Month: March 2017

Dutch Football looking forward…

While us here at the blog could debate the positioning of Stekelenburg vs France or the Dost disallowed goals vs Sweden for weeks on end, the Dutch have shrugged off the Oranje drama and are all looking forward to what comes next!

Which obviously is the Classic, this coming Sunday. I have to say “classic” actually. The Capital C should be reserved for the home game for Feyenoord, in De Kuip. Playing in the Amsterdam Johan Cruyff Arena is simply not the same. And definitely not without any Feyenoord supporters allowed in…

So, the debate within the KNVB is going to go on ( will Louis van Gaal become the newly created CEO role? will Hans van Breukelen survive the assessment about his functioning? which coaches can we expect on the short list?) and I’ll keep on informing you about all that.

In the meantime, the media are focusing on the clash of the two Titans. And the key players in the Dutch classic encounter, are not Dutch players, but Moroccon! and interestingly enough, they are close friends, on opposing sides.

King Karim El Ahmadi vs Seer Ziyech

They could have played for Feyenoord together by the way. When Ziyech (24) left Heerenveen, Feyenoord wanted to sign the playmaker but he picked his career path with care and brushed Feyenoord off. And picked FC Twente. He does make funny choices. On the pitch, he’s all class. Off the pitch…. He picked Twente and they got into trouble soon after (unrelated) which meant Hakim Ziyech ended up leading a pack of juniors, with the aim to not get relegated. And he also picked Morocco over Oranje (due to an alleged conflict with ex-coach Van Basten and lack of warmth from Blind), but his headstrong personality resulted in the current Morocco coach to ignore him for the national team. El Ahmadi (32) was the midfield man for them in the Africa Cup, while Ajax was able to utilise Ziyech domestically.

King Hakim2

Character vs Class

Not really, though Ziyech oozes class but has character for sure, while El Ahmadi is the symbol of Feyenoord’s resilience, but the younger El Ahmadi was definitely a creative artist when he was at Twente. But his days in England have turned the flegmatic midfielder into a leader. Not unlike Phillip Cocu’s metamorphosis, from inconsistent left winger to hard working midfielder.

El Ahmadi was the moral victor in the last meeting between the two. Ziyech was signed for 12 mio euros from Twente to do exactly what he is aiming this Sunday. To put Ajax on top again. El Ahmadi, who was rested last week by the Morocco coach as a gesture to him and Feyenoord, knows that a win will mean they got the title.

El Amhadi will not have the Robin to his Batman in midfield. Tonny Vilhena is suspended for two games. Toornstra or young talent Nieuwkoop will complete the eleven.

Onana

Another interesting clash is the meeting of two white elephants in goal. Brad Jones and Andre Onana. At the start of the season, it was not even conceivable that these two goalies would become fan favorites and key in their respective teams’ game plan. Tim Krul was supposed to succeed Cillesen and Ken Vermeer was #1 in De Kuip with recovering Bernard Hahn as second in command. But Onana shrugged off the mistakes he used to make in Young Ajax and the 20 year old has established himself firmly in the starting line up. The Cameroon born player still likes to display his football skills (as he did away vs Groningen), and sometimes it goes wrong… But versus Groningen, he was fouled (not seen by the ref). Despite this, in front of the cameras, he admitted that despite the referee’s mistake, it actually was situation he should have avoided. The youngster also kept a cool head vs Feyenoord, when after Kuyt’s goal, Kramer tapped the mourning goalie on the head. He didn’t react.

Ajax wants to go on with this youngster. Krul is now at AZ and Overmars and co are currently negotiating with Onana for a continued stay as Ajax’ #1 goalie.

Brad Jones has had many clubs in his life. From playing some CL games for Liverpool he went to mid-table club NEC from Nijmegen where the aficionados recognised a classy albeit aging goalie. Confronted with Vermeer’s major injury (and Hahn not fit), Martin van Geel picked up the transfer free Aussie and with his experience and more importantly, his Australian Rules football experience, the keeper rules in the Feyenoord box and has had a massive impact on the success, with his composed and controlled nature.

Jones

Coach van Bronckhorst made it clear some months ago: whatever is happening with Vermeer and his return to fitness, Jones will be our #1 goalie this season! This message resulted in clarity and harmony in the Feyenoord camp. But the expensive Kenneth Vermeer (31) will most likely return to the number 1 spot next season, while the free agent and 35 year old less expensive Jones might well have to find another club. “I do not worry about the future. I understand how these things work. My focus is winning the title. The rest will fall into place.”

Here are some classic Classics…

1964: Feyenoord – Ajax 9-4

Ajax with Cruyff and Swart took the lead twice but Hans Venneker scored 5 goals this match for Feyenoord.  It’s 5-2 at half time.

Venneker

1983: Ajax – Feyenoord 8-2

Cruyff switched sides and took his new team to Amsterdam to be humiliated by the kids he helped develop. Van Basten, Vanenburg, Jesper Olsen allowed Feyenoord to get to 3-2 before they rant riot. After the game, interviewed for national television, Cruyff said: “It’s just three points. We will still win the title”. And they did.

Marco 82

1995: Ajax – Feyenoord 1-2 quarter finals national cup

The year Ajax beat everything and everyone and took the Champions League. But in the quarter finals, it was cult hero Mike Obiku who scored the winner in extra time. Feyenoord would win the cup that year.

1995: Feyenoord – Ajax 2-4

Half a year later, Ajax is King of Europe. Feyenoord starts ferocious and leads 0-2 in the first seven minutes of the game. Ajax straightens its back and scores four times to take the three points.

2005: Ajax – Feyenoord 1-2

The last time Feyenoord won in Amsterdam. Kalou and Kuyt the goal scorers for the visitors. Feyenoord would win the home game as well (3-2) and that impressed so much that a documentary and two books were made about this feat.

2012: Feyenoord – Ajax 4-2

John Guidetti’s year. He loves Feyenoord and despises Ajax, as he demonstrated recently playing against Ajax with Celta de Vigo. The loanie from Sweden scored a hattrick and is a Feyenoord legend forever.

Uidetti

2015: Feyenoord – Ajax 1-0 third round national cup

Ajax rules in the Eredivisie and withstands Feyenoord’s pressure until the dying minutes. A last free kick in the 95th minute is swooped into the box and Joel Veltman allows the ball to ricochet into the goal. De Kuip explodes and Feyenoord would end up winning the Cup again. The festivities are insane at De Coolsingel but will fade compared to the party that will ensue when Feyenoord beats Ajax this weekend yet again.

Veltman og

Bookmark and Share

Oranje: where to now?

So Fred Grim will go into the history books as the worst team manager EVER! He lost all the games he was in charge of! 100% score in losing!!

Just kidding of course, poor fellow. But, he might be in charge even for the Luxembourg game and in that case he might actually up his score, from 0% wins to 50% wins…

So, Oranje played a friendly no one really wanted. The whole nation was in mourning. The KNVB expected 40,000 fans to come and yell abuse at the players, staff and KNVB officials. With Italy as opponent, it was highly likely that we’d lose yet again…so what was the whole fukcing use of a friendly 3 days AFTER an official qualification game?

But the reception of the fans was not as bad as expected. The fans know that now the team needs the full support. Even if it was the team that led them (the fans) down. But that is football: the coach is end responsible and accountable so the coach needs to go while the ones who actually performed lousy get to stay, play and say meaningless things after the game.

Hoek grim ital

After the Bulgaria game, more news came out about Blind’s utter and complete misjudgement of the Bulgarian tactics. He expected them to park the bus and expected to have 65% possession. His analysis and the views of the people in his team confirmed this.

The reality was: Bulgaria doesn’t even respect us anymore and they played the high-press (on De Ligt!) from the first minute. Our build-up was pathetic all day long (also with Hoedt by the way) and our positioning (Strootman!) amateuristic.

Blind wasn’t able to help the team change their tactics in that first half and the players weren’t capable of doing so either.

They kept on trying to build up from the back, with players who are not really known for these qualities. Karsdorp is great running down the channel but played his third cap so can’t be expected to bully his team mates into something else. Zoet does not have the shrewdness and experience Stekelenburg has while De Ligt and Martins Indi are simply not good enough to play out from the back.

This got Strootman to drop deeper to collect the ball which totally unhinged our team and Bas Dost was as a result very hard to reach.

stroot ital

Grim made some changes vs Italy. Still Zoet on goal, but Hoedt and Martins Indi in the heart of defence with Tete for Karsdorp. The midfield was – surprisingly – left as it was vs Bulgaria.

The desire was there, the intensity and pace was better. This is/was something that could and should have been the case vs Bulgaria as well. For me, whether Ronald McDonald, The Pope or Louis van Gaal is the coach, you always need to have this in your backpack. The days that ball skills were enough to win are over. Every team/nation (Germany, Italy, France) will have the ability to deliver this at will. Like Italy.

Robben Sneijder italy

Wes: “Arjen, whatever you do: don’t get Van Gaal back!!”

We needed a double deflection to score our goal. They needed three Oranje mistakes to get their two goals.

Losing 1-2 vs Italy while there were good chances for us to finish 2-2 is not a big drama for me, as it was a friendly.

Fred Grim: “We showed some more energy, some flair. I’m not too disappointed to be honest. We straightened our backs. It was a tough week for all of us and given all that, I cannot be displeased.” Asked about his future: “I am only here because of this game. When Danny was let go, he called me and said: make sure you stay for the team and do your utmost to right the ship. We’ve got 40,000 fans who paid money to see us Tuesday and you need to have the team respond”. I think my future is vague. I’ll find out I guess. The KNVB will have to say what they think is needed. This might be my first and last game in charge, but some suggest that the search for a new coach might take until June (when the seasons end) and I might be in charge against Luxembourg as well.”

memphis ital

I personally like the team without a Dost-style striker. I think our game doesn’t fit his strengths. It’s been demonstrated a couple of times, also with Luuk de Jong in the Dost-role, so to speak.

We are more in need of fluid, dynamic players, like Memphis, Robben and Promes with the added value of Janssen’s hold up play and ability to “bounce”.

The main topic for me, is not so much who will play where.

The main topic for me is: who will be our new coach, what does the KNVB want from that coach and how will they support him?

And on top of that: what structural / strategic changes will the KNVB make internally to allow for a bright future? Incl. development of talent, development of coaches and development of a football philosophy. For Oranje but also for Dutch football in general.

HvB1

At this point in time, Hans van Breukelen is the man responsible for selecting the coach and supporting the coach. But Hans van Breukelen is also walking around like a wounded deer. Will he still be there in 5 months? Or has he suffered too much damage already? Astute coach candidates will want to know what the deal is. And who will be assessing Hans van Breukelen’s work? His coach selection? His instructions for the coach? Jean Paul Decossaux? A part time interim commercial director??

I’m sure a series of smart football people (Van Praag, Adriaanse, Van Hanegem, maybe Wim Jansen, Robben, Sneijder) will be asked for their opinions, but someone will have to make a firm decision. Judging how Hans van Breukelen managed Hans Jorritsma, Ruud Gullit and those clowns from the company he is related to does not instill a lot of confidence in me….

I don’t think a foreign top coach (Capello, Wenger, Schmidt, Klinsmann) will say yes to the job. For starters, they make 10 times more abroad than with Oranje, in terms of dollars. Secondly, they will think thrice before committing to this weak Oranje. And like I said before, the KNVB is in such a chaos that this role will have many red flags going up for any serious coach.

I also don’t believe that a foreign coach will work with our national team. Our culture, our competition, our language, etc will be a big hurdle. It’s also a prestige thing for the Dutch: we should be able to find a suitable candidate in our own ranks.

Gulliman

Even Dutch coaches will think thrice before committing to the job right now. It’s a snake pit.

Co Adriaanse won’t do it. Louis van Gaal already said he won’t come back as a coach, he will only consider the chair role at the KNVB (yes! Do it!). Ronald Koeman will not do it (“They had their chance. They decided differently and now we seem to be missing out on two major tournaments in a row!”). Frank de Boer wants to remain a club coach for now. Cocu and Van Bronckhorst are not ready yet. Dick Advocaat would not be a credible option after abandoning Oranje earlier for money.

So it seems Henk ten Cate and Ruud Gullit are the main candidates for the job. Ten Cate seems to have the best papers. He’s got international experience, loves attacking football, is tough and disciplined and has standing.

Gullit will have prestige to the hilt as well, internationally, but that won’t win you games. He’s a good people manager but probably not a good coach / trainer. He could do the figure head role but will need a strong field coach beside him.

Ten Cate worked in that role at Barca with Rijkaard, but Gullit is a different type of person than Rijkaard. The combination Gullit – Ten Cate or vice versa will not work, most likely. Too much similarities in their personality and I won’t be surprised if Ten Cate by now would not want to be an assistant anymore.

blind grim ital

The most important question is:

Do we focus on a short term success and aim for the World Cup qualification – against all odds- and bring in a crisis coach a la Van Gaal (De Mos, Ten Cate, Advocaat) or do we accept that the World Cup campaign is over and select a coach who can build and gel a new team towards 2020 and beyond, using the new generation of talents (Nouri, Vilhena, De Ligt, Bazoer, Tete, Memphis, Karsdorp, Bergwijn, Ramselaar, Ake). John van ‘t Schip could be considered. Alex Pastoor. Gullit with Rene Meulensteen. Or, why not Erwin Koeman? I don’t know…you name some….

memphis lion

 

Bookmark and Share

Blind leading the Blind….

Right after witnessing the dreadful result of Oranje vs Bulgaria I was livid. Pissed off. Frustrated. Flabbergasted. No Sneijder. De Ligt making mistakes, Martins Indi out of position and in the highlights reel (?!) no decent flowing attack from Oranje.

This was the first time I felt Blind failed miserably.

After the game, Blind was interviewed and he basically said.

“We all failed. I failed too. I had such a good feeling over the last months and I’m as devastated and disappointed as you are. At this stage, I cannot say what exactly went wrong. We didn’t start aggressive, we let them win the second ball and we got ourselves in a pickle in the first minute already. De Ligt made a mistake, yes, but that was early in the game. We could have turned it around. But again, we were too soft in defence and when it was 2-0 in the first 20 minutes, I knew we had a way back into the game. Unfortunately, we did get three chances but failed to take them. We all failed. I will need to do some soul searching and look in the mirror to weigh my own decisions and question where we went wrong. But this is my responsibility and I’ll take it of course.”

Some media and even players felt the coach was here already showing his lack of fight, his lack of belief. I do not agree at all. I think a coach is actually strong when he says “I need to do some self analysis and look in the mirror”. He was criticised badly months ago when he was asked what he did wrong in 2016. He basically said: ” Not much”. Then it was not good. And now he does open up to potential mistakes, its not good either…

danny lacht

Then he was asked whether he’d throw the towel. “I expect to sit on the bench for the Italy game but after that we will need to analyse this debacle. And I know how it works in football, my management might feel enough is enough. That is how it works. But I am still full of belief.”

Again, the media said that he was offering his head on a plate to be axed. And the only reason why he didn’t resign was to be able to collect the exit handshake…

I do believe Blind was responsible for the dreadful game. But not him alone, as I said before.

I also believe he has a lot to learn and some shortcomings. But… I despise the vultures (in the Dutch media mainly) who came out to seek blood and were screaming for the head of Blind.

The cowardly KNVB did what they do – kneejerk reactions – and without proper analysis, they kicked Blind out.

2016-09-01 20:39:39 EINDHOVEN - Michael van Praag (L), Gijs de Jong (2eR) en Johan Lokhorst (R) van de KNVB op de tribune voorafgaand aan de oefeninterland Nederland - Griekenland in het Philips Stadion. ANP KOEN VAN WEEL

Again, don’t get me wrong: maybe it is the best decision, but it looked like a witch hunt to me and to fire a coach one day after a loss does mean to me that 1) the knives were sharpened already and 2) the decision was made purely on emotion.

Blind has been accused of making rash decisions on player selections.

That was his prerogative, for me. Van Gaal did that. Van Basten did that. Michels did that. That should not be a reason to villify a coach.

Another comment is that he doesn’t inject passion in the players. Huh??? Is that his job? Was Van Marwijk so passionate? Rijkaard? Arsene Wenger? England coach Gareth Southgate? Carlo Ancelotti?

No.

Is it too much to ask for well paid players to come to Oranje and find the passion themselves? Do you think Van Hanegem, Neeskens, Davids, Van Bommel needed their coach to put some venom in their veins?

Some people say Blind was inexperienced. Well, Hiddink was extremely experienced, look how he did… Dick Advocaat in 2004, very experienced…. Louis van Gaal in 2000, pretty experienced… The arguments are all “created” to justify the sacking.

We’re looking for reasons to be able to say: he needs to go, he is not good enough…

All these players after the match, telling the cameras how much they support their coach. Well, you do this on the pitch! In the 90 minutes vs Bulgaria (same level as FC Utrecht, to me). That is where you demonstrate your support.

Kevin Strootman is one of the key midfielders in the Serie A and he was not having a great day. Was that Danny Blind’s fault?

This whole episode is just another step in the Major Debacle executive produced by the KNVB….

One of the comments made by interim commercial director (!) Jean Paul Decossaux is: we should not have agreed to have Blind appointed already beforehand in case Hiddink left. That whole announcement of Hiddink as first coach and Blind as his successor was wrong.

2017-03-26 08:15:16 SOFIA - Bondscoach Danny Blind (M) en assistent Fred Grim met Jean-Paul Decossaux (R), de commercieel directeur van de KNVB een dag na de verloren WK-kwalificatiewedstrijd van het Nederlands elftal tegen Bulgarije. ANP KOEN VAN WEEL
Fred Grim, Danny Blind, Jean Paul Decossaux in Sofia

Yes Mr Decossaux that is correct. Its on you (or Bert van Oostveen).

And now it is up to Hans van Breukelen, an ex goal keeper and motivational speaker, with no – and I mean zero!! – experience in managing in football, with dodgy ties to a company of scam artists, and interim (part time!!!!!) commercial director Whatshisname to come up with a name of a new coach. And to have to instruct this new coach in what it is we want…

It is debilitating! Two clowns are in charge of the asylum. And KNVB chairman Michael van Praag (former chair of Ajax and widely recognised as a proper federation executive) has decided to re-structure the whole KNVB, which will take till January 2017. And until that time, no need appointments will be made.

So Hans and Ad Interim  will rule.

I think I would have preferred Danny Blind in the role for a bit longer…

Unless Louis van Gaal wants to step in, but I can’t see him doing that. Frank de Boer, still licking his wounds. Ronald Koeman, not interested.

Henk ten Cate might well be the only real candidate. He’s got the discipline of Van Gaal, the Ajax/Barca DNA of beautiful football, experience and he is highly rated at the KNVB. He was consulting them last year on the technical development side of things, so I can imagine he was already informed some time back to keep his KNVB tie ready and drycleaned.

LVG Blind

When a – not functioning and not complete – management team of the KNVB wants to make some major decisions, its important to assess and judge the situation properly. I cannot imagine that the KNVB has done so in the last 24 hours.

If I was in a decision making role in that management, I would have called Van Gaal, Hiddink, Van Hanegem, Advocaat and Adriaanse for some insights. And I would have invited Sneijder, Robben and Strootman for a meeting.

Based on their insights and assessment, I would have done a performance evaluation with Blind. And yes, sacking was probably the outcome, but with a clear indication of where the issues lie and how to deal with them.

And if players – certain players – sabotaged this NT manager, I would have “sacked” those players as well….

But… the KNVB felt it had two options: leave the coach for the Italy game and have 40,000 fans yell and boo at him, or relieve him now and have assistant coach Fred Grim take the reigns as interim manager. The KNVB picked the second option.

Fred Grim, a coach with only Jupiler League experience, aided by Frans Hoek, a keeper trainer.  And this chapter is just another one in a horrific Stephen King novel, which started in 2014… Van Gaal left, Hiddink was his “logical” replacement. Really? With Blind tagged on as the pre-determined successor. With the instructions to Hiddink to go for 4-3-3. Which Hiddink abandoned very soon in the campaign, prompting Bert van Oostveen (who??) to reprimande Hiddink publically. That was probably where it all went south for Guus. The management and board of the KNVB ended up in chaos. Two assistant coaches ran for the exit. Bert van Oostveen was promoted away from the bridge of the ship and his successor Gijs De Jong had to step down under pressure of the clubs who demanded transparency… What a super mess!

Grim

Danny Blind was not a bad choice. But he was the wrong man at the wrong time. With his high falluting Ajax ideals, he was confronted with mediocre quality (Janssen, Dost, Promes, Berghuis) and fading glory (Sneijder, Van Persie, Van der Vaart)..

Blind did not have the experience, the shrewdness and the charisma to withstand all the criticism the nation had on the disappointing results and performances. The start of the WC campaign (Sweden, Belarus) wasn’t that terrible. As Blind said: I was quite positive about our trajectory upwards… But one shit match and a bad decision (De Ligt) later and it’s all over.

And with empty spots in the KNVB management, a technical director whom no one takes seriously it all came down to the part time commercial director Decossaux – who is responsible for sponsoring! – to decide to let Blind go and more importantly: who the new man will be…

Like I said before: meet the new boss, he’s the same as the old boss…

So in the near future, a new coach will be working on the basis of the same visionary principles (KNVB) as Blind and will have to pick from the same player universe and will have a couple of days to get them prepared for another match….

Do we really expect magic from this new coach?

We like to point at Belgium these days. That is how we want it. A modern international coach and buckets full of tremendous talent. Well, they missed 5 major tournaments and it took them 12 years to get back to the top, going from crisis to crisis and from team manager to team manager….

 

Bookmark and Share

Oranje Lost!

In what can only be seen as a must win game, Oranje – players and staff! – have let themselves and the fans and the whole country and the memory of Johan Cruyff down!

Bulgaria. The number 71 of the world.

I predicted a 0-3 win.

It was a disaster. Dreadful. Terrible game. Holland started slow, lethargic, uninterested. Poor Matthijs de Ligt got his debut.

He may have played 8 games for Ajax as a starter? With the memory of Ron Vlaar’s debut vs Italy under Van Basten. Vlaar needed 3 years to recover from the terrible trashing he experienced vs Luca Toni.

Wesley Hoedt was available. Veltman was available. Blind was available. Viergever. Van der Heijden. Denswil. Donk.

Why does De Ligt get his debut while Ake was overlooked when he was a key player for Bournemouth, week in week out.

Blind lost

I have defended Blind here at this blog for a long time. I think the attacks on him playing his son are ridiculous and believe he has been doing fairly ok with his choices. Because let’s face it: we did suffer a lot of injuries and we’re not having the top players at the moment…

But playing 17 year old De Ligt was a massive mistake. A big big mistake. Unnecessary mistake. A risk for the team, for our qualification, for this kid’s career and for Ajax. WHAT THE FUKC!

Playing Martins Indi is a risk in itself. Playing him with a 17 year old debutant next to him… Really?

Wesley Hoedt was the only player with criticism on the coach (between the lines) but he was the one who had to allow De Ligt to overtake him… “I accept the choices of the coach. He told me he wanted a left and right footed player in the centre. I think Van Dijk and Bruma – both right footed – did pretty well though. So I didn’t agree with his opinion. But, I don’t make the decisions, he does.”

Gini lost

I am not saying Blind should get the sack or resign.

I really don’t think a new coach coming in will turn things around. What is he going to do? Buy better players? Make our current squad stronger?

I believe – this may sound weird – it’s up to the players now to step up and support the coach by showing it on the pitch or telling the coach in private what they want to see. Like Cruyff and Van Hanegem in the 70s. Gullit and Van Basten in the 80s. De Boers and Davids and Blind (!) in the 90s. And Van Bommel and Van Nistelrooy in the 00s.

Players play. Players lose. Players win. If Wes and Arjen and Daley and Kevin feel Blind should stay, fine. Let him stay.

players lost

Btw, all big name players (Sneijder, Robben, Strootman) claim that sacking the coach is unwise and “what can you expect from another coach?”

Arjen Robben: “The new coach won’t be able to bring in new players. We need to face the music: we lost two more players in Janssen and De Vrij last week, it’s neverending. And we do lack quality in general. This is what it is. Sacking Blind will not solve this.”

But I expect Robben and Sneijder to say NO whenever Blind threatens to play Nouri next time for Oranje.

I don’t think Blind deserves all the criticism he is getting. Yes he picked De Ligt but players like Strootman, Wijnaldum, Robben and Daley Blind should by now be strong enough to take charge on the pitch. And they didn’t.

And now, the World Cup is drifting out of sight. The Russian trojka is disappearing on the horizon.

Robben lost

We are three points behind no. 2 Sweden. That match, we’ll need to win and we need to win all other games as well, preferably also away vs France.

This all comes at a terrible time too. Johan Cruyff is dead for 1 year exactly and is turning around so fast in his grave that he could power the whole of Barcelona for a year.

Hans van Breukelen is the technical director at the KNVB but they’re rudderless as there is no general director and Hans will probably not sack Blind without backing of his bosses. The board at the KNVB is currently working on a whole new structure for the KNVB organisation and this will take until the end of the year to manifest. I kid you not.

de ligt lost

The KNVB is in shambles, no one is taking decisions, JC is dead and our beloved Oranje is on road to nowhere.

I need your suggestions. Who will come to the rescue?

oranje fans lost

There is no clip with highlights in this post as there were none.

And I refuse to put the Bulgaria goals up here.

Bookmark and Share

Update: Oranje back in Action!!

Well, the Janssen-Dost debate is settled. By the flu!! It seems Kevin Strootman and Vince Janssen exchanged some saliva maybe?

The Spurs bench-warmer stays in Holland and Luuk de Jong is ordered to come to Sofia to be the designated pinch hitter (behind Bas Dost and Jeremain Lens, who arrived late from Suriname).

The key question now is: will Stefan de Vrij be fit enough to play?

And it doesn’t look like it. Which means, Oranje will most likely play with a debutant as center back: De Ligt or Hoedt.

De Vrij has had a big knock and an internal bleeding in his leg. Yesterday, he wasn’t able to move his feet. But, as Blind said at the presser: “These things can improve massively overnight, so we’ll see.”

More Danny Blind: “I don’t like to play with two left footed players centrally (Hoedt and Martins Indi) as the build up will be slower than when you have a left and right footer. But it is an option.”

Blind: “There’s always something. First Van Dijk and Bruma and now De Vrij. But luckily Strootman is completely recovered. It seems Janssen has it bad, a throat infection and high fever. Not good at all.”

As for Dost: “Well, it makes my job easier when players fall away, in terms of decisions, but I rather have it hard. I want to have all our positions doubled up. And Dost is a different striker than Janssen, so we’ll need to make some tactical changes.”

training bul

Gini Wijnaldum was asked about the knock on his head: “It’s all good. I can head the ball, I am painfree, no dramas. And yes, it’s a bit disappointing dealing with all the injured players but we can’t keep on moaning about it. Other players will need to step up, it’s as simple as that.”

Blind: “I do have a very good feeling about where we’re going with the squad. I’m confident, even with those injuries… It’s simple: we need to get six points in the coming two matches. We know what we need to do and I’m confident we will.”

The last training session did not give a lot away in terms of set up.

It will be a 4-3-3:

Zoet

Karsdorp – De Ligt – Martins Indi – Blind

Wijnaldum – Strootman – Sneijder

Robben – Dost – Promes

Some Bulgaria stats: Holland lost the so-called farewell match in 2012 (before that dreadful Euros) under Bert van Marwijk at home against the Bulgarians. An omen of what was to come… This actually was the first and only “farewell” match before a bit tournament that the Dutch lost. Jetro Willems made his debut in that game, at 17 years old. And now has 22 to his name and if he goes on as he does, he might well become the Dutch record international.

Humphry Mijnals made his debut against Bulgaria as well by the way and was the first “coloured” Dutch international back in the 19whatevers.

Holland played Bulgaria 10 times and only won 4 matches…

Tonight’s game is played in the Sofia Savili Levski Stadium. Oranje never won a match there. The Dutch only “didn’t win” more matches in one other venue: San Siro in Milan. We played there five times and never won.

Bulgaria is tough to beat anyway. They didn’t lose at home in 14 qualification games! The last country to win in Bulgaria were the Czechs.

Dost bul

Bulgaria’s biggest claim to fame was reaching the semi finals in the WC1994, beating Germany spectacularly in the quarter finals. Current NT coach Hubchev was in that team.

Currently, Daley Blind has as many caps for Oranje as his dad Danny. If he plays tonight, he’ll surpass him and will have 43 international games for Oranje.

Bas Dost is 2017’s top goal scorer. He has 15 already, this year, with one Lionel Messi on second spot with”only” 13 goals.

Our Dutch Lions are up for two matches in the coming week and strangely enough, the first match is the WC qualifier vs Bulgaria and three days later we have a practice friendly, versus Italy… That really confuses me? Why would you program this? Isn’t it logical to do the practice game first and then the official one? Must be me.

And we do live in confusing times… I will not go into Trump vs Hillary, Trump vs Putin, Erdogan vs Wilders, Wenger yes or no or anything like that.

We have our hands full with Dost vs Janssen and who-will-be-our-goalie…

The AD newspaper poll says 90% of the people voting, feel that Dost should start. The former Heerenveen striker can’t stop scoring in Portugal and will well be on his way to bigger things, if he keeps going like this. Janssen scores as many minutes in the first team as Dost scores goals per month.

dost oranje

But super striker (and also super sub) Pierre van Hooijdonk, who knows what it is to be in the “Bas Dost Position” remarkably say: “stick with Vincent”!

Pierre: “You pick a certain style of playing and for this you need certain players. Janssen is different to Dost, and if using Dost means you have to change the whole tactical plan, I’d say: don’t do it. Use Dost for additional power coming off the bench.”

Van Hooijdonk had to endure Kluivert and Van Nistelrooy in pole position. Easier to swallow for sure. “Yes, the difference between them and me was different to the Dost-Janssen situation, I can see that. But Blind sees Dost in training, he follows him in Lisbon… And Dost failed against Luxembourg. That will count too. If he would have left a smashing impression, it would be different now.”

It does seem like Blind is on the same page as the former Feyenoord man. The mantra is: let Janssen do it in Oranje, until he fails in Oranje. As long as he doesn’t, leave him be.

janssen oranje bul

Blind: “I am sorry but I don’t take the public’s opinion into account. If I would do that, because I can limit the criticism on myself, I wouldn’t be worth this job. I would have to be polling and checking twitter trends daily to make a line up. That is not going to work, of course. And as for the striker, I have made up my mind. I don’t see it as a hard decision to make, it is what I call a luxury decision.”

Blind also has hard data to use for fitness purposes. “I can easily see if a player is mentally and physically fit. We measure this and we have data from the clubs. And Janssen is top fit. He trains daily and hasn’t had major injuries, so that is not a drama. He lacks match rhythm, that is all. But we all know that Janssen and Wijnaldum probably have the most demanding physical programs of all Oranje players. They’re top fit!”

Van Hooijdonk: “The key thing is, will all this have an effect on Janssen’s style of playing. If he plays, I’ll watch his behaviour closely. If he gets through for instance, and has a chance but Karsdorp is totally free before goal, what will Janssen do? He’ll need to pass it to Karsdorp, but sometimes strikers under pressure will go for their personal glory. No matter how big the desire for some success, he’ll need to think of the team.”

oranje training

Matthijs De Ligt on the left

By the way, Dost will only join Oranje today, as he was at the funeral of his grandfather this week. Same as Jeremain Lens who is in Suriname as his dad actually passed away. He will join Oranje Thursday as well.

Today, Stefan de Vrij and Gini Wijnaldum left the practice early with some issues. De Vrij with a sore ankle, and Wijnaldum got a boot against his head. Robben trained in full despite some smaller issues. Kevin Strootman spent his days in bed with the flu.

Danny Blind: “Everyone is fit, it seems, at least for the game starts. The usual little knocks and things. De Vrij’s knee is dry, as the medical staff calls it. He’ll play and I have options next to him of course. Martins Indi is doing well at Stoke, Hoedt plays next to him at Lazio, Viergever can play in that role, Daley as well. And Promes can play on the wing, on the #10 but also as striker. He plays at a very high level and luckily Memphis is playing really well as well. We’ve got choices again.”

Blind won’t say much about the goalie choice. “We have good goalies and I’ve made up my mind, but you’ll need to wait for that one.”

de vrij terug

Stefan de Vrij is back!

Martins Indi left the Oranje squad after his red card vs Iceland. Is the relationship Blind – Martins Indi repaired? Blind: “Well it was never broken. We have discussed this immediately after Iceland. And when he returned to Oranje we have had a good conversation as well. He’s playing now, he’s got rhythm, he’s making the move from Porto to Stoke. All good. And it’s good to have choices. We’re missing Van Aanholt, Van Dijk, Bruma, Kongolo… But we don’t have to panic as we have options.”

Blind is mostly impressed with Wijnaldum’s development. “Gini is becoming a very important player for Oranje and I don’t want to mis-use him like I had to do vs Belgium, when he played right wing back almost. I need to use him like Liverpool does, in that key role in midfield. He’s been excellent.”

Matthijs de Ligt will make his debut in the Oranje squad. A lot of people criticised Blind for that selection. “I know him, I have spoken with him. I’ve spoken with Peter Bosz and Marc Overmars. He’s very mature and learns really fast. I think he will be a full fledged Oranje player and probably a top class defender. But he won’t start. He needs to listen, learn and digest. People felt I should have gone with Van der Heijden (Feyenoord) but I have enough lefties in defense, I really need a right footed player behind De Vrij and that is De Ligt.”

hoedt bul

Wesley Hoedt battling with Janssen

It would make sense for Wesley Hoedt to get his debut in Oranje. He plays next to De Vrij at Lazio and faces top teams and strikers every week. “I think I earned my spot in Oranje, based on the 52 matches I played in the Serie A. I have definitely become a better defender compared to my time in the Eredivisie. And here with Oranje, I feel good too, even though it’s my first time. But I do know some of the lads of course, so that helps.”

Next week, Oranje faces Italy, with a number of players Hoedt faces weekly. “Yes, I played against Belotti last week. I think people in Holland look down on the level in Serie A, but the teams in the top half are really good. And Juventus is a class apart even. The way they are organised. A player like Chiellini for instance. I’m sure he would never make it through the Academy at Ajax or Feyenoord. They’d send him away. But in Italy, they see defending as a pure quality. I like that.”

The friendly vs Italy is 5 days before the Classic, which will most likely decide the title. Blind: “I have not made any agreements with the clubs about the players and how I use them in the Italy game, no. They still have 5 days to recuperate. This is professional football.”

hoedt bul2

Debutant Wesley Hoedt

About the strikers: “I have three good options. Lens can play centrally as well. Dost is hot which is great. I think we have a luxury issue, which is nice for me. A couple of good strikers, I can’t complain about that!”

Arjen Robben came later to the Oranje camp with a swollen foot. “I thought OH FUCK there we go again, in bed after the Gladbach match. But it all came down nicely and I have no problem. Saturday, I’ll be 100%. I want to show everyone I’m still here but I won’t do anything silly or over the top to prove myself. But I feel shit that I have to cancel many matches due to injuries. Last time vs Luxembourg I was back and again had to leave the pitch injured. I am so done with that! I really want to play every second for Oranje but I’m 33 years old. I do have to monitor my fitness but as long as it feels like I can, I will….”

robben bul

Yesterday, Oranje had a so-called open training day at Quick Boys in Noordwijk, but a closed off training session in De Arena today. On Friday, they fly to Sofia with a practice session and press conference in the late afternoon.

On Saturday, the match. Sunday, flight back with late practice at Ajax’ youth centre (closed off again) and on Monday a partly open session in the AZ Stadium in Alkmaar, with another presser. Tuesday evening we take on the Italians in a friendly, in the Amsterdam Arena.

vilhena memphis

Memphis is happy again

Bookmark and Share

Peter Bosz: Let me entertain you!

Ok, that was Robbie Williams, not Peter Bosz. But the Ajax coach does have this as leading mantra in his football philosophy: “I want to entertain the fans. I want to hear the oohs and aaahs rolling from the Arena stands.”

Bosz made a name for himself as a defensive midfielder and captain in the title winning Feyenoord team of 1993 under Willem van Hanegem. He started his career at Vitesse but was loaned to AGOVV amateur club before moving to play for Toulon in France. The Rotterdam stadium club signed him and Bosz was a tough as nails but also tactically astute midfielder, with 8 caps for Oranje. He’d move to Japan after his Feyenoord days and played for Rostock in the Bundesliga. Bosz was part of the Oranje squad for the Euros1992.

10.Bosz-Feyenoord-1992

The 1992-1993 Feyenoord champs, with – standing from left to right: Gaston Taument, Arnold Scholten, Josef Kiprich, John Metgod, Ed de Goey, – sitting, Peter Bosz, John de Wolf, Ruud Heus, Rob Witschge, Regi Blinker and Henk Fraser

Bosz started his coaching career with AGOVV – the team of his home town – and coached De Graafschap and Heracles Almelo, with whom he won the title (and promotion) in the Jupiler league. He got the technical director job at Feyenoord and was responsible for the signing of a couple of senior players like Roy Makaay, Denny Landzaat and Gio van Bronckhorst. He left the club in protest of the sacking of coach Gert-Jan Verbeek who clashed with the older players.

After that, he returned to coach, first at Heracles again, then Vitesse and a short stint at Maccabi Tel Aviv (managed by Jordi Cruyff). The latter raved about Bosz’ coaching capabilities and the similarities in vision with icons like (dad) Johan Cruyff and Willem van Hanegem.

jor joh peter

Jordi Cruyff, Johan and Peter Bosz in Tel Aviv

When Frank de Boer left Ajax, Bosz was the ideal and logical candidate to replace him.

When visiting Bosz in his sanctuary, the walls are “paved” with flip over slides and big diagrams. “This is where I watch the games back and make notes,” he says. “I make notes every minute, everything that happens. Good situations, mistakes, decisions taken. And in the bus home, after away games, I write it out. It’s the best way for me to work with the players. Taking situations they were in and using it as fast as possible to get them to process changes.”

So when did the tone in the notes start to change?

PB: “I remember that moment vividly. Mid September, the National Cup match vs Willem II. I used some players who needed a chance, players who hadn’t played a lot. I gave them a chance and I was enjoying myself on the bench. This was when I read back my analysis and was surprised to see many things just clicked.”

By coincidence?

“It was quite a journey for us, a quest. We had our vision alright, we want to play attacking, dominant and attractive. But over a long series of games, we weren’t getting to the right level. Every day we were talking about, I was scratching my head. We were trying to get the right players on the right position and in that cup tie, it was there!”

Did you ever have doubts that you’d make it work?

“Oh there were times when I thought: can I do it? And it took some time. To form the midfield, which is key to how we want to play. Would we use two holding mids, or just one? Or one deep lying controlling mid? And we had some more positions where it didn’t flow. I missed something and we were continuously trying things out, combining different types of players, looking for the ideal team.”

Schone

And Lasse Schone became the missing link in the team?

“I saw him play that match and thought: that is it! See, he started this season as attacking midfielder and in the past he’d played shadow striker, winger too. I didn’t know he had a controlling mid in him. But he actually told me at some stage: “Coach, I can play there!”. So we tried it at training and it worked. So I used him vs Willem II. It worked and now he is the key player. This is the #6 role and I have very specific wishes for that player. I don’t call it the defensive midfielder but controlling midfielder. I want a player with vision, quick feet and who can pass the ball in an offensive way, forward. And he needs to be available to get the ball always. That is tough. Someone like Guardiola, or Fabregas. I wasn’t that player, I was the defensive midfielder. If they’d pass me the ball with a man behind me, I didn’t know what to do so I’d played the ball straight back. But Lasse gets the ball and turns around and moves forward. Those qualities are essential to our game.”

As a result, first Bazoer and then Gudelj were the victims.

“Those are always hard choices to make. And some players don’t deal with it well. Take El Ghazi and Gudelj. That cannot be accepted. Although they were too different cases. I can understand players who don’t play are disappointed. Sure. But it matters that the players do understand that they hold the key themselves. I have discussed their failings many times, with them. And they weren’t satisfied with their own performances. And yes, when I try others and suddenly it clicks, it is hard for them. And I did not have a reason to suddenly change the team again.”

And then they get motivational issues…

“I was surprised. A player who says “I can’t motivate myself to sit on the bench!” No one I know in coaching land, including Hennie Spijkerman who’s been doing this for 35 years, has ever heard this from any player ever. My first response was: unacceptable! What could I do? What kind of signal would I give the others? I can’t have players saying “call me when I play, otherwise I’m not interested”.

bosz bench players

Unhappy bench warmers: Bazoer, Tete and Riedewald at the back. Nouri can still smile…

What was driving Gudelj?

“Listen, he’s a good kid and a fine player and I worked well with him. If he was a irritating SOB it would have made sense. We actually gave him a chance to revisit his stance. When he came back from international duties with Serbia, but in that meeting he was adamant. And I told him: think about the media, think about how the outside world will view you… But this was it. He would not budge.”

The media suggested you made hard promises to Gudelj, Tete, Bazoer….

“That is a lie. I can’t. I’m the coach, I can’t promise player A or B something? I heard those rumours too and I asked Gudelj in a conversation, with witnesses, and he was clear: “I worked well with you, it has nothing to do with you. I simply can’t motivate myself for a bench role. I am better than the rest, I think I need to play”. I like his thinking, but he needs to show me on the pitch, not with a stance like this. But every player, Tete, Riedewald, they all have a different story…”

Riedewald played well as central defender and defensive mid, we felt?

“And he did. I agree! It was a tough decision to bench him. I did not have much criticism on him. At home vs PAOK for the Champions League qualification he played ever so well. But his bad luck is that he didn’t play when it clicked.”

bosz ghazi

Bosz and El Ghazi had a falling out. The right winger is now at Lille

But you did say he was the only #6 in your squad in the media. That didn’t help.

“But it was true at the time. Jairo played ever so well. And he’s still young, he will develop and I do recognise his potential. But Lasse is simply a better option today. It was a comment I made about Jairo and it got all the headlines and it was repeated time and time again. And I get that. If I could use him as center back I think it would have had less impact. But Viergever and Sanchez have a solid partnership. Viergever is one of the few players who is vocal on the pitch. He coaches, he directs, he corrects. He is a good organiser. Most people don’t see this. But that is why he is quite unique. Sanchez doesn’t speak our language, so Viergever’s contributions are even more important. I discussed all of this with Jairo and he found it very hard and again, I get that. He’s a tremendous talent, but, you know, once he gets over this, he’ll be an even better player. His time will come.”

Peter_Bosz_(1988)

Peter Bosz, #6 of Oranje in 1992

Riechedly Bazoer was the Oranje #6 and there was talk of a Barcelona bid. Now he’s gone.

“Bazoer is a wonderful player, but not the ideal #6 for me. In our system, you need to be very disciplined tactically. Bazoer had trouble with the balance and I think it was his age. He’s very young and exuberant. Like Feyenoord’s Vilhena, a bit. He has tremendous potential but on his position you need to pass the ball, not bring it like a mailman. He runs too much, he does too much. So you need to compensate his style by putting an extra midfielder in. It didn’t flow. It’s a shame, coz he is has real potential. I think he had a transfer in mind anyway, there was talk that he was keen to go to Barca or any other big team. He reminds me a bit of Seedorf. I call them old souls. Wise before their age. And Wolfsburg gave him a solid perspective. For me, I would have loved to have had him at Ajax longer, but sometimes it’s the player that wants to go.”

And is Tete that much worse than Veltman??

“I don’t want to go into detail. Kenny knows he had a mediocre start this season. They told me when I came: Kenny is a slow starter. That might be the case. I actually gave him quite some opportunities at the start of the season because of that. But we got to the point where we wanted to use alternatives and with Joel and the other changes, it started to flow. So I’m not changing it now. But he’s doing it well. He’s working hard, he’s positive and he takes his chances when he does play. It’s only a matter of time for him.”

The media enjoyed all of this and became very pro-active in discussing the changes. You have only 3 starters of Frank de Boer’s team in your team!

bosz frank db

“We needed change, we wanted to be on the front foot more and we dealt with it. There will be lots of opinions about my choices, I’m sure. Everything you do at a club like Ajax is put under the microscope. I hardly watch those football talk shows and I try not read all these stories. It’s noise for me. The essential bits, people will tell me anyway.”

The criticism on Youness and Traore?

“I see the players daily. I can see what they are able to do and how they work. I call all that media stuff shortsighted. They judge players on 7 minutes highlights. Whether it’s Sinkgraven or Tete or Viergever or Traore. Man, if I would listen to all of that I would go insane.”

What do you think of the criticism that you block the development of the Academy players?

“I am brought in as outsider, with the aim to play attractive football AND get results. I will field the best team to do this. That is my job. I will treat all players equal, whether developed here or not. Whether young or older. On loan or signed for a big fee. I can’t make decisions based on where a player is developed! And some players who are developed here are killing it! Klaassen, Justin Kluivert, Dolberg… When I came here they said about Dolberg: “Here is a youth player. Maybe have a look?” And he’s our starting striker now. Mathijs de Ligt. Only 17 years old. We used him a bit, but expected a bit of a downfall, like many youngsters have, but he doesn’t have it. He’s the perfect example of a player developed here and given a chance.”

bosz mourinho

“And Jose, this is how big your ego is, man!”

Playing like you want to play, this starts with communication and guidance, I guess?

“Yes, a few things are essential. What players do you have and how can you gel them into a team, the best team? Midfield is key for me. This is the metronome if you want. And then it’s the understanding in the player about the way we want to play and what his tasks are, because the Ajax way and my way of playing demands concentration. And it all starts when we don’t have the ball. High press and forechecking by all players on the pitch. With tactical cameras you can see exactly the movements of players. Which players push up as well and which players drop down or lose concentration i.e. their man? And playing attractive and dominant football is step 2, after you manage to do this right. Most Ajax players can do a lot with the ball, but the thing is….you mostly do not have the ball. What do you do then, as a player, or line or team?”

Recognisable football is also a term you use?

“It is important to develop what we call automatisms… Patterns, if you like. We are dealing with conscious and subconscious developments in players. When I do video analysis with them, it’s concsious. They know what I am talking about, think about it, talk about it. But we also have practices where I don’t want them to think or talk or know about anything, I want them to subconsciously make the right decision, like intuition… And develop patterns. So we train different match formats. 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 or 9 v 9 but always with three free players who can be used for a one touch bounce. This will develop patterns both ways (for the teams and for the bouncing players) that I can see in matches too, and we’re making progress.”

bosz mourinho dick

“But then, this is the seize of your dick!”

And there is the infamous 5 seconds rule, isn’t this a bit of a hype?

“Maybe for outsiders, but what can I do about that. It’s a key foundation for our way of playing. See, when you defend, the pitch needs to be small, when you attack you want the pitch big. It usually takes 5 seconds for the opponent to regain position as a team, when they take the ball. This is why we want it within 5 seconds back. It’s easier. You eliminate their threat. And when we play versus a counter team, the 5 second rule is really important. Recently, we played Standard Luik for the Europa League and the execution was good.”

And in the meantime you are building a bigger squad…

“Well no, I don’t want a bigger squad. We will have players leaving. I want more balance. I have a lot of midfielders but I had only one real left back in Dijks. Now with Daley Sinkgraven I have another option, a different option. I only had one left winger so this winter we had to make some moves and we got Justin Kluivert moving up from the youth team. Mathijs de Ligt is playing his games. I want every player in the squad to have a chance to play, I don’t need 30 players. It won’t work. There will always be disappointed players and they can affect more than you know.”

bosz coaching

Ajax does play more attractive now then under De Boer. And the European adventure is going on as well.

“We have done well so far in Europe. I believe it should be doable, for a Dutch club to reach far, but not every year and maybe not so much in the Champions League. That league is determined by money. I’m sure a Dutch club with the right draw can reach beyond the group stage but at quarter final level, you will compete with clubs who spend 5 times more than Dutch clubs, at least. So yes, one or two surprising wins are possible, but the finals will be very hard. Europa League is different. We won vs Kopenhagen, a very decent club. If we get a lucky draw, semi finals is doable. And then anything can happen. But this doesn’t mean a thing re: the past. I don’t want to say anything negative about Frank de Boer as he doesn’t deserve it. Every season is different and he has achieved the impossible here, almost. I do like results, but I really want to be able to entertain. I want the fans in the stadium to yell ooh and aah a lot of times. Spectacle, speed. And it takes time to gel a team. We sadly lost too many points in the first half of the competition where Gio van Bronckhorst had his season last year in which he had to find the solutions. They’re very solid and hard to beat all season. We took more time. But I’m happy with the development of the squad. Onana, Sanchez, Dolberg, Lasse Schone and also the youngsters, like De Ligt, Kluivert, Van de Beek… We can be very proud of our Academy and good things will come.”

How far are you from your goal?

“I re-watched our home game vs Standard Luik. And I saw a remarkable low number of situations where I frowned, situations we did wrong. We are making good steps. But we need to keep on working and developing, we’re certainly not there yet. We have an urge to be perfect and we’re not there. We’re on course, but not there yet.”

bosz gio

Old friends, gunning for the title

 

 

 

Bookmark and Share

World Cup 1982 and the Dutch debacle

The last World Cup we had to miss was the 2002 one in Japan/South Korea. Mr Van Gaal is probably extremely motivated this time around to atone for his sins. That World Cup, I hardly watched a game. I simply couldn’t be bothered. I did follow Hiddink with South Korea, but that was it.

How different was it with the 1982 World Cup. In my view, still one of the best World Cups (after the 1974 one, but definitely before the 1978 and 2010 ones…). What was not to like? Scotland. Brazil. Yugoslavia. France. Spain. Argentina. And Italy, of course.

But after two lost finals (and two dramatic Euro campaigns in 1976 and 1980) Holland was not present at the World Cup.

A lot of people claim that Holland lacked quality to qualify. As in, not enough talent.

I do not agree. I think Holland always had enough talent to qualify any tournament (also the 1984/1986 tournaments and surely the 2002 World Cup).

zwart hiele boskamp

Team manager Jan Zwartkruis with goalie Joop Hiele and Jan Boskamp

But at the time, our Oranje was not as popular (amongst players and clubs) as it is today. And the KNVB was definitely a more amateuristic federation. For the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, the KNVB had two world class coaches for the big tournaments (Michels and Happel) but the qualifications were done by “KNVB stall wards”. KNVB coaches, who worked according to the “rules”. Icons like Cruyff and Van Hanegem would get in trouble with these “rules” later on in their careers, when they pursued a coaching future.

Remember, all this was right after the period in which players were not properly insured when playing for Oranje. Or not even properly compensated. THe time in which Cruyff’s personal sponsor contract (with his own sports fashion brand) collided with the overall KNVB sponsor contract. The JC two stripes vs the Adidas three stripes, etc etc.

A time in which there was no real Dutch football culture yet. Sure, Total Football had dominated the 1974 tournament, but the football culture would become a topic as such (for the KNVB, clubs, media etc) when Michels led Oranje to victory in 1988. The barren period between 1978 and 1988 is testament to that.

The KNVB did not employ a good team manager for the Dutch team like they have done in recent decades. We did not have coaches with established careers like Hiddink, Van Marwijk or Van Gaal in charge. But “company men” like Fardronc and Zwartkruis.

Uriguay

The Mundialito team: Standing from left to right: Hugo Hovenkamp (AZ), Kees Kist (AZ), Martin Jol (FC Twente), Ernie Brands (PSV), Ronald Spelbos (AZ) and Pierre Vermeulen (Feyenoord), seated: Rene van de Kerkhof (PSV), Pim Doesburg (PSV), Ben Wijnstekers (Feyenoord), Jan Peters (AZ) and Willy van der Kuylen (PSV).

With all due respect to them (and the players did have enormous sympathy for these coaches), it was not what the players needed. In those days, football players were like outlaws. Like rebels. They didn’t care about nutrition. They hated training (as it was merely running in those days anyway), they smoked, they partied hard and tactically, they were unskilled and undisciplined. It was not a coincidence that tough coaches like Happel, Michels, Weisweiler, Menotti, Herrera, Schon were successful. Players needed a strict ruler in those days.

I believe there was still that belief in Holland that after Cruyff and Van Hanegem, it was all over again. We used to be a small football nation and after that “wonder-generation” it would be over. Once these guys (and Krol, Jansen, Rensenbrink) would retire, Holland would go back to being small. And every decision, every step, every though reflected this inferiority belief.

The 1980 dressing down in the Italian EC further “proved” that point. We were not going to ever be able to perform well at a World Cup.

Strangely enough, the Dutch teams didn’t do too shabby in those days. AZ’67 had a very strong period in those days, with pretty good football too. It was very much 4-4-2 (a style which collided with the 4-3-3 of Oranje and played by Ajax and Feyenoord) but players like John Metgod, Ron Spelbos, Hugo Hovenkamp, Jan Peters, Pier Tol and Kees Kist surely should have been able to lift Oranje’s level.

Frans Thijsen and Arnold Muhren made headlines in the UK with Ipswich Town and Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord did produce enough quality for Oranje to qualify for a big tournament.

But Oranje need a tactical and psychological heavyweight to foster and develop all this talent into a well oiled machine. And I believe (again: with due respect) that the circumstances offered up by the KNVB were ideal.

zwartkruis Happel

Jan Zwartkruis as assistant to Ernst Happel (second from right): not much love lost between these two….

Jan Zwartkruis was the team manager. I don’t want to say anything bad about him as I believe he was a very good assistant coach. He oozed football. He was a pro player in the 1950s (and played with Marco van Basten’s father, Joop) and had all sorts of jobs in amateur football. He started as keeper coach and moved his way up via all sorts of amateur clubs. In 1962, he started to work for the KNVB, as assistant to Elek Schwartz. One of his own teams was the Military Team, which at the time was one of the breeding grounds for talent. Players like Jan Mulder, Rob Rensenbrink and the Van de Kerkhof twins. Fourteen years later, after the abysmal European tournament in 1976, he was asked to be care taker manager for Oranje for two games. That deal was extended with another two games, but as Zwartkruis refused to give up his job with the Ministry of Defence, the KNVB appointed a team manager above him: Ernst Happel. Zwartkruis would go back in assistant role. To give some colour regarding his work and his relationship with the players, there is a funny anecdote about Zwartkruis practicing with the goalies. He is warming up Jongbloed, while the media is watching. Zwartkruis hit 4 balls in a row over the goal. Prompting Jan Jongbloed to yell: “How about one shot on target maybe, Jan?”.

platinin nees

Michel Platini and Johan Neeskens

After the 1978 World Cup, Zwartkruis got end responsibility over Oranje. In his biography, years after the event, he told about his battles and clashes with Happel, whom he called a brute. The passionate and animated Zwartkruis had a bad relationship with the Austrian tactician and found him closed off, cynical, headstrong and anti-social.

Zwartkruis was in charge of Oranje at the Mundialito in 1980/81 in Uruguay. A FIFA Celebration tournament, celebrating the 50est birthday of the World Cup. The 6 winners were invited to compete (Uruguay, England, West Germany, Italy, Argentina, Brazil) but when England declined, two time runners up Holland was invited.

Zwartkruis needed to further renovate the Oranje team. The 1980 squad was already quite different to the 1978World Cup one and in at the start of 1981, it was AZ delivering the skeleton for the Oranje squad.

Here we see Holland draw against Italy, with a good early goal from Madrid coach Ancelotti and the equaliser of AZ playmaker Jan Peters.

Argentina was making a shift from the 1978 Mario Kempes lead team to a squad with a young Diego Maradona (he scored that tournament) and Ramon Diaz.

Italy would win the World Cup 1982 and the Mundialito squad already had names like Marco Tardelli, Cabrini, Scirea, Ancelotti, Bruno Conti and Giancarlo Antognioni.

The Netherlands squad had the best players of that generation, but as stated before, it was the AZ faction that was in form and had the confidence but their style of play didn’t really fit the style of play of the Ajax/Feyenoord contingent.

Holland did seem to have more and maybe better talent (like Tscheu La Ling and Rene van der Gijp) but somehow Jan Zwartkruis didn’t like players with too much of an own mind. Ruud Geels was Holland’s top scorer but didn’t get a starting berth while Wim Kieft was already broken through at Ajax but was deemed too young, just like defender/midfielder Frank Rijkaard. Wim Jansen and Johan Cruyff made Ajax champions in the season after but Zwartkruis ignored them for being too old. Rumour has it that Zwartkruis indeed toyed with the idea of selecting JC, but the iconic number 14 was quite clear in his statements: no more Oranje.

The rest of the world felt that Holland had it. With players like Neeskens, Van Hanegem and in particular Cruyff no longer part of the squad, the Belgium and France coaches were buoyant. “This Holland has lost its best players. We are confident we can get a result against them now.” The only Golden Generation players left were Ruud Krol, Johnny Rep and the Van de Kerkhof twins.

Holland didn’t do too well in Uruguay and the World Cup qualifications was not a smooth ride either. Zwartkruis did seem to select the best player of that era (Wijnstekers, Spelbos, Hovenkamp….tough defenders… Michel Valke, Jan Peters, Jan van Deinsen…good midfielders… Pier Tol, Pierre Vermeulen, Rene van de Kerkhof, Simon Tahamata, …powerful forwards… But Zwartkruis couldn’t get them to play well together, as a unit. The automatisms, the flowing play… it seemed lost.

rijvers 1982

Kees Rijvers in charge, with a young Frank Rijkaard at the back

The coach was replaced during the qualification period and seasoned success coach Kees Rijvers (ex-international and ex-coach of FC Twente and PSV) was brought in to reach the World Cup.

So we were in a group with Cyprus, Ireland, France and Belgium. Belgium in those days was a fierce opponents, as was France (not unlike today) and Ireland was an outsider, who could make it hard for you. Cyprus was the opponent against which the goal difference was taken into account. Winning wasn’t enough: goals were needed!

Zwartkruis used a younger generation of pretty gifted players, from Ajax and Feyenoord but also using a number of players from new powerhouse AZ-67. A number of cool headed strikers like Nanninga, Schapendonk and Van Kooten were added to the mix as well.

In the first qualifier, away against the Republic of Ireland, Ajax winger Simon Tahamata scores the opener after a powerful run by right winger Toine van Mierlo (Willem2). But led by Liam Brady, the Oirish came back into the game, setting up two goals: 1-2.

Our second qualifier was away against Belgium, and we lost that as well. Lost the ball in defence in the build up, Vander Eycken picks the ball up and drives into the box, he gets tackled unfairly and the ref gives the penalty.

Two games lost and the players don’t feel it with him anymore. Rijvers comes back in and the coach falls back on some old hands, Neeskens, Rep and Arnold Muhren, to give the team some more experience and grit.

The first home game was played in Groningen, versus Cyprus. AZ left full back Hugo Hovenkamp scored the first, with MVV striker Cees Schapendonk scored the second with Roda JC striker Dick Nanninga (of WC1978 finals fame) scoring the third: 3-0.

Next game was France at home. The France of Giresse, Didier Six, Rocheteau, Bossis vs the Oranje of Arnold Muhren, John Rep, Hugo Hovenkamp, Piet Schrijvers and Ruud Krol. A sensational free kick of Muhren finished this game to 0-1.

Ireland came visiting, a must win game for Holland. Frans Thijssen scored the 1-0 but Ireland drew 1-1 before half time. In the second half, a penalty for Holland, converted by Arnold Muhren. He never misses. 2-1 up but Ireland came back into the game, via a Frank Stapleton (ex Ajax) goal.

Holland needed to win the away game against France. Van Breukelen made his way into the team and when Michel Platini was awarded a free kick outside of the box, Ruud Krol at the last second decided to move to the post which De Breuk left open for Platini to go for. Allowing the goalie to focus on his left only. Platini hit it sweetly and despite Krol on the goal line, the French #10 scored. Van Breukelen would later say that Krol’s last second dash into the goal distracted him. See for yourself. The slow mo replay shows how Hans got his footwork wrong, but making a split step while the ball was already traveling half way. He was too slow to get to the corner as a result. Didier Six scored the 2-0 and Holland would not be going to the Spain WC in 1982. Belgium finished first and France and Ireland tied at 10 points at second spot, with France having a slightly better goal difference.


This dreadful World Cup campaign shocked the world, as one of the favorites would not be at the tournament and players like Neeskens, Rep and Ruud Krol basically ended their World Cup careers…

 

Bookmark and Share