive play. The game plan was clear. Don’t let Spain settle on the ball. Immediate pressure. But Holland overdid it and Spain made a table full of tapas of it.

Ref Howard Webb was impressed with the dynamics and “forgot” to give De Jong a red card for a bad timed and ill-planned high kick for the ball. He missed the ball. But Xabi Alonso still has the studs in his skin, most likely. If Webb would have given red, the game might have developed fairly normally. But Webb didn’t and somehow tried to fix the mistake the whole game long.

He protect the Spanish players as if they were made of churros and forgot to red card Puyol for a tackle from behind on Robben. He also missed the fact that Sneijder deserved a corner kick after a free kick and instead allowed Spain to progress the game which in the end resulted in Iniesta’s goal. By then, Heitinga was redcarded for a run of the mill foul….

Despite the loss, the whole World Cup was a good news show. The vibe in the group was good, the wives and kids were present, the team was winning. Van Marwijk even allowed Michel Vorm to fly home during the World Cup campaign to witness his baby being born. Two days later, Vorm was back.

In 2010, that was seen as “normal”. But when Van Persie made a phone call after a lost game at the Euros 2012, it became a whole “thing”. Van Marwijk grins… “People don’t realise that the vibe wasn’t much better in 2010. It was worse, actually. But it all stands with the results. If you win a first game in a tournament, the chest goes out. The smile comes on the faces and players can accept more. No matter what the issues are, or what is going on…the result determines most.”

“In 2010, we had to deal with that twitter thing with Elia. We had a substitution of Van Persie who was having a go at me and Sneijder… The media even had lipreaders to check what we said. But the criticism dies down when you are winning. And I don’t mean from the media only, also from the squad

. In 2010, we played Denmark and had a tough first half. We didn’t create half a chance, but through an own goal we get the advantage. In 2012, same opponent, we create 8 big chances and should have had two penalties. But we lose. That is the difference. In 2010, we knew we had the next round in our own hands, in 2012 we had to beat Germany and Portugal. That was a bit overwhelming.”

“In 2010, we did play a bit more business like. We could create two or three great moments and that got us that first victory. I see the grit of the 2010 team back in Atletico Madrid. The will to win. Our opponents said it to us after the games: “We never had the feeling we could actually beat you”. And don’t forget: Louis is getting pressure because his defence is vulnerable. In 2010, they said the exact same thing about my defence. Heitinga, Mathijsen, Ooijer… They weren’t good enough. But they managed to reach and almost win the finals.”

“What we did well in South Africa, and I hope Louis will follow suit, is create enough entertainment and distraction. These are 23 winners, big egos. Leaders most if not all of them. Used to getting their way. Used to being the big boys. You need to offer them something. But not in a forced way. Players are shrewd, they see through things. This is where I failed at the Euros 2012.”

How is the culture a factor? For instance, Spain can lose a first game at the World Cup 2010 and still win it. Italy in 1982 plays three boring draws but wins the World Cup in style. Van Marwijk: “I am sure there is a difference in that aspect. You can lock 23 South Koreans up for 9 weeks and they’ll come out looking as fresh and crisp as Humberto Tan (Dutch tv personality). Do this to Dutch people and within 3 days you have a revolt.”

“Spain in 2010 is a different story though. They had Howard Webb as ref in that first game against Switzerland. And the Spanish media and team were livid after that game. When Webb was given the finals, the media put pressure on and so did Del Bosque and the players. Every decision he made was debated and criticised. Webb was under a lot of pressure from the first minute. Late in the game, 120,000 people see we deserve to get a corner kick. Webb misses it. In the ensuing phase, Elia gets the ball and is fouled and from that situation, they score. If we would have gone to penalties, we would have won it. I am certain. Stekelenburg was the best goalie of the tournament and we were ready for it.”

Van Marwijk is realistic. It’s not looking for excuses, but it is explaining circumstances. “I know how it works. When I was in Hamburg, people congratulated me with being Vice Weltmeister. It means something there. But at the same time, I am also that loser from the 2012 Euros. That is football, explained in a simple contrast. You win, you lose. When you win, you are not really God’s gift to football and when you lose it’s not like you suddenly are an idiot.”

June 9, 2014 by Jan

Memories of 2006 – Van Basten: "Oranje misbehaved!"

Only 2 days to go, gringos!!!

It is really taking me by surprise, this World Cup. I thought it always started in a weekend… Hahahaha!

Two more memory lane posts to make, my friends.

Here is 2006. What to say. It still makes me mad.

What a World Cup it was. Dick Advocaat and Willem van Hanegem were the duo coaches in 2004. The two buddies had a massive fall out over the Robben substitution agains the Czechs and Van Hanegem famously said “If he would ever try and sub our best player again, I will simply knock him out”….

We needed new blood. This is what JC thought and the KNVB followed his advice. Rijkaard did very well in 2000. Now it’s time for San Marco. JC sort of forgot to mention that until then, Marco had only coached Ajax 2 and was still to prove himself to be a good jockey (courtesy of Adriaanse). Mistake number 2 of the KNVB was to allow San Marco to assemble his own staff. Marco picked coach colleague of Ajax 2 John van ‘t Schip, Stanley Menzo and Rob Witschge. Rumour was, so they could play klaverjassen when the players rested…

Make no mistake, San Marco picked the right players alright. Some of them were still young(-ish) but not much different from the current squad. The names will make you drool now: Van der Sar. Gio van Bronckhorst. Tim de Cler. Joris Mathijsen. Mark van Bommel. Phillip Cocu. Wes Sneijder. Raf van der Vaart. Dirk Kuyt. Ruud van Nistelroo. Arjen Robben. Robin van Persie. Hmmmmmm……

Not that bad.

And this is a squad that could have had Clarence Seedorf and Roy Makaay as well, but Marco didn’t need them, he felt. Other notable players to be left out were Edgar Davids (Spurs), KLaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax) Emmanuelson (Ajax) and Nigel de Jong (HSV).

Schaars and De Jong will travel to Germany as back ups, as Vqn Basten was left with five serious injuries after the Farewell Game against Hiddink’s Australia. The Socceroos were a bit too enthusiastic and Cocu, Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder, Van der Vaart and Jaliens all went to the World Cup not 100% fit. Schaars and De Jong weren’t needed though and were sent home.

The inexperienced Van Basten has a good eye for football. But was a bit weak in people management. He himself was a tad insecure and he foolishly didn’t bring a more experienced coach along. Gerard van der Lem? Wim Jansen? The options were all there. But Marco went it alone with his happy band of brothers and clashed with experiences and extraverted players like Van Bommel and Van Nistelrooy. PSV players… (JC and Van der Kuylen/Van Beveren comes to mind, in 1974).

The qualifications went very well. Marco played 4-3-3 and won 10 out of 12 games with his team.

Holland was in a strong group, with Argentina, Serbia/Montenegro and Ivory Coast. The Argentines had names like Crespo, Riquelme, Masscherano, Tevez and Messi while Ivory Coast had Drogba and Kalou.

Winning the first game (Serbia) was key, and Holland did. Thanks to a wonderful Robben goal on a Van Persie assist ( in case you forgot: a counter goal). Serbia maybe deserved a tad more but was unlucky. Van Persie played right winger and at times it looked like we played 4-5-1. Van Bommel was subbed for the more tactically astute and conservative Landzaat. Van Nistelrooy was also subbed early. Signs of things to come. Holland did play the dominant game, had 60% possession but Serbia had more corner kicks, more shots on goal and less fouls….

In our second game against Ivory Coast, Holland ruled in the first half, with a rocket goal by Robin van Persie and a quick second by Ruud van Gol. Ivory Coast fought themselves back into it, via Kone, but lacked the luck to get a draw: 2-1.

This time, Sneijder was subbed early in the game for Van Der Vaart and Ruud van Gol was taken out early yet again. Possession was 50-50 and Ivory Coast like Serbia had more corner kicks, more shots on target and less fouls than Oranje.

The last game was not that key anymore and dreaded Argentina was played with a number of yellow carded players being rested: 0-0.

Kuyt came for Robben as left winger, Sneijder and Van der Vaart both played and Van Basten fielded Jaliens, Boulahrouz and De Cler in defence. Babel, Landzaat and Maduro would get minutes in this game as well. In this game, we had a tad more possession and the most corner kicks, shots on targets and the most fouls…

Sadly, we didnt’ win it. As we would have not drawn Portugal as a result. Portugal beat us earlier in 2004 at the Euros and was too strong for Van Gaal’s Oranje in the 2002 qualifications.

Marco psyched the team out as much as possible to give it all that they could but in the run up to the game, it was a rift between Van Nistelrooy and Van Basten that would start a dramatic series of events. Marco told some reporter he was unhappy with Ruud’s positioning. Ruud confronted Marco with this lack of discretion (“Tell me first, next time!”). And Marco didn’t accept this insubordination and benched Ruud. This made other players in the squad (mostly Van Bommel) irrate and this whole event, one day before the knock out game vs Portugal, made the mood in the Oranje camp very edgy.

The psychology behind this, by the way, is interesting. Both Mark van Bommel and Ruud van Nistelrooy adored Marco as a player. Both had posters in their bedroom of the Ajax star and both were keen to work with him. They idolised him but they soon found out Marco is a man of flesh and blood, with his own character flaws. This didn’t go down too well. When they found out that Bassie was biased and emotional in his decision making (unfathomable like he was as a striker) they couldn’t cope with the situation and spat the dummy.

Ruud famously introduced a new characteristic in football. The “I like you factor”. Marco selects players on that basis (Landzaat over Seedorf, Maduro, Babel, Heitinga over Makaay, Davids and Bouma). If you are happy to be one of Marco’s disciples he is happy to work with you. If you have your own opinion, you are out.

Ruud would later add: “I had a clash with Marco, that is right, but we fixed it and he would become one of my fave coaches. The 2006 World Cup was a failure but we worked really well later on in 2008 and I still think he was one of the best and most entertaining trainer I practiced with.”

So, Marco battled with some players before the Portugal game and made an emotional decision: Ruud would not play. Dirk Kuyt would be the striker in his place. Portugal certainly did not have a shabby team with the likes of Figo, Deco, Coutinho, Maniche and C Ronaldo.

The game would infamously be known as the Battle of Nuremberg and since 2006, I haven’t seen it or the “highlights” since. Too hard. But I will see the highlights soon again, I suppose. Holland had 60% of the ball. We had 20 goal attempts vs 10 for Portugal. We have twice as much corner kicks. In terms of stats, we had two reds, like Portugal and 9 yellow cards. Portugal lost that battle as they only got 7 yellows.

Robben was tackled in the box and yellow carded for diving. This time, unjustly so. Cocu hit the post after a terrific attack. Kuyt choked alone in front of goal. Van Persie had a sitter and missed as he attempted an outside of the boot shot. But all in all, despite the antics of the Portuguese and the aggression of Holland, it was Mr Ivanov the Russian ref who really made it into a mess. He allowed the lunatics to take over the asylum and allowed this game to spin out of control. He took over the record of Spanish ref Nieto who only used 16 cards in 2002 versus 20 for Mr Ivanov. Mr Blatter later stated that Ivanov deserved a red card himself as well.

It was a disgraceful performance and Holland did not deserve to lose this game. But we did.

A later analysis of the game showed that the teams only played 52 minutes of actual football. Matchwinner Maniche: “I think most of the cards were over the top. It was a tough game, as one expects between two top nations in world football, but I don’t think it was ever really mean. The ref added oil to the fire with all these cards.”

Maniche is right. A further analyses says that the Portugal – Holland game had the least (!!!) fouls of all knock out games that World Cup. Only 25 fouls and apparently 16 yellow card type of fouls? Whereas in some of the other games there were up to 51 fouls counted and only six yellow cards…

It was one of those would’ve/could’ve games… What if we had a different ref. What if Marco wouldn’t have had that argument with Ruud and the man from ManU was our striker. What if Cocu or Robin would have scored? What if the ref would have spotted that foul on Robben in the box?

We started well. We had some good attacking moves on the flanks and Van Bommel has a distance strike that just missed the target. But in the 20st minute, we go wrong. Sneijder loses possession to C Ronaldo. Deco gets the ball, unmarked. He crosses to striker Pauleta and the striker bounces the ball back to incoming midfielder Maniche. Ooijer can’t stop him and Sar doesn’t have a chance. C Ronaldo would have to make way for Simao and since that goal Portugal controlled the game. In the second half, Holland has a man more due to a silly second yellow for Costinha. Cocu hits the bar and Portugal decides to stop Oranje from attacking. Until we lose Boulahrouz as a result of some Figo theatrics. Ten against ten and from the 70st miunute onwards, it becomes a battle.

Enjoy 🙁

June 8, 2014 by Jan

Oranje in Rio!! Bring it on

A new post! But I still wanna make you aware of 1) my donation request as it is that time again (hosting cost, upgrades, domain name etc) and 2) enter your results in the Fantasy Competition! BRILLIANT trophies to be won :-).

Well here we are! Louis van Gaal was probably ecstatic. Some 12 years after failing to reach the highest in world football, competing at a World Cup, he finally made it. All geared up to show the world Louis is also the greatest of the world with the national team!

The team had a pleasant flight to Brazil and enjoyed their first days in Rio getting accustomed to the time zone and the climate. The touch down was early in Rio and Louis kept his players awake to make sure they would settle in quickly. The spent some time in the hotel and then went for a long beach walk. “I noticed a change. Coming into Rio, the airport, the buzz, the language, the smells…the players were immediately affected by it. More focused. The talk became different, when we did the beach walk. Everyone realised they were actually in Brazil. To play for the World Cup,” as Louis van Gaal put it.

The players live in the Caesar Park Ipanema Hotel and it was a true spectacle when the players arrived there.

The arrival of Oranje in Brazil does mean something. The first steps of the Dutch in Brazil are broadcast live on tv. A diversity of tv programs had anchor women out at the hotel and the training grounds to pick up some footage of the Dutch. Earlier on Bosnia and Chile arrived but those events were almost ignored. There were police and media choppers and the many people needed to be fenced off from the hotel grounds. They went to the Flamengo training grounds at 3.15 pm and had a short but fun session, to allow the muscles and joints to get into gear.

Playing some foot-volley and having fun with the Flamengo youth teams, present as ball boys. Sneijder, Wijnaldum and Van Persie stayed on the pitch to teach the lads some tricks and without a doubt vice versa. Van Gaal had to order the players in and Van Persie held up a big thumb to the lads when he made his way back. Arjen Robben didn’t train with the group. Van Gaal had one player too many for the game and offered one volunteer the option to bail out. Robben was quickest to raise his hand (I wouldn’t think Kongolo or Clasie would do this, hahahaha).

Wesley Sneijder is turning back into the 2010 Wesley Sneijder we all loved (and some hated). Cocky, arrogant, condescending and oozing with brilliance. His presence in Brazil was not an automatic one, under this team manager. It took a clash with Van Gaal and hard work. But he made it. “I was to blame, but I also fixed it. I planted a big flag for myself, on this mountain far away. And said “that is where I am going!”. And my flag is now close. And you know what, you all (media)…you also thought I was over the hill. I thank you for that. It helped strengthen my resolve.”

Classic Wes. Like Asterix, whenever he gets angry, special powers sink in as if he drank the magic potion and he is ready to take on the Romans. IT took a while for Sneijder to realise what Van Gaal meant. At first, he was angry. And hurt. The coach called him unprofessional?? Him??? The man of the 2010 World Cup? CL winner? But Sneijder realised he indeed had to change his tune. “I knew I wasn’t 100% fit. I hadn’t played for Inter for a while and at Gala I forced myself too much to get back into it. It took hard work to make all the improvements in my fitness and form. I am very close to being 100%.”

The biggest hurdle now is to adapt to the 5-3-2 system, which works very well for Sneijder. Bar for one thing: his timing. “The coach thinks I put pressure on the defence too early and as a result I end up playing next to Robin and Arjen. That is not good. I need to stick to playing closer to midfield. He is right. I need to adjust that.”

Jon De Guzman is the only player not 100% fit at the moment. He is working hard on getting back and according to his thumb up to the media, he is doing well.

Jordy Clasie is with the group, while Van Persie is allowed to take some breaks. The groin situation is not an injury, in Van Gaal’s words, but it probably does hurt. “But, players all play with little knocks and aches. Robin will have to wear it.”

Clasie played with the team without the orange skins and presumable is now the man to fill in for De Guzman. The latter is doing his separate physiotherapy exercises.

Thousands of people joined in when Oranje gathered for practice and the first time Van Gaal used his booming voice to reprimand Sneijder it almost felt staged. The Oranje no. 10 made a mistake in midfield and Louis stopped play, ran onto the pitch and gave Wesley an ear full who accepted it with his head down.

Back in Holland, the nation is prepping for another World Cup. Streets turn orange, companies put out their orange products and the media are creating their World Cup oriented programs, shows and items.

Patrick van Aanholt won’t be seeing all that. The Chelsea full back – out on loan at Vitesse recently – is on a plane to South America. Mexico. Not Brazil. The left back thought he did really well (in the Ecuador match and at training) but was told by Van Gaal he was just not good enough. “Mr Van Gaal told me that he felt I was the best attacking option for the left back position, but also the least defensive option. I do have a tendency to not give priority to my man and he felt I wasn’t paying attention enough. Something for me to work on. It was quite a blow. To be honest, I felt I was part of the squad. But I will have to shrug and learn and go on. Next season, Feyenoord might be my team. There is interest and Feyenoord is an amazing club. But I still have one year of Chelsea on my contract so when I get back from Mexico I’ll report back to London.”

June 6, 2014 by Jan

Join in the Fantasy World Cup Competition!!

Finally, he has it together. Your Blog Captain Jan Da Man has a Fantasy Competition for the World Cup.

After ~~days of programming~~ some minutes of uploading a plugin, we can finally play ourselves…

This is going to be AWESOME!

But before I go into detail…. I need to ask you this….

I had to pay the annual bills again re: hosting and domain names and templates and plugins and whatnots… So your humble blogger could really use a couple of nice donations to pull me through for another year of bloggin…. It is HIGHLY appreciated (and will not go towards beer, believe it or not….). Details are on the home page. I thank you in advance….

And I need to ask you this too:

I am getting a lot of requests for ads and pop ups. I have always said no. As I believe you guys would hate these things on the site. But I am getting some really good offers now and want to there fore ask you:

Back to the Fantasy Competition!!

You know the drill: go to the page, fill in the scores you believe will end up on the score board after 90 minutes.

There will be different rounds and different deadlines but I believe the software will tell you how it works. I need to copy the rules of the game in here, and you can all read how it works.

I will have three amazing prizes for the top 3 of this competition!!!

So go to the menu button called “Fantasy World Cup Predictions” (as pointed towards by Johan Cruyff, who else?) and fill in the predictions. You can enter predictions until the moment the game starts. Once it has begun, it’s off limits.

I will publish the scores and the updates during the World Cup.

So the Dutch team said farewell and is on the plane as we speak. A nice group of fans waived them out loudly. Louis van Gaal: “The vibe is great. This group is solid and tight and we are having a great time. So we are in a tough group? So what. We will not plan on coming home anytime soon. In football, anything is possible. Our game might not be highly attractive at the moment, but did you see the other top nations in their friendlies? We will go for result first, and if we can do this with sparkling play, we certainly will of course, but we are not as a bad as some so-called experts think.”

Wesley Sneijder was one of the first players to arrive at the hotel to prepare for the trip. “I can’t wait to go! Obviously, we are not the top faves but we can surprise for sure!”

Ron Vlaar showed his leadership at the back against Wales and is quite positive. “Listen, we are not there yet, but we are getting there. We do play less dominant and don’t mind the opponent, like Wales, to have the ball. We scored twice from those situations and they only got dangerous due to our own mistakes. So it’s not that bad. It’s different, but this type of game will offer us benefits. I am pretty confident, actually.”

Two former center backs of Oranje, Ronald Koeman and Arie Haan, do not share that optimism. Koeman: “If Holland plays like this (Wales) against Spain, they get massacred. Martins Indi is a great defender but building up and passing is not his strength. Why play him left back if you have options? Janmaat is superb of course and I always had my faith in De Vrij, but I can’t imagine why Clasie doesn’t play. He is the smartest of the lot and great in small spaces. Against football playing teams like Spain or Chile you want to use Clasie!” Arie Haan: “I work in China and there Holland is synonymous with attractive wing play. Van Gaal struck them out. That is not Dutch football. That is a big mistake!”

Here is a nice pic from the room Louis van Gaal will most likely claim.

Ok peeps, I am on my way to Brazil now!! I found a cheap way of getting there. Laters….!!!!

June 5, 2014 by Jan

"Farewell Game" Holland vs Wales lacks punch: 2-0

Since 1998, Holland has played so-called “uitzwaai” games, before a big tournament. This time around, Wales was the “Australia stand-in” and LVG was able to try his non defensive approach against a solidly defending, skill-challenged and physically imposing opponent.

Here are some atmospherics.

For a while it seemed like Van Gaal giving Hans Kraay JR hell (see below) was to be the high point of the night…

Or maybe Mark van Bommel’s farewell?

But all in all, the lads did the job. If we’d beat Australia 2-0 at the World Cup, we’d probably be ok with it….

This game can be seen as another boring game. In which we didn’t give much away. In which Robben missed a couple of good opps and inwhich Sneijder shows how creative and smart he can be.

We also saw RVP leave the field with a groin situation but LVG confirmed it is not a biggie. No worries, as the Ozzies say.

So Van Gaal lost it when Kraay kept on asking and nagging about individual players and was comparing Van Gaal with coaches like De Boer and Mourinho who are coaching really animatedly while Louis is the Sphinx.

“What do you think I can do when I am yelling on the sideline? It mostly means I have not done my job! If I do my job, the lads know what to do and I can sit and observe and analyse. Yes, I might go out there and let one or two individuals know what they should change maybe. But other than that, I don’t want to coach constantly. It is ridiculous and it doesn’t work. Only maybe to motivate them more, but even that should not be needed. I think I should be able to sit on the stands and chat away with Mr Blatter and Platini, actually.”

The game started ok with Janmaat finding Robben in the first minute, who was crowded out before he could pull the tirgger. In the 3rd minute RVP gets a chance after a dribble but goalie Hennessey stops the ball. In the 8th minute, it’s De Vrij’s pass bringing Robben free before the goalie but he just misses the target. In the 25th minute, the fans start to slow clap and whistle a bit until a good little combination through the middle gets Robben in a good position again, but the ball flies over the goal.

In the 27th minute, the biggest cheers of the night so far are for Robson Kanu when he changes shorts on the pitch. In the 29th minute Robben has another attempt but the ball goes corner. Vlaar almost scores as a result.

Two minutes later it is 1-0, after Robben scores a tap in after an RVP attempt from a difficult angle. The goalie stops but Robben is alert. The supporter start the wave and in the 40st minute RVP almost scores a second on a low Janmaat cross.

Nigel practicing his “studs in the chest” kick

During half time it is clear that despite good opps for our forwards (we could be 2-0 or 3-0 up) the game play is not crisp and sparkly yet. Suddenly Lens starts to go out as well, it is clear that either Robben or RVP will leave the pitch. Which means trouble, if its RVP as Van Gaal said he wanted Robin to play as much as possible.

The ManU striker has a groin issue and decides to take a break. Lens on for RVP and Wijnaldum on for Fer.

Oranje starts the second half badly and Wales even gets some opportunities. In the 70st minute, a Wales player can dribble past a couple of defenders and Vlaar has to bring resolve. The Aston Villa man explodes and is so angry that he rams the ball at Wales’ goal from 35 minutes. The ball ends up in Amstelveen but Vlaar does get applause.

Only minutes later, Sneijder finds Robben with a superb pass who offers the goal to Lens.

Nigel de Jong is then subbed for Huntelaar. It’s 4-3-3, with Klaas Jan in the center, Robben and Lens on the flanks, Blind in the De Jong role and Wijnaldum and Sneijder completing midfield. That last 15 minutes is a better and more positive quarter than the first 30 minutes of the second half, with Huntelaar being close to scoring a third goal for Oranje.

LAte in the game, Sneijder finds Lens again but the Kiev forward made hands and is called back.

And with that, the game ends….

Van Gaal was realistic after the game: “I expected this to be much better. I hoped for it to be better and I wanted this to be better. But….we scored to brilliant goals. We created those ourselves and we gave not much away. That was good. Wales was tough, they parked the bus and I wasn’t happy with the pitch. Very slow. But then again, we should have done better despite all this. Too much loss of possession. It was boring at times, but the players are making big steps up and we’ll keep on working on it.”

“I am prepping the team for opponents with more attacking power at the World Cup. And normally I would play 4-3-3 against an opponent like Wales but I am in a process so unfortunately for the supporters, we played a system that is difficult against defensive teams. We will most likely end up using 5-3-2 for the big games, turning it into 3-4-3 when we can or 4-3-3 against the weaker opponents.”

Asked why Van Gaal selected so many forwards when he wants to play with two strikers only: “Statistics will show that if you bump into injuries at the World Cup, it is amongst offensive players. I think we will be able to hold our own with our defence but I need three different types of forwards. Strikers, wingers and offensive midfielders. I have also looked at multifunctionality. Kuyt can play on many different spots, so can Lens, so can Depay, so can Wijnaldum…. This gives me ultimate flexibility….”

On RVP: “We took him off as a precaution. He does have pain there but I think with some rest he’ll be fine.”

Willem van Hanegem added some words as an analyst… “The more I see Holland play, the more I feel we need to have more creativity at the back. With all due respect, I would want to see Sneijder, sitting deep. Playing just in front of the defence. So he has a lot of the ball, he can accelerate the game with his pinpoint passing and we can more legs up front to support Van Persie with runs. We need a number 10 like Litmanen or Bergkamp. A moving player. It feels to me like Van Persie is constantly in Sneijder’s way and vice versa. This is why only Robben seems to benefit from Sneijder, because of his movement. With a player like Wijnaldum or as Cruyff said, Klaassen behind Van Persie and Sneijder sitting deep, we could use the strength of all players much better. Wes can move up at times for a distance strike or with corner kicks and free kicks but he should temper his urge to score goals and serve the team.”

Leroy Fer played his first 45 minutes since a while. He was subbed for Wijnaldum at half time. “I think it went ok. In possession I played well, I had some good through balls and playing with Janmaat on the right is really good when we have possession. When we lost the ball, I wasn’t pressing well enough, the coach said. I think he wanted to see improvement there and brought Gio for me in the second half. But I’m happy I got to play.”

And lastly, as a bit of fun trivia, you know about how the Dutch Legion gets all crazy when Orange is playing a tournament?

Whole suburbs turning Oranje? Stupid suits, dresses, glasses, hats, fuzzy animals, what not?

Well, in case your heart stops while watching Oranje win the first World Cup ever against Belgium, this Summer, this is how you can go out: