Memory Lane visit with Bert van Marwijk: World Cup 2010

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by Jan

Hi all, we made it to the World Cup!

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

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

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

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

But. Now. Off. To. Brazil.

With our last World Cup Memory Lane Visit.

Bert-van-Marwijk-Robben

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

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

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

oranje angel

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

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

netherlands-world-cup-2010

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

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

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

gio scored

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

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

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

Robin van Persie, left, hugs his teammate Rafael van der Vaart after scoring.

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

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

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

puyol Robben

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

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

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

Iker_Casillas_1677034c

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

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

robin angry

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

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

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

Netherlands vs Spain

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

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

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

webb sneijder

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

Bert angry

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

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73 comments

  2. My post to Laurent copied from the last thread:

    Laurent,

    The problem with RVP for me is that he clearly isn’t playing at 100% and to beat Spain you need to be playing at 110% unless your sidekicks are in fantastic form. My worry is that RVP will try to play an excellent game and will either: a) get injured in the process or b) not be able to penetrate spain’s sound defense being 70-80% fit.

    LVG is putting too much responsibility on Robben and a less-than-fit RVP to carry this team’s attacking threat. Against Australia it could work but not against Spain and probably not against Chile either.

    By the time we go to Lens or Depay it might be too late.

    As I said in another post we should use Lens, RVP, and Robben against Spain to take some weight off RVP’s shoulders, rest RVP for game 2 and see where we are in the standings by game 3. We might not even need to use RVP until the R16 so he has time to heal.

    And in regards to Depay, he shows promise but does not convince me yet against big teams. He might get schooled by Ramos. And by the way of all the Spaniards it is Ramos who freaks me the f**ck out the most. He keeps scoring… and from headers! Beast !

    1. I agree with you about RVP but I think it’s normal he is a starter considering who he is. The problem is that Van Marwijk didn’t and Van Gaal won’t change him even if he sucks/isn’t good enough first 60 minutes. Van Basten had the balls to change players after 45/50 minutes, call him naive or no, it worked pretty good in 2008, except for Heitinga against Russia.

      In 2010, VP was bad till Brazil in my opinion. But even in 4 first games, he always played 80 minutes. Against Slovakia, he even dared to say to Van Marwijk that Sneijder should go out in his place…

      He seems to be over protected with NT. Even more than Sneijder or Robben. That being said, I don’t follow people who want Huntelaar in his position. But trying Lens as striker can be really interesting. We played better during second half against Wales, with Lens.

      About Depay, sure he has to prove against big teams, I didn’t like him against Milan. But he is unpredictable and plays with crazyness. Ramos has nerves problems, the best way to beat him is to put a young guy who will dribble, provocate him in 1vs1 etc. Depay is good for that, he isn’t scared.

      Anyway with Fer, Lens, Wijnaldum and Depay, I believe we have a good depth on the bench. All 4 can bring something extra to a game.

      What makes me negative is the defence, and worst again RVP-Robben selfishness/loser mind during competitions.

    1. They know our strategy? Dude, Everyone know’s our strategy if they are breathing and watching any of the run up to this World Cup…The formation change and Van Gaal’s / player interviews are not hidden.

      It’s the strategy we have to take in order to succeed. I agree with Van Gaal. Let’s see if we can nik a goal on the counter and get 3 points.

  4. does the following mean clasie and de guzman both starting?? google translation was not clear on this peice!

    Drie dagen voor de eerste wedstrijd van het Nederlands elftal op het WK tegen Spanje is nog altijd onduidelijk wie er op het middenveld naast Nigel de Jong zal spelen. Op de training van dinsdag deed zowel Jordy Clasie als Jonathan de Guzman met de beoogde basisspelers mee in een partijvorm.
    De Guzman kon vorige week niet trainen vanwege een hamstringblessure, maar sloot zondag weer aan bij de groep. Tijdens de besloten training van maandag stond Clasie in de basisploeg en deed De Guzman met de reserves mee.
    Clasie achter De Guzman
    In de partijvorm van dinsdag, met alleen de middenvelders en aanvallers, was Clasie degene die achter De Guzman en De Jong voor de opbouw moest zorgen. Dat zou er op kunnen duiden dat de geboren Canadees toch zijn basisplaats terug heeft.
    Clasie, De Guzman en De Jong vormden een ploeg met de backs Daryl Janmaat en Daley Blind en het aanvallende trio Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben en Robin van Persie. Ron Vlaar, Bruno Martins Indi en Stefan de Vrij waren samen met doelman Jasper Cillessen het verdedigende blok, af en toe geholpen door Dirk Kuijt. De reserves deden aan de andere kant van het veld een intensief partijtje vijf tegen vijf.

  5. 4-3-3 like this???

    ———–defense——————-
    —–clasie-dejong–deguzman—–
    ————sneijder—————
    —–persie——–robben—-

  6. Hey guys, some comments:

    LVG will play 5-3-2 against the likes of Spain and Brazil.

    But 4-3-3 or a derivative like 3-4-3 against Australia and any other more passive teams. So he is also practicing those systems.

  8. Van La Parra free transfer to Wolves. Very bad move, not Feyenoord but Wolves seriously? I though he learned from his past experience of moving abroad too early.
    Mongchengladbach priced Luuk De Jong at 6.5m
    Everton bid 3m for Ziyech (last year contract).
    Wouda free transfer to Cambuur
    Lorenzo Ebecillio transfer to Morodovia(Russia)
    Madmar free transfer to Chabab
    Joey Van der Velden free transfer to Deltasport

  9. Very nostalgic and entertaining write Jan; I’m having flashbacks of the several WCs that I remember, however, feeling very optimistic this time around. For that final, we should have won, Puyol should have been shown a red and it was an absolute disgrace how they won it.

    Strong feeling we’re going on top of the group and all the way, we will beat Spain and follow on from there, no implosions and it’s finally time to make amends for the past, let’s get it!

  11. Hi Jan,

    I would very much like to donate some money, but I do not have a paypal account and do not really want to create one.

    Is there any other method where I can send you some money?

  13. where is your daily line up,Tiju? btw,i think hulk must be your favourite player – very strong,has stamina,a real warrior. would you like him in oranje?

    1. Since everyone gets injury,line up on every day seems mandatory.Definitly i would prefer Hulk over kuyt,Depay in national team,he has better skills than him and stronger than him too..so why not…

    2. what’s your problem? he scored a nice goal,but please,let kutyt alone. in the post-davids generation he’s my favourite dutch player. your constant and,well,not too sophisticated rants have this kind of effects and probably i am not the only one here.

  20. Really nice article Jan. At times a bit hard to read due to reoccurring flashbacks of the world cup 2010, but alas, i’d still be happy if we reached the finals and lost to Brazil this time round. Losing finals is really becoming a sort of tradition. I’d rather have that we win the world cup, ofcourse, but Brazil as a country is in far greater need of a win than Holland. The amount of money gone to waste because of FIFA is ridicule. But as soon as that whistle blows tomorrow no one will complain.

    But back to Oranje. I think playing 5-3-2 is the only reasonable way to beat spain. Out strategize Spain, and if there is one man who can do that, it’s Louis (or Hiddink when he beat Holland with Russia..) It’s not going to be pretty (and dutch people complain quickly when it doesn’t look good) but i’ll stand to watch 90 minutes of anything if it means we beat Spain.

    I think he should play the Guzman, always felt he was an underrated player, and while he wasn’t injured he was playing some class football at Swansea. Overall a more complete player than Fer or Clasie. The rest of the team stands as expected.

    Read an article Yesterday that Van Gaal was playing both Dirk Kuyt and Huntelaar which meant that van Perise would play behind the strikers and Robben and Sneijder moved to the wing. So you would basically get

    Cillessen
    Janmaat-De Vrij – Vlaar – Blind
    De Jong
    Robben – Van Persie – Sneijder
    Kuyt – Huntelaar

    This formation would possibly take place if we were losing.
    Overall i like this formation as well seeing as pretty much every player plays in that position in there club.

    I’ve bought my Oranje outfits for the summer, let’s hope i get to wear them for a good 5 weeks!

    Cheers!

    1. So Mink…if Netherlands are losing, you say we opt for Kuyt while Lens and Depay sit on the bench, when in 2010, Kuyt, the heart and soul in terms of effort, could not do it?? Do not understand that logic my friend?? Maybe I am not seeing something you are?? I think Jan hit the nail in an earlier comment, depending on the opponent, 5-3-2 or 4-3-3, but I will be very very surprised if Kuyt is on the field unless their are injuries. We cannot read too much into certain formations in practice unless they are being used to scout the opponent and prepare for our next match? Please provide your thoughts? I do agree with De Guzman though

      1. Jimmy,

        I completely agree. I was only mentioning that this is the way Louis van Gaal has been practicing in the last two training sessions. If it does so happen that we at some point end up playing 4-1-3-2 than i would choose Depay instead of Kuyt, hands down. The kid has so much creativity in his game and is unpredictable. Kuyt is someone i would bring in to keep the lead, not extend it. He has great fitness and can close pretty much any given gap. He has been decisive for Fenerbahce this season, but that’s not where his strength is in my opinion.

        Lens has pace and when used on the wing in a 4-3-3 formation he would be my first pick (did well in qualifying matches). But as a striker he lacks creativity and is very lazy in his defending duties, which was noticeable against ghana as well as wales. If van Gaal does at some point play 4-1-3-2 i would play Depay and Huntelaar upfront. Give Sneijder and Van Persie the freedom to switch positions between CAM & LW (although we know Persie has never shined on the wing, he can give a quality through pass and knows how to keep possession).

        Against the bigger teams we will be playing 5-3-2 counter football. I see no reason why this won’t be successful. Against teams like Ausralia & Cameroon I suspect we will be playing the dutch schooled 4-3-3. In the match against Wales you saw how easy it was for holland to switch to 4-3-3 and perform well. We know we can beat teams like wales with this system by 3 or 4 goals. But when we played against France and lost 2-0, you could see that the squad wasn’t good enough using that formation when playing against quality players, We lack experience in defence, as we have for so many years. Although in four years time i suspect our defense will be our strongest line. We have very talented defenders and they will all move to much bigger clubs, but right now they make too many personal mistakes.

        Hope i cleared this up for you!

    2. Was the team playing with both RvP and Hunter? Maybe the formation was with Hunter as the main striker, sans RvP, if RvP’s fitness is still in question.

  22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4cio8CLPo

    a dirty game documentary on the 1978 world cup, funny how brazil is host and they have protests, and then in 1978 they had protests, i can’t imagine going to the final against brazil in a sort of repeat of what happened, even our opening group is the same make up

    two europeans, Netherlands spain, netherlands scotland, one asian, iran australia, and one south american peru, chile

    second round we played austria, germany italy, theorhetically if we finish first we could get croatia,italy, and germany

  23. Updates: The team has arrived in Salvador and has checked in at their swanky hotel. They will train behind closed doors tomorrow to prepare for Spain.

    10 of the 11 players in the base team are set…with the only question being who will play next to Nigel De Jong in the midfield? De Guzman or Clasie.

    The team will fly back to Rio immediately following the game against the Spaniards.

    1. Yeah Colpaart…thanks for the update, found this online:

      timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/fifa-world-cup-2014/top-stories/FIFA-World-Cup-2014-De-Guzman-fit-gives-Van-Gaal-midfield-choice/articleshow/36403233.cms

      If it is defense we are concerned about regarding Spain, then it has to be De Guzman

      thoughts guys??

  25. Thanks Jan for this article. I find BvM interview really honest and well balanced. A very good coach and nice person. In my view he is more successful than LvG until LvG reaches at least the last 8 with the current crop (or crap 🙂 of players.
    Your article sent me back 4 years and I almost choked tears again. One of the saddest days of my life. I still haven’t seen Spain’s goal believe it or not, I can’t. I went to an Iron Maiden concert after that game and I could not enjoy a thing and this comes from a die hard IM fan. I got drunk like never before just to deal with the pain. It ruined my day, my week and many more weeks that followed. It will stay with me for the rest of my life.

      1. The crew of Dutch fans that watched it here in Austin went to a quiet bar with just us and sat around taking shots of tequila and crying. It was a sad, sad afternoon.

        I literally stayed in bed for 3 days and didn’t feel my normal self until 3 weeks later. Man, that game kicked me back into depression. I’ve gone back and re-watched the game twice and it is painful. I guess I’m just asking for the punishment though.

        1. I hear you man. Depression is the word. For weeks I had that empty feeling and lost interest in everything. I just wanted to drink and sleep, sleep, sleep. I left the bar when Heitinga got dismissed and never saw the rest of that game.

          1. It was emotional watching that video … Lots of nice emotions up to Iniesta s goal, and then, that emptiness again … It was a great WC though.

    1. This suggests you have a paypal account linked to your bank account or a paypal account with a balance. The email will then link the digits from your paypal to my paypal.

    1. I think that’s probably true. From everything I’ve seen, the group looks prepared and they’ve certainly been training hard over the last few weeks. I take what he says with a grain of salt though, he said a couple days ago that we are gonna win the Cup.

      I’m incredibly nervous that this 2014 campaign all comes down to 2 things come Friday:

      1) Will our new 5 defender formation hold in the last 1/3 against the possession game that Spain will surely play?

      2) Will we find that stroke of genius by our deadly 3 man triangle up front on a counter attack?

      Sorry folks…our World Cup comes down to these 2 things and only these 2 things.

    1. Kuyt is overrated here. He helped us during some qualifying games but in competitions he was awful. Running like a dog behind the ball doesn’t mean being efficient or good.

      He was bad against Portugal in 2006, what if Ruud was playing in his place ? he was awful against Russia in 2008, what if RVP had started and play 45 minutes more ? he was useless against Spain in 2010, what if Elia had started or played at least 30 minutes more ? We started to attack when Elia came.

      That being said, I have nothing against him being in the squad, but just I don’t like when people praise his attitude while he sucked every time during important games. We praise Superman attitude cause he saves people, Kuyt never saved us, he had some good games (France 2008 for example) but in general he was bad.

      1. Old news, Kuyt has always been an overrated player, but nevertheless a useful one. And i don’t want to say much, but it’s not like RVP ever ‘saved’ Oranje. (He’s become an all time top scorer scoring against mediocre teams mainly in matches where there was not a lot at stake.). He has the (last) chance to prove his worth this time round, but if we start judging players on what they’ve achieved & meant for Oranje, i think we’ll be done fairly quickly. Kuyt isn’t good enough to start, and that’s why he isn’t starting. Is he useful within the team? Yes, i think so.

        And as far as i know i’ve only complemented Kuyt on his work rate, in my books that’s not praising someone. Let’s stop bringing up the past, or as we say in Dutch, ‘grabbing old cows out the water’..

        1. I agree with you about RVP also

          But I feel everyone knows for RVP, people were always putting his bad statistics during the world cup 2010.

          But Kuyt ? Most of people keep thinking he is an underrated player, hard worker etc. no one except Tiju dares to say that he was completly unproductive for NT, which is real a fact.

          1. “he sucked every time during important games”

            That’s a hard statement to back up.

          2. And an easy one to shoot down.

            World Cup 2010
            Most assists given by an individual: 3 – Mesut Özil, Dirk Kuyt, Kaká, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller

            One of those was that famous header by Sneijder, wasn’t it?

            Gee, I forget. Whom did we play against that match?

            Must not have been important. 🙂

          3. Yeah if you compare with Ozil assists that was crap ones, except his cross against Uruguay

            A free kick quickly played against Slovakia where he gave a back pass to Sneijder

            A random header on a corner kick against Brazil

            A decent cross against Uruguay

            Above that, 250 useless crosses per game and no penetration at all.

  30. Oh NO…it appears we have potential trouble in the camp, or that the media in Brazil is trying to cause unrest.

    A report is surfacing that Kuyt, Sneijder, and De Jong were out all night partying in RIO and returned to the hotel at 11am.

    Some in the Dutch media are claiming this is the media attempting to stir up something that is untrue, given the fact that we potentially could play Brazil in the 2nd round. That remains to be seen.

    1. Hmmm Colpart. If the media wanted to cause real unrest they would say that our players returned to the hotel by 1AM and they appeared drunk. But on the other hand if they had proof they would post pictures. Hard to figure out. I’d assume that by now our team will have nerves of steel and won’t break under some petty provocations. Less than 48 hours to go. My anxiety is building already. First game will indicate a lot about our fate in this tournament.

    2. No unrest. Just the Brazilian and Spanish media stirring things up. The players are laughing at this poor attempt to rattle the cage.. The coach gave them the morning off. Just watched it on TV. I think it’s safe to assume that you don’t want to piss of Louis, and disobeying anything he says is pissing this man off.

    1. Wonderful article.

      “In the Dutch players,” began Hugh McIlvanney’s Observer preview of the final, “as they take the field at the Olympic Stadium, the normal flutter of nerves is likely to be tranquilised by a deep conviction that they have the talent, the courage and the collective maturity to lay emphatic hold on the championship. All who have seen them play, who have thrilled to an attacking style at once so spirited and so cuttingly precise that the effect is of a cavalry charge of surgeons, must share that belief.”

  32. I think we should play V midfield with sneIjder operating from deep in Pirlo role. In the V formation we are basically covered on the flanks with Depay and Lens and also the trio can move together up and down during Attack and when defending. With Spain we have to Sacrifice De Jong otherwise we will be too defensive and lack man power in the front in terms of backing up RVP and Robben. we cant jus relay on counters as Spain has got too of the most inform defenders on planet.We all saw what happened to Bayern when they played Real Madrid.

    The Current Midfield formation with Senijder as point forward doesnt spark much because btw him and De Jong you cant expect them to move together forward which results in vaccum in the midfield and with spain you don’t wanna do that.

    The point here is take an early lead and then bring De Jong in the later stages for stone wall defense when Spain start to deploy their super subs

    RVP – Robben

    Depay – Lens

    Sneijder

    Blind- BMI – Vlaar – De Vrij – Janmaat

    Cillessen

  35. You probably all know this already, but I found it interesting historically:

    This is the 20th World Cup. Out of the prior 19, only 12 countries have played in a World Cup final and only 8 countries have won it:

    Brazil 7 finals 5 wins 2 losses
    Germany 7 finals 3 wins 4 losses
    Italy 6 finals 4 wins 2 losses
    Argentina 4 finals 2 wins 2 losses
    Netherlands 3 finals 0 wins 3 losses
    Uruguay 2 finals 2 wins 0 losses
    France 2 finals 1 win 1 loss
    Czechoslovakia 2 finals 0 wins 2 losses
    Hungary 2 finals 0 wins 2 losses
    England 1 final 1 win 0 losses
    Spain 1 final 1 win 0 losses
    Sweden 1 final 0 wins 1 loss

    6 teams have won the final when playing in their home country (Uruguay, Italy, England, Germany, Argentina, and France). Only 2 have lost when playing at home — Brazil (to Uruguay in 1950) and Sweden (to Brazil in 1958 – no Zlatan).

    So, Holland have played in more World Cup finals than all but 4 countries in the world (which 4 countries have won 14 of the 19 WCs).

    Further, 2 of 3 of Holland’s finals opponents were playing at home, and in 2 of the 3 finals, the score was tied after 90 minutes.

    So close three times. Maybe 2014 is the year?

    1. Playing a home team in the WC is almost certain defeat because FIFA is corrupt. Are we supposed to be surprised when the media report, with a straight face, that no European team has ever won the WC in a South American country? Gee, I wonder why! It’s a great event, but FIFA and the WC are corrupt.

      1. I believe you’re right, Richard, and the recent match-fixing revelations add a lot of evidence.

        Only the most naive among us believe all the matches are straight up. Yet we watch, hoping against hope that the play is honest.

        It will be a big surprise if Brazil or Argentina don’t win this one.

  36. Of all the players Cillesen on goal scares the hell out of me. He looks so fragile. In 2010 Steke was a rock and near perfect. Big downgrade and a big area of concern. I hope he proves me wrong. Even de Goey inspired more confidence years ago.

    2. I agree Balkan. Stek filled the shoes of the great VDS and made some miraculous saves in WC 2010. I wonder what happened to him not to be even a sub. Was it really his injury? Cillessen is too *small* for a goalkeeper. I never saw him make any great save. And due to his height, he can’t extend and make saves for balls in upper corners or ones that are too far from him 🙁 I’m perplexed why LVG dislikes Krul!

  37. It was so touching to watch the video, still fresh in my memory about that night we allmost won it… ALLMOST……..but now its time to carry on and support the team all the way and hope this time luck is with us till the end………HUP HUP ORANJE……

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