Feyenoord 1970, the start of the Golden Oranje Era

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by Jan

Thanks for the link, JB!

As a Feyenoord man, I love this piece.

In the late 1960s, Feyenoord was considered to be one of the strongest and richest clubs in Europe. The Feyenoord Kuip Stadium was (and soon will be again) the most impressive venue in Europe and under master coach Ernst Happel, Feyenoord was the first Dutch club to win significant silverware with top notch players like Ove Kindvall, Wim Jansen, Coen Moulijn, Rinus Israel and Willem van Hanegem.

Here is the article by  of The Hard Tackle (.com).

When one talks of Dutch football in the early 70′s, many people unleash a sonnet, announcing the perfection and innovation and dominance of Ajax, Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. Most people would dismiss of it as an ‘April Fool’s Day joke’ , when they are told that the first Dutch team to win the European Cup is surprisingly, not Ajax – which is a very common and very wide misconception. It was actually the club Ajax would’ve liked least to have taken this honour, their fiercest rivals in an enmity that runs deep into both clubs’ history and has taken root in the very identity of both cities: Feyenoord Rotterdam.

With the win juxtaposed between Ajax’s loss to Milan and Ajax’s win over Panathinaikos, this Feyenoord team has hardly ever been given its due credit for the 1970 triumph, en route to which, they emerged victorious against the team that had brushed Ajax aside the previous year – Milan and in the finals, a Celtic team that had 7 of the ‘Lisbon Lions’.

640px-Kindvall-Celtic-_Feyenoord-1970

Ove Kindvall just scored the winner in the EC1 finals…

If Ajax had their talisman and stand-out player in Johan Cruyff, Feyenoord had theirs in the mercurial Wim van Hanegem; many Feyenoord fans would still contest and argue for hours on end that van Hanegem was a better player than Cruyff! Considered one of the best passers that the game has seen, van Hanegem was a central midfielder, with nowhere near as much flashiness or speed that Cruyff had, but if anything in footballing context could be perceived as being mellifluous, it would’ve been van Hanegem’s ability to control the tempo of the game, as if he held a metaphorical metronome. When a youth footballer at Velox SC (a club which was merged into FC Utrecht in 1970), Wim was described as being ‘too fat, too slow’ and it did show a bit, with the Breskens-born midfielder always carrying himself in a bent posture and having a penchant for passes that seemed like they were overplayed for his teammate but would curve or ‘bend’ into them, making a mockery out of the defender. While a young Ajax team were starting to announce themselves on the European stage with the fog match in 1966, van Hanegem was progressing at new club Xerxes and interestingly, caught the eye of the Ajax chairman at the time, van Praag who recommended the young midfielder to Michels. The manager dismissed van Hanegem, calling him one-dimensional and too old-fashioned a player. Michels would go on to eat his words, and would later mould his Netherlands team around the seemingly one-dimensional midfielder, even though he was 30 at the time. Meanwhile, van Hanegem did not leave the Persian-named club for the Greek-named one and Feyenoord pounced on him.

Adding to the trivia, it was also actually a Rinus (with a very Jewish surname) who played a crucial role in handing Feyenoord European glory, – Rinus Israel. Forming a solid partnership with Theo Laseroms, IJzeren Rinus (Iron Rinus) was sweeper and captain and was described by one of his opponents as being ‘the most intimidating, imposing presence you had ever felt in defence.’ At leftback was Theo van Duivenbode, a former Ajax player who had been forced to their arch rivals as Michels had persisted with the much younger Ruud Krol.

1970-coen-moulijn-europacup

Coentje with the Cup

And up on the left wing, was Coen Moulijn – Feyenoord’s answer to both Ajax’s Piet Keizer and Sjaak Swart. Moulijn was Mr Feyenoord, a boy who had grown up kicking balls against a factory wall in the streets of Rotterdam, a boy whose playing style as a man embodied the spirit of Rotterdam and its manual and experential spirit, especially post-World War II. In Feyenoord’s 2-1 win over the indomitable Real Madrid side of the 60′s, Moulijn was the game-changer and the Madrid defence had to resort to tackling him from behind as the only means to stop the left winger from blazing down his flank, putting in crosses with accuracy like an experienced hunstman, wielding his archery equipment and splitting his own arrows on the bull’s eye. When he passed on in 2011, Feyenoord’s all-time top scorer, Cor van der Gijp described him as Overmars and Van t’ Schip put together, or more relatably, ‘..like Robben and Beckham in one body.’

But the man who put it all together, was the man that is remembered now as one of the best coaches of all-time, Austrian Ernst Happel. His team typified him as a person and a former player, strong-willed, physical, big but technically adept. In the final, Celtic went with a 4-2-4 and Happel implemented his 4-3-3. Having always believed that, ‘the games always unfolds from the midfield’, Happel’s 3-man linchpin of Jansen, fellow Austrian Hasil and van Hanegem proved to be the key element in overcoming a much more experienced Celtic side. The 3v2 situation in midfield while Feyenoord defended meant that Jansen could always clean up and retrieve the loose ball, having been relieved of man-marking duties. Moreover, Moulijn would drop back to cover the space between Celtic fullback David Hay and arguably their most influential player, Jimmy Johnstone, such that the balls played to the right winger would be intercepted to distributed to van Hanegem who would look up to try and find Swede Kindvall, who would eventually score the winner for Feyenoord in extra time, after a long ball from Israel was fumbled by Celtic’s greatest ever captain Billy ‘Cesar’ McNeill (on watching replays, he seemed to have handled the ball) and it rebounded right onto Kindvall’s face, but the Swede held his composure and quickly lifted it over the advancing keeper, making it 2-1 to Feyenoord.

Fey1970

Feyenoord would go on to lift both the Eredivisie and the Intercontinental Cup the next season, but were the victims of a shock elimination in the first round of the European Cup, which saw Ajax ensure that the Cup would remain in the waterlogged, low-lying Netherlands. Most of the Feyenoord players from the European champion team of 1970 spent almost the entirety of their careers in the Netherlands and were unlucky to be playing in the same era as perhaps arguably, the greatest club side of the 20th century. Cruyff walked away with the Best Player award in 1974, but he would have not been as good as he was without van Hanegem – even when pushing 31 – was providing him with world-class service, without Jansen winning the ball back in tight positions to be distributed to the likes of Cruyff and Rep. And perhaps, that offers the Feyenoord paradox of the 70′s – they were very good, but Ajax simply had more poetic fluidity, begging to be written about in them, as well as the tactical intuition to revolutionise the sport, like never before. Since 1964-65 til 1973-74, Feyenoord won the Eredivisie 4 times, and finished only 2 points behind Ajax at their very peak in 1972-73.

1970-coolsingel

The inevitability of legacy means that when asked about Dutch football in the 70′s, people will still hold on to the cynosural holy trinity of Ajax, Michels and Cruyff as well as the concept of Total Football. But hopefully, from now, the name of Feyenoord will float upstream from the river of Lethe, and it will peek into the minds of a few – just a small, shy glance, reminding them that they were indeed the Dutch team that set the ball rolling, claiming the highest honour in European football in fashion worth admiration, in fashion worth remembering.

 

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292 comments

    1. Fuck Feyenoord.

      ‘ that they were indeed the Dutch team that set the ball rolling’.

      erm….. no they weren’t.

      Nice attempt at rewriting history, fanboy!! 😉

      Fortunately some of us were there and we remember it well.

      1. haha are you really that old ?

        Coming to a website with different nicknames every day, don’t you have a family ?

        It’s crazy how the society can create different types of people. You have guys like Boetius and Depay who are 19/20, already having notoriety and a lot of money.

        And you have people like you, being 50 but still trolling on internet, taking time to create many email adresses etc. just to insult a guy like Tiju who lives in India lol

        I’m sure it’s like a kind of disease for you, you try to fight against it, but your desire to come here and insult again is stronger. You should ask help to Jeff the physician, he can prescribe you some things.

        1. well said laurent,the one thing is this idiot can never insult me,coz am so strong that he can never insult me,All i do is i dont keep anything pending,who ever says bad to me i revert it back at time.nothing else.

          1. there are people on the internet with the capability of hijacking someone elses ip-adress, impersonate and troll. So people blame the person behind that ip-adress who is not aware of anything going on or why people are treating him/her as a troll wherever he/she goes on the internet.

            There are also virus chatbots that will create automatic troll messages from someone’s pc. So this is also a message and warning for Jan when dealing with trolls (when checking IP-adresses). You’ll need to get a message to the person/owner of the pc that is infected, but this can be hard with efficient hackers (who can mimick webpages and delete vital information or give misleading information).

            Difficult subject.

          2. I have been treated as a troll in many places on the internet and multiplayer games (or kicked from the server that is) without having said anything except perhaps hello or something neutral/simple/inoffensive like that.

            I have no idea why other than some videos I have seen on youtube about gang stalking of targeted individuals, which are quite vague to say the least.

            So if anyone on this website knows anything about this (probably not) please tell me, allthough it’s a difficult subject and I don’t know if it’ll help (because of the website mimicking thing I talked about earlier).

          3. or another common occurance is that an army of trolls follows me around wherever I say something on the internet, not adressing me, but harassing others so they go away/offline, change their behaviour, mood, attitude. There’s a lot of manipulation going on. Also in multiplayer games chatrooms I suspect when I’m playing, allthough I try to ignore that, but when you’re often getting kicked…and cheaters show up and kill you over and over before you can even do anything, or before anyone can do anything (mass kill cheats, that sort of stuff in first person shooters when they can’t get to you alone, or trying to ruin the play on the server in other ways, then when you swap to another well populated server, that one runs empty shortly after you join and the cheaters/trolls start joining as well).

            Or just the general behaviour of everyone towards you changes to: awkward (because of the manipulation and people not knowing how to deal with it).

            It’s easy to just choose to get rid of me then I guess, cause then the trolls follow me to the new server I join. It works similarly on the internet (chase people away, or chase me away, or manipulate people to such an extend that they play this mindgame along).

          4. Trolls use profanity. Call names. Repeat themselves endlessly.

            They don’t spoof IP addresses. 😉

          5. then again, watching some storylines of recent Sci-Fi FPS like Crysis, Halo and Bioshock (on youtube recently) I may only be missing out on some serious indoctrination attempts in relation to a naturalistic way of thinking and ridiculing another way of thinking, a path which more and more people are beginning to follow. A general numbness or dulling of people’s conscience and opinion concerning these subjects, so perhaps in the end their actions can be turned towards something good. Such as me and other people realizing who’s really pushing their buttons (allthough I can’t give any credit to the agitators and ridiculers for that realization), including the symbolic buttons of the writers of these games (also thinking of Assassin’s Creed, Prototype, and probably a bunch of others, it seems they have a common thread and a whole bunch of new age stuff in them, as some people call it, which is usually regurgitated Greek or Hindu philosophies, who probably got it somewhere else as well).

            Fantasy was fine until people started to take it a little too serious and it started influencing their behaviour more and more and people became more blind to its dark past (child sacrifice, torture, burning people, control of the masses through modifying philosophies to the needs of a few individuals who have totally lost the plot and who are the biggest pretenders).

            It’s influence on human thinking is increasing and it’s becoming more noticable in their behaviour towards eachother in real life as well. And because the games (and similar things) are just too much fun no one can resist the subtle pervasive spirit of this world, including me. Luckily I can at least try not to like it as much and point out the threats cause someone warned me when I was growing up, my parents. They say it helps when you are warned about something, it certainly becomes more visible, I can testify to that. And it feels damn uncomfortable.

          6. i dabble in the computer field, an anti-virus like webroot which constantly updates and is cloud based works wonders also avg and kaspearsky, although kaspearsky uses a lot of ram. avanquest also has fix it utilities and iolo system mechanic, no idea what set up you guys using or operating system

        1. Hey Jan, you have said that your next article was going to be on the national team considering the world cup is approaching. Strootman is out, and I have asked last time, what’s the latest update, what are some of coaches are saying, the Dutch media? What do they think is our best 11? Come on man, tell me something. I am way across the Atlantic. Lol

  6. Robben given a rest today, but Verhaegh and company at Augsburg about to hand Bayern its first defeat in the Bundesliga, if I have the stats right. Can they hang on for a few more minutes?

    2. Rating from Goal.com: “Fantastic performance from the Dutch right-back. Positionally sound in defence, and provided a number of good balls forward to start up some counter-attacks”.

  7. He may have only arrived in January, but the permanent signing of this striker would already appear a big mistake. Is clearly lacking in confidence and was never able to get into any threatening positions.

  8. Paul Verhaegh
    Fantastic performance from the Dutch right-back. Positionally sound in defence, and provided a number of good balls forward to start up some counterattacks.

  9. Ive got to say that van der wiel should be our number 1 rb.

    To his credit he has experience at top level football, he also has played well at the top level. He had a bad season at PSG last year and LVG dropping him has brought out his resilience which also adds to what he brings to the team. Playing at PSG has benefitted him in the way he is surrounded by ego centric players like himself like ibra, but they know how to get the job done and i think that has rubbed off on him so he isn’t just sitting on the bench for money, he has in fact played himself back into contention .

    Even though many of you mention that he lacked the attitude against ronaldo in the euro 2012, id argue that now he is playing at a level in the champions league where being mentally flimsy won’t do anymore.

    In addition, he is showing himself to be quite the crosser and living upto his potential of an attacking fullback. He keeps the other teams left backs and left mids pinned back especially with robben (who also cuts in) it means that attack can be the best form of defence – The dutch way.!

      1. @Abhirup this vanderweil guy is piece of shit,like afellay,has got a very weak heart,a looser,terrible in defense not at all better than Ricardo vanrhijn at back vene after playing top flight football.i dont want him in our team.though defnesivly both are bad,Vanrhijn is simply astonishing and more threateninbg and effective than this shit weil.Also Van rhijn has got a better brain too.We really need to kick out mentally weak guys except RVP.

  12. Pieters shouldn’t ever be in the reckoning again…absolutely shocking defender, watch the highlights of todays game against chelsea to see what am talking about!

  13. and Bacuna might be an interesting option,,,he seems to be a much better player than emanuelson, strong ball control, body strength, interesting option for a number of positions,brill performance again against fulham, btw stekelenburg has no chance for brazil, he is officially 2nd choice to stockdale at fulham!?!

    1. i heard van der hoorn to man united..and onec i heard kuyt to barca in 2008 or so.these kind of roumours are not just roumurs ,its that some making fun over it.Liverpool is looking for a better visionary player.

      1. That’s the first correct thing you have ever said.

        Liverpool ARE fucking awesome and Fer IS utter shit.
        He has as much chance of playing for Liverpool as you do, criptard.

  15. Erik Pieters
    Decent enough display by the left-back up against Salah, although he was nowhere to be seen for the opener.

    Gregory van der Wiel
    The return of Van der Wiel was met with applause, and he showed his importance, grabbing the assist for the third goal. Should start in London.

    Michel Vorm
    Could do nothing about Boyd’s opener but made a brilliant save to deny Long in the opening half.

    Jonathan De Guzmán
    Maybe should have scored in the first half but hesitated when in on goal and wasted the opportunity. Subbed at half time for Dyer.

    Ron Vlaar
    Led from the back and kept his defence organised. Didn’t have much to trouble him in the first half and had to keep a watchful eye on Rodallega but made some smart interceptions.

    Leandro Bacuna
    Pushed forward in the absence of Fabian Delph which is something many home fans have desired but couldn’t carve out any chances in the middle and was weak in the tackle.
    (STUPID RATING FROM GOAL>COM)

    John Heitinga
    Not really troubled defensively and had a fairly easy game at the back.

    Vurnon Anita
    Still to come into his own in the Premier League despite being an ever-present since the departure of Cabaye. Didn’t give United any problems, the Dutchman easily out-muscled by more experienced opposition.

    Luuk de Jong Flop of the Match
    He may have only arrived in January, but the permanent signing of this striker would already appear a big mistake. Is clearly lacking in confidence and was never able to get into any threatening positions.

    Alexander Büttner
    Replaced Evra who appeared to be struggling with an injury. Accomplished display.

      1. And I honestly don’t think that he shouldn”t go to Ajax.

        They will keep Klassen, Serero, Blind, Duarte, Schone…Maybe he would be good for RW spot if De Boer finally put Schone in his best position.

        A midfield Blind-Duarte-Schone wouldn’t be bad, with Ziyech and Fischer on the sides and Kishna/Zivkovic in the center.

  17. Jan, perhaps you should have another article about 2002 UEFA Cup final when Feyenoord won its 2nd UEFA Cup. That team had 3 NT players: Van Hooijdonk, Bosvelt and Van Persie. The coach of that team is ….Bert Van Marwijk.

    1. Van persie cause dall kind of problem for the oppent in wings,anyways kuyt was not feynoord that time and they won uefa2002.
      Bert wanmarjik is defensive coach and he is good at making water tight defense with lesser players,which he always did,but 2002 he was lucky that he had RVP,hooijdonk up front,i mean basically whenver had able players upfornt simply his sytem works well,but i feel he was very biased,and always given uper edge to seniority in squad and given edge to experience over poetntaill talent.
      His atrocius mistake was always benching Vaart for kuyt in every match he managed.Benching a world cass player for a less than skilled player was artocious mistake.he got punished for it.

          1. No, Feyenoord played a lot of games with RVP, PiAir and Bona Kalou up front and Tomasson as number 10 behind Pierre v H as a 4-2-4 when in possession and 4-4-1-1 when the ball was lost (with Kalou and RVP dropping back). And this is how they started in the finals

  18. Talking about Depay, I think all promising dutch players should leave PSV this summer. PSV is the dutch HSV, really a sick club, really bad for players developping.

    Willems, Wijnaldum and Depay, who are the three best dutch players in PSV, should all leave in my opinion.

    Locadia, Hendrix, Brenet and Narsingh can stay a bit more cause they are not good enough for a foreign league anyway.

    Schaars in no NT material anymore for me.

  19. williams??????????i doubt,he also has headlesschicken syndrome.Depay has to compete with Roben,wijnaldum,kishna,Zivkovic etc.but still an option for NT.i mean something is better than nothing.

  21. Has anyone noticed that Kongolo played today CB with De Vrij really well?? I mean the kid left Indi in the bench, I think that Koeman is trying to send a message very clear: Kongolo i a better player than Indi. And that he clearly prefere Kongolo over BMI!!
    Lets see, for me Kongolo will be the rookie for the World Cup.
    On a siding note Feyenoord has like 3 consecutives game with 0!! goal against when Kongolo has started, very good results!!

      1. well I dont rate high Koeman as a coach, but I dont see a de vrij a horrible player neither. He is the best what koeman has for the RCB, isnt?

        1. Not horrible but made many many mistakes and still start all the games.

          Indeed Feyenoord has no other good RCB, but sometimes I wondered if they shouldn’t even put two LCB (Kongolo-BMI) and avoid De Vrij.

  22. Has anyone here watched Ouasim Bouy play? Does he have potential and could he be NT material in the future? Looking at his stats, he doesn’t seem like much of a goalscorer

  23. @Srinjoy….Pieters shouldn’t ever be in the reckoning again…absolutely shocking defender, watch the highlights of todays game against chelsea to see what am talking about!

    No the highlights neva give the actual picture.I watched the whole game he had a much improved second half than the first where he was out of position in Salah first goal and that back chest to the keeper which Torres nearly scored. he was more penetrative in the second half going forward and had quiet a tussle with Ruiz. but again he was very hasty when tackling and conceded alot of fouls. another of his tackled on salah should have resulted in the penalty but was lucky the ref overlooked at it.

    2. That’s not the worst of it.

      Have you seen how many goals our ‘world-class’ keepers let in on a weekly basis??

      If Krul, Steks and Vorm haven’t seen at least 3 balls fly past them, it ain’t Saturday!

      🙁

    1. Douglas have no hope under LVG,LVG(thoguh i like him)is blind in a way,we must be open that,should give a way for evry potentially talents,who fits the team chemistry.offcourse some may not have quality and but some will have.The biggest issue we are facing is sneijder VS vaart staring point.Dutch will be a success if vaart starts and will be a failure vs big teams if sneijder starts.its not abt lack of quality,its about team chemistry,and sacrifice and wicked eye for goal through team mates.I have seen Vaart hold the ball the zidane which sneijder is not capable of.We need zidane type vaart than a lampard type sneijder.selcetion of vaart VS sneijder as starter is a big deciding factor.

  25. Van Ginkel and Strootman getting ACL injuries this season was terrible to witness. Both being fit would increase the chance of Netherlands getting past the group stage at the WC. Here are some comments about that injury from Raymond Verheijen (annoying guy, but expert on this subject) commenting on Walcot getting this injury:

    > “A lot has happened since the start of the Arsenal case study last January after the unnecessary Walcott ACL injury. Maybe we should help our amateur friends at Arsenal a bit as they make little progress with their internal investigation & AW prefers denial.

    In the last phase of a rehabilitation process, the game minutes of the player have to be increased step by step in 2 separate phases. In Phase 1, the emphasis is on developing the match fitness. Once a week and step by step, the player gradually gets more game minutes. In week 1: 25 game minutes; in week 2: 45 minutes; in week 3: 65 minutes & in week 4: 90 minutes. The Arsenal coaching staff applied Phase 1 correctly with Theo Walcott at the end of November and early December. However, when gradually increasing game minutes there is also a Phase 2 in which the player has to learn to play more than 1 game per week. In other words, in Phase 2 the focus shifts from ‘developing match fitness’ to ‘recovery in 2-3 days instead of 5-6 days between matches’. Phase 2: Weekend: 90min -> Midweek: 25min -> Weekend: 90min -> Midweek: 45m -> Weekend: 90m -> Midweek: 65m -> Weekend: 90m -> Midweek: 90m. With this gradual build-up of midweek game minutes, step by step, the player develops the ability to recover within 2-3 instead of 5-6 days.

    One does not have to be Einstein or a Sport Scientist to understand these principles, right? The coach only needs a brain & logical thinking. But what did our incompetent friends at Arsenal do in Phase 2? Indeed, Walcott played almost 6 full games in 21 days. So, instead of the gradual build-up of 90-25-90-45-90-65-90-90, Walcott had to do 90-90-90-90-90-90. Russian roulette. So, Walcott was thrown in the deep & his body did not get the opportunity to gradually develop ability to recover in 2-3 days between games. As a consequence of his incomplete recovery between games in Phase 2, Walcott accumulated lots of unnecessary fatigue during those 21 days. Accumulated fatigue results in slower nervous system so signal from the brain travels slower to the muscles responsible for protecting knee. Obviously, an ACL injury is often the result of more than one reason. But accumulated fatigue is by far the most dominant one in most ACL’s.”

    Especially that last part applies to Strootman, who definitely accumulated too much fatigue IMO. He also had an injury to his other knee from the France game. I think Stroot was more victim of bad fitness management than a player with some bad luck in a random game.

    However van Ginkel’s case is not without suspicion as well. I think the jump in level, the eagerness to prove himself in games but also training, the impression his new club made on him have all added to extra risk getting this injury.

    People talk a lot about the demise of Dutch football. Players that no longer stand out technically compared to other players from other country’s. But what is killing Dutch football also, if not even mote so, are all these injuries. Stroot, Ginkel, Afellay would all inject more quality into the NT instantly.

    However Robben, RVP, vdV and Sneijder have been hampered by injuries throughout their career as well.

    The new generation has had his fair share already. Kishna had 2 years of injury. Boëtius had his number of injuries. The one making steps according to people is Depay and it’s no coincidence that he is associated with being fit. I saw a twitter comment from Depay saying that if his doctor said that putting his foot for 4 hours in cold water would benefit him, that he does that. Everything to stay fit.

    Maybe KNVB could fire 2 or 3 of their Bobo’s and free up the money to hire some real experts that dedicate their time exclusively to the exceptional talents of the junior and senior NT’s. Really checking in every week with a group of players and look at their free time and home situation. Driving up to their house, cook with them, looking at the things they do in their free time. Implement professionalism on every level. Get all training info from the players and have their own experts look at it to provide a standard second opinion. Moyes comes in and RVP is back to being injured all the time again. Too much is left to chance. We need to cut back risk on all these injuries. That is actually a doable thing, even short term.

    1. This is exactly true in medical science.facts.
      Bayren has the best medical team i think,other wise Roben wouldnt have been stayed this fit.
      Moyes is a man of short vision and limited knowledge,he has proved it in MANU.Coach and medical has a lot to do making players fit,and keeping them fit.
      Vanginkel case was he was over presseured by own team and coach to prove himself,like RVP in euro2012.this is not good scenario at all,sure Van ginkel has lost some of his development in chelsea.F&**k chelsea

      1. > “Vanginkel case was he was over presseured by own team and coach to prove himself,like RVP in euro2012.this is not good scenario at all,sure Van ginkel has lost some of his development in chelsea.F&**k chelsea”

        ——————————————————–

        Yes, but my point is to not put it anymore on Chelsea or whatever club. We need to think in ways to even manage those clubs, otherwise we stay in the phase of blaming and being discontent about the situation. Start blaming the players and the KNVB and we can do something.

        Why not free up money to appoint Verheijen and a small team around him to guard the fitness interest of Dutch prodigy’s both at youth level and senior level. Map the coaches and clubs that do the right things and the ones that do wrong things. Martinez from Everton is somebody who gets good rep for his fitness management. We should even go as far as taking this into consideration for transfers and loans. Advise a van Ginkel to move to that club after the summer on a loan like Lukaku did from Chelsea as well. That’s cutting back on risk. Being proactive.

        It boggles the mind that so much is left to chance.

        1. oho ..again Evolution scientist came back???tell me which sceince can stop tsunami or earthquake as of now?????.U just got normal or average brain and with that U WILL NEVER MEASURE THE MIGHTY CREATOR OF YOU.HE is tons of times clever than any sceince or evolutionary scientist.so better stop.take sceinec in science way and be open for anything,and then grow up.

    1. Am just curious, why is it that 99.9% of your comments are just asking DRB too answer topics ans questions already discussed or being discussed on the blog? Do you not have anything to say for yourself? I don’t mean to rant am just curious, I mean I Get the fact that the man has brilliant insight but frankly it’s a bit much don’t u think?

      1. cause I trust his judgement more than yours or anybody else’s..as simple as that 🙂
        You may choose to ignore my comments..Your expert opinion on this is not needed..

        Thank you!

    2. And quite frankly, just like many other people on this blog, I’m deeply concerned about the future of Dutch football..
      Its just out of that anxiety I keep asking about all the upcoming talents who have the potential to take the NT back to where it belongs- that is at the top!

      1. i actually enjoy the in depth analysis from DRB 3000 so long may it continue 😀

        But yes it’s quite obvious that ur disregarding everyone’s opinions and cutting them off from contributing to ur questions by qualifying it specifically for one person..but to eacch their own 🙂

        cheers

  27. Also, have you been following Hakim Ziyech lately?? What’s your opinion of him?? Potential Oranje material..?? His playing style certainly resembles that of Mesut Ozil but I think he has a long way to go to reach that level..
    *fingers crossed*
    Hope he fulfills his potential and develops into a world class player for the Dutch NT in the near future..

    1. Abhirup,

      Boëtius is a very interesting player, because he has something that Depay (the other left wing promise) does not have in abundance: Speed. So for the left wing, with a Boetius, we can bring something different, also since he is a more refined player, which Depay is less so. There is a reason why Boëtius becomes a much better player with other good players around him on the pitch. His ability to combine and develop play with his team mates then starts to shine. In that way he more dependent on others than Depay (which is funny since players with greater speed are generally more associated with independence, but not the case compared to Depay). Boëtius can go a bit lost in games for me. Becomes pale and not that impact full. Depay, good or bad, he makes things happen, “on his own”.

      Ceiling questions are pretty hard, if not only because the players we discuss are still so young and can develop in so many directions.

      Also Eredivisie has a whole has become a harder league to read player quality in as it’s a league with such a low average age. Youth development philosophy as the main philosophy at clubs, certainly at Feyenoord (who “survived” thanks to their youth in their financial hard times) have made it harder to estimate a players full potential, as doing well against faced young opposition, making early debuts and belonging to the first 11 at a young age are not necessarily signs of outlier quality.

      Further more, Boëtius together with Kishna are special cases. Have had heavy injuries already, even before hitting 18. I believe in case of Boëtius there are also problems with cartilage and if there is 1 injury that scares me, even more so than ACL’s etc. , then it is cartilage problems. It ended the career of van Basten, but more recently also van Nistelrooy. I remember how HSV players got impatient with RVN and I felt sad for him having to go through that. He was never the same after the cartilage problems in his knee. People see mediocrity with a player and conclude he is just not that good, but really it is the injury that has brought the player down to the level of your run in the mill footballer.

      That is also my concern with Kishna and to less extend with Boëtius (IIRC his injury concerning cartilage was far less severe). I wonder if apart from missing out some vital development time, if their development trajectory as a result of the kind of injury’s they suffered is not permanently altered and if people will even recognize the cause and effect in case the promise stays out? Furthermore, are their injury’s only a sign of things to come? We only have to look to RVP and his last season at Arsenal and first season at United to know that being able to build one week on the other month after month, is vital for how a player is perceived. Always a promise, a very good player, but when he was finally able to stay fit he won personal awards and even was regarded at one point as the best player in EPL.

      What I do not really like from Boëtius is his flopping and diving. In that sense the Ashley Young of the Netherlands. On the other hand he is pretty level headed and great in front of the camera. I also think he is good for a team. Good for the group process. I always keep an eye on that since 1996.

      World class is top 5 on your own position. That is a stretch. He does not give me enough reason to project him for that level. Must really improve his shot for that, among other things. I am happy with him in development though and the fact he is a different mold from Depay. That gives the NT options.

      Now moving on to Ziyech, I can be shorter. I am not sold on him. Yes he has a peach of a pass in that left foot, but against Vitesse for example, in the first half he was pretty clueless often what to do under pressure. He was not really able to turn himself out of tight situations. That is totally different from Özil who knows how to do that all the time. Also Ziyech’s creativity comes at a high cost of losing the ball. Way too sloppy for the absolute top. This was only his first real Eredivisie season. For this league not even that young. Vilhena, who will gravitate towards the 10 position as well in time (I think) is almost 2 years younger. Ziyech is a counter 10. When given space he is able to launch. Said this before, very good couple with Zivkovic (on paper). He must bulk a bit more. Actually, Boëtius and Ziyeck are both exceptionally skinny guys. Ziyech’s mental configuration is yet to be revealed on a higher level. How does he deal with sitting on the bench being a name in the league? How does he deal with all attention coming his way?

      In this case, let’s wait until he makes the step to a top 3 club in Eredivisie.

      Cheers

      1. boetius is so weak that he easily get overpowerd by the defneder he faces.so has to depend his collegues,he does that.Falling everytime when they touch te ball is not going to help the team.i think we must look in to Jermains lenz how he handles the strength of every defender he faces.he is not a primidonna.i think we must concentrate on strong players,boetius i doubt him a lot.

      2. Wonderful analysis! Cheers!
        So according to you, Vilhena has more potential than Ziyech??
        Actually, I’m apprehensive about our future no.10’s..Maher has not yet lived up to his potential..
        Vilhena is an interesting choice..but do you see him carrying the baton of the NT in the middle of the park as did Sneijder and Van der Vaart??

        1. > “So according to you, Vilhena has more potential than Ziyech?”

          Not per se, but Vilhena has played almost 3500 minutes in Feyenoord 1 this season on a position that is not even his best (that’s a guess of mine) being as young as he is (19 years, 3 months and 6 days as of today). Ziyech has yet to make the step to a top 3 club and is almost 2 years older.

          I have not been impressed with Vilhena this season and the player does not provide magic in abundance (Ziyech does more silky things). It’s just that he already has quite some experience at such a young age, that there are things to build on with this player (might be able to take the next step) and that he can take it to a next level on another position (goals matter, especially internationally and Vilhena has goals in him). So mentioning him is anticipation of 2 things that still have to happen, while also keeping in mind why he has not risen to the top of the Eredivisie yet (very young still).

          With Maher turning out to be a mental midget and Ziyech yet having to make the step to a club challanging for the title, Vilhena is an interesting player in development for the 10 position. Not silky, but being buff and strong he brings something else, especially when he starts banging them in.

          Cheers

      3. I am gonna have to disagree with you DRB about Ziyech not knowing what to do under pressure. On the contrary,I saw him in a few games where he does the right choices under pressure,gets past a few chalenges AND gives a good pass. I was impressed by that,and with his ball control-keeping the ball so close to his feet. But I did not watch him many times to say that he constantly does such things and I did not watch him against Vitesse.He does loose the ball often though,mainly by trying too much…

        Everything else is a great read! And I absolutely agree that we have to see him on a higher level than Heerenveen.

        1. BTW,with all the talk about Ziyech leaving Heerenveen,it looks like they do have his successor in Sinkgraven who played realy great in the last two games he started.
          Only 18 years old…

          1. I googled his name and found out he’s a CM..Ziyech ,on the contrary,is an AMF..Will sinkgraven be able to replace him properly??

        2. Good to hear Petrovic.

          Both observations do not have to collide by the way. In the minutes you watched him, he might have played against opposition that applied modest to medium pressure. Also cutting off options to pass to, but not all for a player like Ziyech.

          Vitesse under Bosz, a fan of Barca, is maybe one of the most pressuring teams to play against in Eredivisie (played Ajax off the park first half) and might have took things to a higher level. Ziyech in that first half against Vitesse was still able to deliver 2 good through balls by the way (was not shut down completely). I was just not buying the pundits focus on those 2 balls, but looked at the way he handled things when he was brought into trouble. That left much room to improve and was even a bit disappointing to see. There is a reason why his ball accuracy is so low. He also does everything with his left foot making him more predictable and limiting his handling speed.

          That being said, Vilhena does also everything with his left foot. Even though he recently scored with his right. Both talents should practice their right foot a bit more.

          The reason Sneijder won the battle for 10 in Orange vs vdV has a lot to do with the fact that he was 2 footed while vdV was always looking for that left foot of his. As a result of that, Sneijder’s quick release was quite unique. Does not cover the whole story, but it touches on an important part of it. Vilhena and Ziyech should take notes.

          Cheers

  28. Keepers: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Fulham), Kenneth Vermeer (Ajax), Michel Vorm (Swansea City), Jeroen Zoet (PSV).

    Verdedigers: Daley Blind (Ajax), Jeffrey Bruma (PSV), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Karim Rekik (PSV), Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Joël Veltman (Ajax), Gregory van der Wiel (Paris Saint-Germain).

    Middenvelders: Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (Norwich City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Siem de Jong (Ajax), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Davy Pröpper (Vitesse), Stijn Schaars (PSV), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Rafael Van der Vaart (HSV).

    Aanvallers: Jean-Paul Boëtius (Feyenoord), Memphis Depay (PSV), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Quincy Promes (FC Twente), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Arjen Robben (Bayern München), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kyiv)

    34 players here, that was the last selection against France, without Strootman injured and with Van der Vaart and Lens back.

    Van Gaal said that he gave a direction with that list, and that only an “Unknown” player has a chance to join it. Unknown means no De Guzman, no Van Ginkel, no Afellay, no Wijnaldum, no Emanuelson, no Willems, no Pieters, no John…

    It can be Van Dijk, Bacuna, Kishna or Kongolo. Maybe Duarte ? He was called once by Van Gaal but didn’t play. Same for Vilhena.

    Looking from closer to that list, I think we can remove : Zoet, Vermeer and Narsingh for sure. Unless injuries, none of them is clost to NT currently. That gives us 31 players + the unknown.

    I hope he will change his mind though, the midfield in the selection looks really poor, we need Van Ginkel, Afellay, Wijnaldum and De Guzman, not all of them, but at least two of the four.

    The wingers are also poor, Robben and Lens ok, Depay why not, but I honestly put Babel, John and Elia above Boetius and Promes. Yes they have a bad situation club, but they are just better players, will bring more quality to the group.

      1. And no Kongolo.

        Feyenoord’s already tweeting about it:

        Feyenoord Rotterdam ‏@Feyenoord 6m
        Welke Feyenoord-speler mag niet ontbreken in de Nederlandse WK-selectie en waarom?

  29. its not it would be a disaster if Vanginkel,wijnaldum,Virjil vandijk doesnt make the cut.
    Only Roben can challege wijnaldum
    there is no one to challge Ginkel,coz vaart and sneijder past their prime.
    Virjl is simply too good compared with Devrij and Bruma and vlaar.
    wher we are heading?
    boetius is so weak physically,tough time ahead for him
    Depay-is a younger brother of sneijder at time his shots goes in and many times it fails,not a speedy winger
    Promes wokrs hard and helps defense,seems like he also has headlesschicken syndrome like Afellay or Elia had.
    RVP -is only when he gets support form teammates and coach,oofcousre pressure form hunter is not good for RVP,his eagernes to score goals will make him impotent when we pressure him.
    Roben-only player close to a big threat.
    Sneijedr-No wher near as a team player compared to vaart,blind shots are often,cannot hold the ball for long,needs 2 speedy and effcicent and prolific strikers up front to finsh his game.(i mean Milito-Eto).
    Vaart–Struggling with a struggling clubs,wher he has no world class collegues,isolated and lost stamina,but if vaart gets stamina dutch will have an unfathomble game vs any tough team if given RVP+roben to help him.
    Clasie–Weak player with extra intelligence and vision.playing in wrong position,i mean sheep in the midst of lions.
    Van ginkel-Great hope but consistantly ignored by coaches
    kuyt-Neither he is goodfinisher nor he is a good winger and nor he is a capable holding mid,he has no business in team,A cancer and a bloke in between orange and beautifl game.
    Afellay-Girl
    Van der weil-Girl
    Janmaat-Lion with mistakes
    vlaar-Lion with snails leg
    Stekekelburg-out of form
    krul-out of form
    cillesen-inexperinced
    lenz-the strong lion but can be lazy at times
    Nijel-The king/Gladiator.
    BMI-inexperinced and error promne
    Blind–defneder with no physical stregth and speed.but something he is making up with intelligence,not bad
    leroy fer-Really a positive guy,who is game flow killer unfortunatly own team play.
    this is what we are now and this what we got now.

    1. Tiju you put too much importance on a pretending cleverness that some players are supposed to have and others no.

      Going from your point of view, Walcott is the biggest headless chicken in this football world, far from Elia, Afellay and all the other ones that you hate.

      But don’t you remember when Walcott raped Liverpool defence in 2008 getting past 5 players ? Don’t you remember the games where the “clever” Arsenal players like Rosicky, Fabregas and RVP were sleeping and Walcott came and saved them ?

      We need players like Elia in our squad, he was bringing action in 2010 when games were boring, remember the first 60 minutes against Denmark and Japan = Absolutly awful. The four players were Sneijder-VDV-RVP-Kuyt. Too much intelligence for you. But we didn’t really see it. Fortunetaly we had Afellay and Elia on the bench and Robben for the rest of the competition.

      1. walcott is way much dribbler and speedier than afellay or elia,compared to elia afelllay was bettter,but walcott was a super talent than both,he played for arsenal and an important/vital player for NT.
        WAT IS THE ACHIEMNET OF afeelay and elia???so far bench of barca and failure in a midtable.walcoot maynot be intelligent but he plays for team and very unselfish,ask RVP.THATS a greatthing in my book.

  30. when i put some team line i feel that dutch has an amzing team,but LVG never selects my team.just look at
    ————–krul————–
    Janmaat—-Virjil–Vlaar—-BMI
    ————–De Jong———–
    —–Vanginkel——–wijnaldum–
    ————–Vaart————–
    ——Roben———-RVP———-
    i mean for LVG and for his vergreen 433..i had to do it
    ————Cillessen/stekel—————-
    Vanrhijn—-Veltman–Reikik—-Blind
    ————–leroy fer————–
    —–Deguzman———Clasie———-
    ————–sneijder—————
    —–lenz————Kishna————–
    ============================================
    dont tell me that shemale weil has top flight experince ,he is not better than vn rhijn in defense
    then comes bench
    Zivkovic
    Douglas
    Depay
    klassen

    Wow orange has an incredible team………

    1. This piece of filth is just coming up with new ways to insult our players, he just introduced the term shemale to describe van Der wiel, I get the fact that Jan and co. Want to Be tolerant and not belittle this jerk for nostalgic reasons, but these comments are getting way out of hand!

      1. It’s an idiot.

        Just laugh at it, and eventually it will realise that NO-ONE actually cares about its amateur opinion.

        Look at the positive responses it gets.

        Do you see any?
        Me neither.

        Haha. It even replies to itself sometimes.

        Those are the funniest.
        No wait, the ones about Jesus are the funniest.

        There are a few idiots here, but this one is the absolute dumbest of them all.
        Its parents must be so proud.
        And related.

      3. We will find a cure for tiju once HIV becomes curable. He comes up with a different formation everytime he posts…

        I honestly think tiju loves the insults. This is the only place he gets any attention and just like a pest, he lingers.

        He’s been posting on this website for years and is yet to learn that ROBBEN is spelled with a double B. Afellay with a double L etc etc..

        I can maybe understand the tricky names If he can’t learn them… but he’s just an attention seeking idiot pest. You can ignore him my friend.

        2. @Sam NY,another pussy,do u know what is insult??It becomes insult to me ONLY IF I REPECT OR LOVE THE PERSON.otherwise its just a barking..i wonder how u lived with ur little brain so far..Go get out of this site.Evryone knows who prickjoy is.

  31. Worried about who will be our goalie. Stekelenburg and Krul would be my best choice but Stekelenburg is 2nd choice and Krul is injured I guess.

    1. Krul will come back strong from injuries so no worries, cillesen and vorm are in decent knick till then, but Yeh stekelenburg isn’t even in consideration

      2. I like Stek too and still think he and Krul are 2 of the 3 going to Brazil. Unfortunately Stek is playing for a bad club. Stek at Fulham is like VDV at Hamburg.

        2. Correction warming the bench for a bad club, and no stekelenburgh gives the wrong impression due to his height in stature, he has always been mediocre, even henk timmer was considered better than hum

          1. Stekelenburg is a good keeper, he saved our ass in 2010, he impressed everyone. Spain could have kicked us from the beginning with that Ramos header. Stek made a wonderful save. Just like he saved us from the 2-0 against Brazil on the Kaka shot.

            Don’t know why you dare to say that I’m a “weirdo” while you are the one here saying that De Guzman and Stek are mediocre but ask for Bryan Linssen, Drenthe and Daniel De Ridder with NT lol (between two posts going about danish players).

            It’s even not a question of subjectivity or tastes, just a question of logical.

            There will be no RKC, Heracles or Reading players with NT, and that’s normal.

          3. I just find ur excessive pessimism a bit hard to handle but hey we all have our own players, I don’t ask for de ridder just despair at a lost talent. But def do like linssen and van la parra

  32. What do you guys think about Viergever is he Oranje material?. I read LVG went to watch an AZ game so maybe he is considering calling him given the fact that BMI is benched.

    1. Viergiver is a decent defender. I certainly think he is more consistent and solid defender than some of our more regular kids that keep making mistakes on weekly basis.

  33. We can fascinate as much as we can and come up with all sort of arguments and comments on player selection, who should be going and who should not be but at the end of the day does it really matter . From a fans perspective I mean its always entertaining and also informative knowing what happening around the table ,the buildup and setbacks but then again when it comes to reality check there only three Words Louis Van Gaal. Practically looking at how NT has performed under him since his appointment it has been trial basis through out and given the current situation it will predictability be the same story at world cup.

  34. Tiju you lineup is interesting but it keeps getting longer and longer every time. it will be like Migraine from headache for van gaal if he has to go with additional players as on your list. Even he doesnt know at this point time who will be the starting 11 looking at all games we have played this year alone.

    Jan I would like to go back to what jean venette said on what the next article should be on . the latest buzz on NT and LVG at this point in time. What he is thinking and planning looking at the injury crisis and individual from of senior players etc.

  36. Man, our GK situation is a mess. Other than our defense, this is probably our most important position in Brazil.

    The best two keepers, Krul & Stek, are both injured and getting benched respectively.

    I fear LVG will call up the trio of Cillessen-Vorm-Zoet instead.

    1. Barring injury, I think LVG will pick Krul, Cillessen and Vorm for this WC. Krul will return in 2 weeks. He is simply the best keeper that we have right now when he is healthy. Cillessen is the future and Vorm will be rewarded for his service during qualification. Stek is 31 and his play/club’s performance did not help him. If Krul cannot make to the WC then Zoet will fill in.

        1. A rationnal mind would definitly select Stekelenburg who has done a lot for NT and who is playing in big leagues for three years above Cillessen who did absolutly nothing, stayed two years on the bench for Vermeer, and now just had horrible games against Japan and France (without mentionning Salzburg).

          Krul starter, Stek as 2nd choice and Vorm as 3rd.

          Stek is maybe in bad form but I always felt safe with him, not as much as with Van der Sar of course, but has he made many mistakes with NT ? Vorm played 5x less but made much more.

          If Krul gets injured during the competition, Stek is definitly more safe option than Cillessen and Vorm.

          1. this blind safety of urs would still exist if u watched a single Roma/Fulham game since 2010

          2. this blind safety of urs wouldn’t still exist if u watched a single Roma/Fulham game since 2010

          3. I remember you were watching Ajax-Salzburg with us and were the first one to qualify Cillessen as terrible.

            Stek is more safe, better presence, take less risks with the ball in his feet. He had two bad years but still I would trust him more against Spain than Vorm or Cillessen.

            Cillessen is everything but safe, he looks like a teenager with no authority at all.

          4. Cillesen is def at best 3rd choice behind krul and vorm but he will be going to Brazil simply because he is playing week in and week out and making some good stops from time to time whereas stekelenburg sometimes doesnt even make the relegation threatened Fulham bench

          5. Me too Laurent. I felt that Fulham team made Stek worse that what he is and he could not save the team. With the defense that we have (I still consider the defense the weakest point, lack of good experiences/toughness), I feel experienced keeper like Stek is better than Zoet, Cillessen or Vorm. I would take Krul, Stek and Cillessen. However I feel that LVG will stick to Krul, Cillessen and Vorm.

          6. if it would come down to logic they (KNVB) would’ve selected a computer as coach. lol. But the amount of data to be entered and processed would be overwhelming and delaying decision making. stats are good esp. when looking at the past, for use in the future they might give an indication but there are way too many other variables involved that will influence any outcome. How about the girlfriend of Casillas standing practically next to him and maybe distracted him when Switzerland scored in WC2010?

          7. if the defense of th team is not good,its a horrendous situation for any keeper,thoguh i dont like positioning of stekel.i mean when he seems play is cool he just comes out of line and suddenly oppnet gets the ball and starts attacking,etc simply i remmber the goal he conceded vs Forlan….

  37. I’m fairly certain Lvg is playing the game where no keeper knows who is going to make them fight harder imo krul fits the role he is a fantastic keeper

  38. Another thing that concerns me is the lack of top coaches in the Netherlands…
    With LVG,Hiddink and Beenhakker entering the last phases of their coaching careers, I don’t see anybody ready to fill their boots..
    De Boer, Cocu ,Seedorf and Bergkamp are the usual suspects, but whether they will be successful at the top level is something that remains to be seen..
    Rijkaard will be a very good option after 2016 ’cause
    I’m not sure if Blind is the right man for the job…

    1. For those former players turning coach, you can add Gio, Staam, Kluivert, Van Nilsterooy, Van Der Sar and Van Bommel (anyone else?). My feeling is that Blind should have gone to coaching club for more experiences. However, staying with NT this long as assistant coach also has advantages for him. De Boer has done well with what he was given, winning 3 (and likely 4) Eredivisie titles in the row. I would like to see him becoming either NT coach after Hiddink or after Blind if he is available. Cocu, Seedorf, Bergkamp need more experiences and better performance.

        1. After FDB, I like Gio the most. I hope he can turn into a good coach. He is calm, providing good leadership and I don’t remember that he ever gets into serious conflict when he was a player then captain (Not like Staam, Van Nilsterooy or Seedorf). I am getting too far ahead now so I stop.

  39. Jan,

    Glad you enjoyed the Feyenoord article. I’m not a daily visitor, but have definitely enjoyed your site over the years, especially the historical articles and hearing your latest insights as the international tournaments approach.

    I’m in the US and my formative experience with the sport (besides playing myself) was watching Johan Cruyff with the Washington Diplomats when I was 8 and 9.

    I also enjoy the commentary and thoughts of all the fans here, and would be interested to know other commenters’ backgrounds if they would like to share them (such as location, favorites teams, favorite players (current and former), etc.).

    2. The we have very less chance to beat top class oppents,coz Sneijder-RVP combo is utterfailure vs top teams.Vaart has better chemistry with RVP along with an unslefish lenz,newly changed Roben(unselfish-bayren fans says)we have top class attack,we will never HAVE THis CHEMISTRY with sneijder.

    1. Very far, I have been keep saying Hereveen under Van Basten was impressive. Under Van Basten Hereveen’s youth development was very very impressive. Slagveer, Van La Parra, Ziyech, De Roon, Sinkgraven, Dijks, Pele Van Anholt are all very interesting talents under Van Basten. It’s a shame Van Basten is going to leave after this season.
      Ziyech and Basacicoglu both have very high ceilings but they both can play for other countries. Ziyech for Morraco, Basacicoglu for Turkey. Dutch youth teams keep overlooking players in Hereeven as both did not play much for U21. However, Basacicoglu is not as strong as Depay but more agile. His header is good as well unlike Depay. However, I don’t see Basacicoglu has mentality as strong as Depay. To be honest, Depay’s winning mentality is unique out of so many young talents.
      Ziyech is kind of like Maher but need to build up his muscle and he has stamina problems. His left foot is sweet but he still need to work on his right. When under pressure he can be mistake prone but he is improving.
      Basacicoglu is a magician at the winger position. He used to be a natural 10. He got skills to dribble pass two or even three players, I think he is more skillful than Depay. Plus he got a very very nice cross if you watched his U19 games. Just like Depay Basacicoglu can be a very selfish and self centralized player but both of them got the talent to do so.
      Slagveer is very fast and a team player kind of like Narsingh. Van La Parra got skills and can perform on his own. De Roon is a poor man Strootman. Sinkgraven will take over the midfield if Ziyech left. Dijks is an offensive minded LB but with too much injury. He has a very good body tall and fast but he need to learn how to use it.
      Pele Van Anholt is a very underrated RB and DM. He can both attack and defend at RB. Cooperate well with wingers. He recently played a lot at DM and was getting better and better. He has a very strong long range shot.
      Van Basten did magic with Hereveen and he said he wants to stay in Eredivisie after this year. If he can coach Feynood or AZ will be great. Feynood’s youth program keep developing good talents and if you pay attention to the recent U16 U17 rosters AZ has been developing good talents as well. Actually they did that even earlier at Haye and Overeem’s generation but Dick Advocaat is known as a coach who barely uses young players.

        1. No, he just plays for Heerenveen, he is really far from Afellay and Elia.

          You should start to understand relativity. He was 19/20 but still not good enough for Caen…He was mainly playing with the second team, in french 4th division.

          1. Roben PLayed for gronigen,Overmars played for Go head eagles,so club doesnt make much importnat at this point of time,i was tlaking about individula quality,he is strong,fast,very good dribbler and his head is not headless as Afellay or Elia.Boetius has vision,dribbles etc but too much light for top flight football,always going down when facing defenders.In the end what i took was
            afallay no end producivity.
            Elias wosre than Afellay
            Boetius-thin little boy…what all these guys bring to table can be done by La para too,may be with better efficacy.At the end of the day productivity,and involvemnet and imporatnce is more importnat than usainbolt speed or head lessdribbling.
            La para is contributor to heerenveen while Elia and Afellay are not neither they are world class too.
            Boetius does something not bad but not now.

          2. Robben left Groningen when 18 no ? Van La Parra is still with Heerenveen at 22/23 cause he is simply not good enough to play higher.

            Afellay is a much more complete player than him, don’t even compare Afellay passes with La Parra ones.

          3. there is often a lot of politics in france for a 17 yr old dutch talent?!

            van la parra is brill

    1. Not sure why Jallet got the call today over VdW, who has had a solid season for PSG. Granted VdW did not play in the 3-1 victory over Chelsea, but the PSG defense was shoddy today, including on the right side. I feel like VdW got ripped off in a way.

      1. French flavor Blanc – Jallet which turned sour.

        this was weil rating in the last game vs Reims in the weekend.

        The return of Van der Wiel was met with applause, and he showed his importance, grabbing the assist for the third goal. Should start in London.

        Weil was replacd by Zoumana Camara vs Remis and when Jallet got injured vs Chelsea Blanc went for Marquinhos in the last 5 minutes. happy days over or what. After match reaction maybe upon substitution vs Remis

      1. PVA?????????

        Kishna over Huntelaar I doubt especially with his form now at Schalke and with RVP fresh from injury it would be risky. Kishna seems to be quiet a dribbler ……on the LW could be option for Van Gaal given no where about of Lens and others who are fresh back from injuries .

  49. another interesting scenario is BMI’s situation at Feyenoord. If he continues to be benched his spot might be in jeopardy given if van gaal goes by his words (performance ways)this will make things interesting given who will take up that position. Vlaar has played in that position vs Japan and suppose if he has to switch to the left with Rekik as his backup, Bruma/Dijik/veltman could on the cards for the RCB. Mind you Van Dijik has also being playing at LCB at celtic. As for Kongolo who can be deployed both LB and LCB I leave to the floor for comments or if there is any other natural LCB who might pipe the above.

  50. After the departure of David moyes everton finally looks like to grab 4 th spot.i mean one step ahead after moyes departs,My mind is saying that menatlly strong Martinez will over come crybabe,whiner wenger(though i like his football teaching apart from menatla aspects).
    recently Maourihno said
    Specialist in failure.
    If Roben or RVP injuured for WC we must take kishan and Zivkovic like Earnst happel did,lets go BOLD to BOLDEST.

    1. On this june i would finish my 20 years as fan of dutch from 1994…i was 14 year old that time.never got much information from fucking cricket supportive indian newspapers.but there were some not so faous pepers given some news,they wrote the legacy of cryuff,and bergkamp,Guillit etc,Dutch has earned fans all over the world due to these legends,i wonder that dutch are not earing fans or popularity any more.coz of the lack and less quality players.No one from outside will not like Bommel,kuyt etc may be liverpool or bayern fans will like.but others a big no.

    1. Always has been the case when somebody posts a piece containing 2 or more links. With multiple links it’s best to make 1 general post and then reply to that own post with multiple smaller posts touching on each individual link you want to discuss.

      Cheers

  56. so if van gaal will change his system it will be changed to what? 4-4-2? 4-2-3-1

    or maybe a system with a sweeper.

    I would love to see a system like this tried out

    Depay————–rvp————–robben
    —————-vdv———————–
    Lens—————————van der wiel
    —————–blind—————
    ——–kongolo———veltman——-
    —————ndj——————

  57. Can we believe what we read in the papers?!

    Certain commenters here have long assured us that LVG would never use a system besides 4-3-3.

    Now who are we to believe? Them, or LVG? 😉

      1. “A system depends on the players you have. I played 4-3-3 with Ajax, 2-3-2-3 with Barcelona and a 4-4-2 with AZ. I’m flexible.” -LVG, 2008

        😉

  62. Are people on this website serious?

    Reading through the comments here i have seen people saying Babel,Bacuna,Stekelenburg and Pieters should be considered for the World Cup What?
    Babel=terrible
    Pieters=terrible
    Bacuna=nothing special compared to Janmaat,Van der Wiel,Van Rhijn or Verhaegh
    Stekelenburg= Way past his best, was great in the past, but simple fact is Cillessen, and Krul are both much better.

    I also saw someone wanting Kishna over Huntelaar? based on what? Huntelaar should be ahead of Van Persie in terms of form right now.

    Kishna has shown nothing so far to suggest he is better than Depay, Linssen, Boetius or Promes. The only reason he is mentioned with the national team is because he plays for Ajax.

    Remember at the start of last season Tobias Sana looked great for Ajax, and now he is a reserve!

    2. Don’t you any see contradictions here :

      ” The only reason he is mentioned with the national team is because he plays for Ajax.

      Remember at the start of last season Tobias Sana looked great for Ajax, and now he is a reserve!”

      and

      “Stekelenburg= Way past his best, was great in the past, but simple fact is Cillessen, and Krul are both much better.”

      What Cillessen has done except eredivisie performances with Ajax ? You talk about Sana (you could talk about L.Ebecilio, his case is even worst), but don’t forget that Cillessen started to play THANKS TO Vermeer’s bad form. Otherwise he would stay on the bench as he did last years.

      The fact he plays with Ajax gave him appareances with NT but Zoet never had (he isn’t better, but he isn’ worst neither, I rate them equal).

      Babel is a terrible player who gave a CL semi finale ticket to Liverpool, was respected in Germany his first months, made a good come back with Ajax. If we had Pedro, Reus and Bale, I’d agree not to mention him, but the wingers who were in the last LVG list were Promes, Boetius, Narsingh…Sure he is more developped than them.

    1. Patrice Evra Rating

      The left-back scored an excellent opener for United, firing a thunderbolt off the underside of the crossbar, but was arguably at fault for all of Bayern’s goals.

  66. ——————-RVP————————-

    ——————Robben——————–

    Depay————Clasie——————Lens

    ——————De Jong——————–

    Buttner(wc)——-Rekik———Veltman——-Weil

    ——————–GK————————

    In this formation the fullbacks will be restricted to defensive duties coz we will have two natural wingers backing up Robben (rover) and RVP. I think weil is a good defender if he doesnt go high to much jus like vs Columbia. pace , power defence, attacked all addressed. yeaaaaaaaaaaap……..

    1. I already imagine the numbers of ball that Wiel/Lens and Buttner/Depay would lose. The lack of coordination etc.

      Simply cause you have here 4 players who attack better that they defend (Lens is 50/50).

    2. Janmaat is way to better than weil…..
      Virjil van dijk would be signed by a TOP team soon
      Lb position is weak point IMO.BMI seeems way better than buttner as LB.but still containg Roben in CL desveres attaention.it would be much better playing wijnaldum instead of Depay
      i would go for
      lenz—-RVP——–Roben
      ——Vaart—-vanginkel—-
      ———-Dejong————–
      BMI—-Reikik–Virjil—Janmaat
      ————krul—————–
      =======================================
      —kishna————–Zivkovic–
      ———-Sneijder—————
      —-Deguzman——-Wijnaldum—-
      ————Blind—————–
      Buttner—-Vlaar–Veltman—Ricardo vanrhijn
      ———–Cillessen/vorm—————-
      we need top class skills up front,cannt say hunter is better than RVP.Considering the potential of kishna and zivkovic they are simply menace to any defense in the world with extra pace and efficent finishing.sure a better options than kuyt and his trophyless experience and hunter and his trophyless experince.
      first team might look rusty,it is due to older players,second team may out do trhe first team with kishna and zivkovic at sneijder’s disposal like milito and Etoo

      1. First team is good, except I’m not a big fan of BMI as LB cause he doesn’t bring much attack, but I see him as a better Pieters though. Also I wouldn’t put Virgil above Vlaar cause we haven’t seen him enough while Vlaar is our best defender.

        But I agree about the midfield Nigel-Vaart-Van Ginkel and attack Lens-VP-Robben.

        About 2nd team, I wouldn’t take Kishna or Zivko to WC, they are options for 2016 but now they did absolutly nothing to deserve a spot. Just like Boetius, Promes etc.

        And I would take Fer for sure with me.

        1. what theo walcott did to take him in 2006,or what pele did 1958?wat maradona did 1982?..what Macoe righters did to 2007 EC21?talents are talents..lets try them seems like they wont disappont like Boetius and Promes did.Coz both are mentally stroger than those 2.kuyt will never bring what kishna brings,may hunter will score vs small teams,Zivokovic is simply a menace.where is krohn dely now?
          look at his finish he never played liverpool or big clubs,but simply he thrown us out from Euro2012.
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6T4wISBAA8

          1. my point is we need the right chemistry ,right players and players who fit the puzzles,in fornt u need players who are capable of giving redcard/or scores goals.
            Mid feild u need runner with brain
            Defense u need gladiators.
            as GK u need a player with extra ordinary strong heart.krul/vorm/stekel has it,but they are all out of form.
            Also we cannt win anything with girls in mens game.

          2. What a finish Krohn Dehli has ? He scored 1 goal in 48 games with Celta LOL and even with RKC and Ajax was scoring nothing.

            You really took the worst example you could find. That he scored against us was mainly due to Heitinga and Wiel poor defending.

            Rigters scored more during Ec21 than during his whole career, that has nothing to do with chemistry, he just benefited from Babel and players around.

          3. Louis Van Gaal:
            “After two years, I’m totally sick of being national coach”

            Well, that’s us doomed then. His heart ain’t in it.
            The players absorb this psychology. Selections will be interesting.
            Wouldn’t be surprised if he picks himself at number 10.
            I miss Bert.
            🙁

  68. it seems like athletico vs chelsea willl meet in final.seems these teams are more mentally strong than mardid and bayern though madrid and bayern are teams.

  69. it seems like athletico vs chelsea willl meet in final.seems these teams are more mentally strong than mardid and bayern though madrid and bayern are better teams.

  71. yes Laurent u said it..
    Righters benefitted,coz of team chemistry,sacrifice of other players etc.
    krohn dahly i still doubt if he hwas like kuyt he couldnt have scored it,its not the mistake of heitinga or weil,they were helpless infront his trick.krohn dahly is a team player who has numerous asist,which is very important in winning important games,what/where/or how much we will achive with proven failures Hunter,Afellay,Elia ,kuyt2Wcs/2euors…?lets give some help to the heros (fab4)by giving them support of more talented players.keeping some older guys will make our channces diminished like selecting nondeserving new young players,both are same.

    1. Krohn Dehli goal was due to Heitinga, the dribble Krohn Dehli did was really easy to anticipate, Heitinga jumped in the trap.

      In that same game, Afellay did much more but didn’t score.

      Good players in that game : Willems, Vlaar,Afellay, Sneijder (MOTM)

      Bad : Van Persie, Robben (both spoiled too much), Heitinga, Nigel (one of his worst game with NT)

  72. ———————–Krul————————

    ——–Janmaat—-Vlaar—-V.Dijk—-BMI?———

    ——Wijnaldum—-Nigel—-Fer?—-Robben———-

    ———————-Sneijder———————

    ————————RVP————————

    I think with this team we’ve speed, creativity but balance as well.

    I can’t say if it’s better a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 because I am not a coach that job I’ll leave it to LVG 😛

    The best’d be to have a fitter Van Ginkel so he can play next to Nigel.

  73. Can i just state that I think LVG is a pragmatic coach and I think that a lot of what he has said may not match up with what he will do. He has made a lot of bold claims which is good but seeing as the situation of many key players have changed i think he will adapt accordingly.

    My bet is that his wildcard won’t be crucial it will just be for experience, most likely for kongolo in my opinion. Similarly, i think van ginkel will be crucial this world cup, he has the most talent out of the midfield we have. Im expecting a 442 with ndj/fer/blind and ginkel and sneijder/vaart behind the striker or if he wants to go all out an old school 3 atb could be used.

    lw rvp/kjh robben

    vaart/sneijder
    fer ginkel
    blind
    veltman dijk vlaar(whoever really)

    he could even adapt it with fullbacks as well so it operates as a 5 at the back with 2 attacking fullbacks which could work with wiel and also a hard working midfield so it is a progressive team unlike 2010 yet is defensively sound

  75. My line up:

    —–KJH—–RVP—–
    Depay—-VDV—-Robben
    ———NDJ———
    Blind-Rekik-V.Dijk-Janmaat
    ———Vorm———

    subs: Lens, BMI, Zivkovic

        1. But looking at the Benfica line-up :

          Moraes-Siqueira-Garay-Luisao-Silvio-Fejsa-Andre Gomes-Salvio-Sulejmani-Cardozo-Rodrigo

          I agree that they are very very beatable. No Gaitan, no Enzo Perez, no Lima.

  79. What do guys think about Ortiz here ? I haven’t seen him much but he never impressed me, same for V.Elm.

    I don’t understand why Henriksen who was considered as a big talent last year and Overtoom who was great at Heracles are often on the bench.

  80. Wow, Holland plummets to 15 in the FIFA ranking.. That bodes well for us psychologically as now we have something to prove.. Ironically CHILE is 14TH .. Ridic!! But fair, no?

    In a very uncanny way this might actually help us for a change!

  81. az are not keeping their heads, especially the defenders are panicking, goowueleuw is a bit of a disaster, not much unlike de vrij, viergiever gives me hope though, some superb last ditch blocks and ofcourse esteban is fired up!

    some of the backpasses being played similar to ajax vs salzburg are ridiculous, shows a clear lack of quality on the ball under pressure

    need to see more of gudelij on the ball, and beerens should come infield to help out the az midfield, esp elm, coz he has quick feet and silky skills that are going to waste if he is just gonna hug the left touchline all day long…

    as usual i think the CF is a piece of garbage but wont go into a rant now and curse him, incase he can score a shock goal outta nowhere

    1. Yes Keko it probably will be because of this summer’s world cup. A lot of the Dutch players will get exposure to foreign scouts and managers and there will be a lot of transfers both into and outside of the Eredivisie.

      Ajax and Feyenoord will be representing us in Champions League.

      AZ and PSV in the Europa League.

      With some of the first XI players leaving the Eredivisie, a lot of the talented bunch that are on the bench now, i.e. your Haye’s and Nouri’s will be playing in the first XI

    1. Mate it’s very simple. This site used WordPress for its blogging functionality so just go to http://www.wordpress.com and sign up with your email address. Once you confirm your email and have an active account on it, you can obviously upload your profile picture on wordpress. Then whenever you comment on any blog that used WordPress (i.e. like this blog), your WordPress photo will always be posted.

      In fact this would be a good time for me to request all the loyal bloggers on this website to upload their wordpress profile pics as it will help us create a stronger bond and dutch spirit.

      I for one have got my first job at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (I am graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in May) and hopefully want to meet up with all of you in France to be there and go to the games of our beloved Oranje!!!

      (I recently came of age, turned 21 !)

      I also pledge to buy Jan beer on this website once I get my first salary! HAHA

      2. Are you from US? I am going to work for KPMG after graduation. My start date is right after the final of the world cup which is both good and bad haha. I guess we both will kind of disappear from the blog after the start date. i am expecting 60 hours work week on average 🙁

        1. Yea mate, am currently in Pittsburgh… Haha yeh I will be working from October and yeh 9 am – 6 pm every day, gonna be real hectic, but no, this blog and dutch football will still be in my daily schedule!

          So where are u and where are u working?

          1. I am studying at UCLA but I am not from US. It’s nice that you start on October. School finished at middle of June for me, I chose to start on Oct but they still put me on July. I am going to work at LA.

  84. AZ Performance

    Nick Viergever
    Good on the ball and was unfortunate to face such an inspired Salvio.

    Jeffrey Gouweleeuw Flop of the Match
    Had the best chance of the game for AZ, one which he should have really scored. However, he is a defender and it was his team-mates lack of creativity that ultimately cost AZ rather than his miss.

    Nemanja Gudelj (Still can play for us)
    His job was to deal with Salvio and Rodrigo drifting in off the wings and he did a fairly decent job of it. He completed 93% of his passes, but didn’t create any chances of note for his team-mates.

    Steven Berghuis
    Threatened down the right throughout the first half, but didn’t have the same effect after the break. He was the star man for AZ in the first leg, so Advocaat will be disappointed he didn’t do more to help AZ tonight.

    Roy Beerens
    Although he could have done better with his big chance in the second half, he was without doubt AZ’s best player. He was the only one who seemed like he wanted to score and drfited all over the attacking third to cause the Benfica backline a bit of a problem.

    1. Viergever played well both attacking and defending the 2nd goal his reaction is a little slow.
      Gouweleeuw can charge forward but did not have the accuracy. He is liable for the 2nd goal, very poor marking.
      Beerens had the magic at times but can not finish the chance he created for himself.
      I only watched the 2nd half, before the 2nd Goal AZ actually played pretty well, I was impressed by how hard they tried to win the ball back, many Eredivisie teams do not have this kind of attitude when playing in Europa League. Aron Johansson was a flop in this game, he just can not hold the ball up high under pressure. He has this kind of problem in Eredivisie. He is a striker that always need space. I think if Locadia is the one at the front AZ might have the ball more. Benfica is a very physical team (typical South American style, committed nearly two times the fouls of AZ) whenever AZ was trying to accelerate the game in the counter attack they just used fouls to stop it. The ref is a little lenient not giving yellow cards in several occasion.

      1. Overall, the loss is expected, Benfica is stronger than AZ, AZ had its chances but did not finish it. It is the reasonable result.Considering AZ is only the 7th in Eredivisie, PSV, Vitesse, Feyenoord, Ajax should all reflect about how they played in Europa League. Those teams definitely lack the fighting spirit in Europa League, if KNVB do not do anything Eredivisie’s ranking will always be between 7 and 10. They should work hard together for the extra UEFA spot. It is definitely reachable but it really depends on the clubs’ attitude.

  85. Keko, Laurent, Jan, Bitterballen, Tiju, van Hessailbank, Hoolie, Steen, van fadly, wilson, fruger, sol, goldstone, onzie, jean venette, faraz, abhirup, vanx, jambo, miguel rosado, DRB300, gabriel, sam, tony, petrovic, laurent, timbo, hien, lz, jb, mohammed, you are a joke, jad, oops, nick, van banger, onzie, lights, oranje oranje,zopher

    Everyone please upload your wordpress gamer pics to make this blog more colorful!

          3. 1) Visit http://tinyurl.com/oaa375y

            2) Fill in Email, Username, Password. & Click “Sign Up”

            3) Log in to your email and click the email with subject: Activate ______

            4) Click on “Activate Account”

            5) Click on “Sign in to Gravatar”

            6) Click on “Add one by clicking here!”

            7) Click on “My computer’s hard drive”

            8) Click on “Choose File” and select photo from location on your computer

            9) Click “Next” and crop image (optional)

            10) Click “Crop and Finish”

            11) Choose a Rating for your picture (Girls are allowed “R”) 😉

            12) It might take a while to show up in your comments so worry not 😀

  86. I don’t know how many of you already know this but for the next season in the Premier League, Leicester City and Burnley have been promoted!

    The third spot can be taken by any one of these teams:

    Derby County
    QPR
    Wigan
    Reading – 63 pts
    Brighton – 61 pts
    Ipswich – 61 pts
    Bournemouth – 61 pts
    Nottm Forest – 59 pts
    Blackburn – 59 pts

    5 games to go!

  87. U17 will play the following 3 country’s in the group stages of the Euro:

    * Turkey (9 May)
    * Malta (12 May)
    * England (15 May)

    Final selection is made known April the 28th.

      1. We are the best team on paper but I am very suspicious about the current U17 coach if Stuivenberg is still the coach we should win the trophy again. The lineup is just as talented as the last two championship lineup.

      2. Netherlands U17 lost to England U17 recently with 2-0. That was not an England at full strength. They actually missed a couple of their best players.

        The games in the Elite round were played in the Netherlands. We were able to win all 3 games but home advantage is generally seen as pretty significant. take the final game vs France where 1 whole village came out to support one of their inhabitants on the field. It surely boosted Dutch performance and that will not be around at the Euro.

        Turkey has some individual talent. Always a question of teams like Turkey can also form a team.

        Malta is of course the punching bag of the group. However the team that is not able to win against them, due to bunker tactics has a problem as the others will probably take the 3 points. They could be a banana peel for one of the three others.

        Last time Netherlands was not able to qualify, before that the 2 championships happened (England has won it in the year before that actually). 2008-2009 Netherlands lost the final to Germany. England must be taken very seriously in this group. Especially if they send their strongest selection.

        What is bothering me is the fact that this coach seems to stick with strikers who carry a profile I do not want to see in the senior team to begin with. Huntelaar (light) types. A talent like Nouri (10-ish) is basically mostly benched for this reason. Slabbekoorn, who played a lot, can play striker like our own Aguero and then there is room on the 10 position for one of Paal or Nouri. As things stand now those three are more or less played out against each other for 10 position with some exceptions, in case they are put on the wing.

        An assistant coach as van Bommel is also not helpful to promote my agenda. He helps coaching PSV with their U17 (B1) and we saw the striker of that team (van der Moot) getting away with 0 goals and assists over 3 games in the Elite round for Netherlands U17. I wonder why …..

        Anyway I hope we can get some live footage of that tournament. Would love to see some games.

        Cheers

  90. What’s going on?
    Has this blog being taken over by Srinjoy and a fake capitalized Tiju???????
    Come on guys bring out the fun to attract the trolls!!!
    It’s so boring this way….

      2. 1. go to wordpress.com
        2. left side click sign up follow the prompts
        3. make sure its free and create your own blog,
        4. get confirmation email click link
        5. log back in with your password click link in upper right hand corner, click photo again for settings
        6. on your settings click public profile and scroll down to photos
        7. click edit photo and upload your new photo

  92. Van Gaal will make a first selection of players on may 2nd. Eredivisie players will take part to the first stage (three days 7-10 may), others players will come after for the second stage (between 10-16 may) and the friendly against Ecuador comes on may 17th.

    On may 20th NT goes to a stage of 7 days in Portugal. Four days later, friendly against Ghana, five days after last friendly against Wales.

    So I think Van Gaal will announce the 23 players list just after the Ecuador game. To bring them all to the stage in Portugal.

      1. that is not an issue,it is Robben’s wish and desire.it is not at all an issue,i really hope he comes with CL by thrashing 2 plastic clubs chelsea in final and real in semi.

  94. Stekelenburg is definitely the safest keeper we have. He marshals the defense better than the other GK’s.

    Considering what he had to working with at EC12; two inexperienced defenders in Vlaar and Willems…a shaky Heitinga, and a lackadaisical VdW, he should have been commended for not conceding more goals than he did.

    The result vs. Portugal at EC12 could have been MUCH worst if Michel Vorm, for example, was in net.

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