Oranje 2014

So Louis van Gaal will stop after the World Cup 2014.

What does that mean? That he doesn’t really like the job? Or is he so confident we can win it that he won’t be keen to go on?

Or is he all about “Louis me me me” and only cares about him experiencing the World Cup as a coach (as he said so often).

I don’t know the answer. What I do know, is that we will have a real chance on the title. No matter what whoever says. Even no matter what Louis says.

He said: there are eight other teams with as much or more chance on winning it. Of course. On paper, that is true.

But England? Really? I believe the traditional nations will be on the list: Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Holland.

France? Belgium? Portugal? Mexico? England? Outsiders….

I think Holland will be a candidate for the title, because of the following names: Louis van Gaal, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie.

Maybe we can add Wesley Sneijder to the list. Maybe Rafael van der Vaart. Maybe.

Add a mix of Stekelenburg/Vorm, Strootman, Huntelaar and a couple of young talents and people will look at us as an exciting team.

And Louis will make sure we will play exciting. Maybe not as good as his Ajax 1995, but with the right intentions.

And yes, our squad will be young. Our defensive four will probably be on average 23 years old or so.

NL Brazil

Oranje scored prolifically last time in Brazil

And it’s quite likely that our midfield will have a 22 year old or younger (Fer, Maher, Van Ginkel, Clasie). Just like we will have a couple of young bucks up front.

And it is ALL good. Louis van Gaal has demonstrated a couple of things. 1) he is a very good coach, 2) he is a difficult bloke to work with, 3) he will clash with experienced players and 4) has reached his best results with young players he can mould.

And don’t forget: our only real prize we won in 1988 was won with a young and relatively inexperienced squad. The Milan Three only played in Italy for one season and one Marco van Basten sat most of the Milan games on the bench or in sickbay. Koeman was not yet in Spain. Arnold Muhren was 37 years old and Van Breukelen wasn’t a spring chicken anymore, but players like Van Aerle, Rijkaard, Koeman (2x), Vanenburg, Kieft, Bosman and Van ‘t Schip were not seen as world beaters, outside of Holland. Talents, for sure, but not much more. Tiggelen played in Belgium, Kieft was with a second rate Italian club, Erwin Koeman in Belgium, Vaantje at PSV, Schippie at Ajax….

And they won it.

Just like we can win it.

We have two of the best forwards. We have a couple of great goalies. Talented defenders and razorsharp midfielders.

If someone can make it work, it is Louis.

I am positive!

kuyt brazilKuyt even scored a brace!

 

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0 comments


  1. I don’t know the answer. What I do know, is that we will have a real chance on the title. No matter what whoever says. Even no matter what Louis says”

    You’re the man 🙂 . That’s the spirit .

    Just don’t forget .. So many things can happen in one season .
    1 seasons before wc 2010 , Robben and wes were just good subs in Madrid .
    One month before the tournamet , they were the two best players in Europe .
    I’m positive :).

  2. I have been following NT since WC 1978 to now, even we had blessed with golden generations of 70,90,2000, I never feel we were strong defensively (except team 1988-1990). I remember WC94, WC98, strong squad from front to back, but were always in trouble when under attack by good teams. WC94 – WC98 against Brazil, we had world class defenders, Rijkaard/Koeman/de Boer/ stam, I did not see they played a solid defence.

    IMO, the only difference between 1988 winning team and team 1994 onward, we had world class Van Breukelen (except 1990 where they lost due to different reasons).

    Netherlands squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup
    1 Van Breukelen ·2 Van Aerle ·3 Rijkaard ·4 R. Koeman ·5 Van Tiggelen ·6 Wouters

    Netherlands squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup
    1 De Goey ·2 F. De Boer ·3 Rijkaard ·4 Koeman (c) ·5 Witschge ·6 Wouter

    Netherlands squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup
    1 Van der Sar ·2 Reiziger ·3 Stam ·4 F. De Boer (c) ·5 Numan ·6 Jonk

    My point is world class defenders are important, more importantly is the last man standing on the goal, GK. We need commanding figure at the back who can make crucial saves in important matches. and I feel its hard to choose from our curent best 5-6 GK’s because none of them are close to Van Breukelen, which I think netherlands best GK, even better than 70’s generation.

  3. I think our defenders are not that bad compared on 2 years ago.Matter of fact,Spain,Argentina,Brazil,England,France,Germany,ects are not solid with their defenders as well.I will say it is the game plans like italy.They always played counter attack and more to the defensive style.

    I am more worry to our midfield actually.yeah…have a look at Spain and Germany.Their midfielders are solid(fast,have brains,unselfish and skillful)by that,they can operate most of the game smoothly and all players are with high spirit and confident.Midfielders are the hearts and lungs.To sad to say our midfielders are not stable…

    I don’ t espect Oranje to be perfect but i think we really need to build up a solid Midfield.

    What do you guys say,eh….

  4. Ajax is interested in striker Sam Hendriks, sez Ajax1. Anyone know about him? He seems to have played all of two minutes for De Graafschap.

    1. what talent?
      could you please provide a link to a single scrap of evidence that supports this ridiculous theory of yours??
      Babel is possibly the very least talented ‘footballer’ to ever wear the world famous Oranje shirt, and i sincerely hope and pray it is never allowed to happen again.

  5. and it seems like PSV is leading the race for buying Maher. Also with Lens out of the club Wijnaldum and Depay can grow a lot this year.

  6. Spain players faced a raid in hotel with out informing them ,the raid was done,they were not happy co of that.Law enforcement is not that good in brazil..These kind of silly things can happen in brazil,ultimatly mentally it can drain some players,ornage must be beware of that in WC14.May be it could happen to any team facing brazil……Like pool incident in germany 74.anything can happen to distract players..

  7. Tiju: i do like selfish players. the greatest players were and still are selfish: cruyff was selfish,maradona was selfish, ronaldinho was selfish. messi is selfish,robben is selfish. even iniesta is selfish. who care about theis selfishness? without selfishness magic would disappear from football.

    1. Messi is NOT AT ALL selfish. Scoring a lot does not make one selfish. In fact, he doesn’t have have the ball that much–he just knows how to score when he gets it.

    2. Dribbling past opponent doesnt makes one player selfish,its final shot on goal that makes players selfish,In dutch team most selfish i felt was Wesly not Roben,Roben shoot when he see clear goal chance while wesly does shoot whenever he is in the box and it goes 1/10.instead of making a sure goal he just shoots..I dont like that.Thats one reason RVP sucked in NT.
      Cryuff,Maradona,ronadihno,messi were not selfish,they were hugly skilled players who were at least 1 step ahead of others..Magic has nothing to do with selfishness

      1. ‘Cryuff,Maradona,ronadihno,messi were not selfish,they were hugly skilled players who were at least 1 step ahead of others..Magic has nothing to do with selfishness’

        Entirely incorrect.

    3. Correct, Ferenc.
      ‘without selfishness magic would disappear from football.’
      it wouldn’t necessarily disappear, but the game would lose so much.

  8. I totally agree with Ferenc. Robben is a winger he is supposed to be selfish and dribble as much as he likes!!!.

    Football magicians have always been a litte selfish so it’s part of football.

  9. I do agree with lights regarding his worries about the midfield .
    You dominate the game only whirn you dominate the midfeild and I’m afraid ut’s too difficult yo dominate the midfeild with three players unless they are extra-ordinary e.g. Alonso , xavi and iniesta .
    Sniejder must regain his form , with strootman and van ginkel who both have huge lungs 🙂 , I think we may have a good chance .

    1. The Dutch absolutely need to find the right combination of midfielders. It has been a weakness lately with the NT–and that’s gotta change!

  10. Ajax is linked with Boulanrouz to replace Alderwield , who is probably going to bayer levercusen .
    I have been always a big fan of Boulanrouz , but i don’t know if he is the best one to replace Toby. He is already 31 years old .

  11. Jan- good article. For those of us who maintain optimistic viewpoints whether or not it’s supported by the facts in evidence, this is spot on.

    Obviously the U21 tourney had a disappointing ending and a few colossal clusters that caused Jong Oranje to exit when they did, but I see a lot of positives from the play. Specifically, having recently rewatched the first half of the Italy game, I saw a team that was dominating and creating very good opportunities despite the Italian penchant for suffocating defense and despite the ongoing play-acting which can really kill the flow of a game. With the chances that the team was creating, imagine how that would go to add a few world class finishers (RvP, Robben and Sneijder if he gets his act together), a world class keeper (we have several), along with a manager who is 100% certain that he is the world’s best. A pretty potent football team could come from that, particularly if the younger members of the team build well in the coming year and some of the older ones (VdV and Sneijder) spend their year in the gym.

  12. Currently is the under20 world championship in Turkey. Netherlands isn’t playing. I try to imagine what could be our best team. Maximum of age is being born in 1993.

    ————–Van der Hart————–

    –?———Denswil—–Ake——Willems

    ———–Ebecilio——Vilhena———

    –Boetius———Maher———Depay

    —————–Locadia—————–

    Can be something like that I think. For RB, don’t know if Kongolo or Rekik can play there ?

  13. The 20-year-old has been on Manchester United’s wish list too, and David Moyes dispatched chief scout Jim Lawlor to run the rule over him at the U-21 European Championships.

    Van Ginkel is one of the brightest emerging prospects in the European game, and was voted Dutch Footballer of the Year.

    Though United were looking to hijack Chelsea’s £15m move for van Ginkel, it seems that Jose Mourinho is close to tying up a deal.

    Reports surfacing in Holland have it that Chelsea have already agreed a fee of £7.2m for his services.

    Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is planning wholesale changes this summer

    Chelsea edge closer to Marco van Ginkel deal
    Though Chelsea aren’t short of options in midfield, with the likes of Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel, Oriel Romeu and Ramires jostling for a first-team spot, van Ginkel is after a permanent move.

    Van Ginkel has already racked up 93 league appearances for Arnhem.

  14. Why psv/ajax didnt try to sign van dijk before celtic?

    On all counts Van Dijk is a v good signing, coup if you will; highly promising & talented central defender. FdB + Stam his two biggest fans.
    Not quickest; makes it up with strong positional sense, aerially dominant, aggressive, authoritative, builds attacks + reads game well.

  15. Just come across with news about cycling and doping, and the suspect spanish docter, Fuentes.
    he admit, his clients included football players, athletes, tennis players and boxers. I remember In December 2010, he is quoted saying: “If I would talk, the Spanish football team would be stripped of the 2010 World Cup”

  16. Jake, even if they found evidence there is no way Fifa will strip Spain. It is similar to L.Armstrong and his team for Tour De France but I do not see it happening. Even though they usually have 60+% possession in almost every game, their stamina still amaze me.

  17. Sum up about our wingers for next year :

    -Robben : As long as he would perform like last years, he is untachable.

    -Lens : Went to Kyiv. Ukrainian championschip isn’t Russian one, only 4 others teams are really performing : Shakthar, Metalist Kharkiv, Dniepopetrovsk and Metalurg Donestk. I doubt Van Gaal will watch a lot of his games, he will get a bit of exposure in Europa league. Even if he had a great year, he needs to do better again next year to go to the WC.

    – Narsingh : Was injured six months, wasn’t doing that well before his injury with PSV. He’ll definitly get time to do better next year.

    -Ola John : Had globally a good year with Benfica, played 34 games there for his first season. Will have to confirm next year.

    – Babel : Could be a great option as substitute, I liked him with Ajax this year, but going to Kasimpasa probably killed his chances. Won’t play any european competition.

    – Elia : Had a difficult year with Werder, was starter almost all the season, but poor statistics, he logically finished on the bench. Will probably stay with Werder, has to be great to have chances to come back with the selection. Won’t play any european competition.

    – Schaken : Had globally a good year, it’s not sure he’ll stay to Feyenoord, some clubs from Greece and Turkey want him.

    – Kuyt : Had a year with ups and downs. Seems like he is going to stay in Turkey, he rejected going to Cardiff.

    -Wijnaldum : Had globally a good tournament with Under21 as RW, but will he play enough at this position with PSV to be considered as material ?

    – Boetius : Showed interesting things with Feyenoord, Van Marwijk considered him as “best eredivisie winger” before his injury, will have to confirm if he is any material or not.

    -Depay : Showed good things with PSV and Under21, will play more next year as Mertens is leaving, has to confirm his talent.

    – Afellay : Don’t know if Van Gaal consider him as winger, the only one game he played with the selection this year was as offensive midfielder. Had a good start with Schalke till his injury, will have a new club this summer.

    – Emanuelson : Also don’t know if he is considered as a winger, was playing midfielder with Milan and the selection his last appearances.

  18. I dont expect they strip the title, but public deseve the truth, only slim chance they can reveal it, as they have destroyed all evidence unrelated to cycling athletes.

    Why is Spain so keen to protect sports such as football at the expense of cycling? Put simply football is worth a lot more money to a failing Spanish economy, especially an international team that wins trophies. Financially they can’t afford to reveal the truth.

    http://tenpercentorless.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/can-spain-afford-to-reveal-doping-in.html?m=1

  19. Chelsea are close to signing £9million Vitesse Arnhem’s Marco van Ginkel after the Holland midfielder was reassured he will feature in Jose Mourinho’s starting line-up.

    Van Ginkel, who has been watched by Manchester United, made his senior debut for Holland last year and played for the Under-21s in the European Championship in Israel, where Holland reached the semi-finals.

    Dutch of class: Marco van Ginkel is being chased by Manchester United and Chelsea

    He has been told by Holland manager Louis van Gaal he needs to play regularly next season to make the World Cup squad and Vitesse would prefer him to move to Chelsea rather than Ajax.

    1. i would love him to come to ajax, but until a substantial amount of money is invested into the eredivisie (like sky/tpl/early 90’s) it will never happen and our talent will be sucked away, lured by foreign riches.

  20. Orangies that will feature in Champions League 2013-2014

    Virgil van Dijk (Celtic)
    Macro Van Ginkel (Chelsea)
    Wesley sneijder (Galatasaray)
    Siem Jong (Ajax)
    Daley Blind (Ajax)
    Ricaardo Van Rhijn (Ajax)
    Danny Hoesen(Ajax)
    Derk Boerrigter (Ajax)
    Kenneth Vermeer (Ajax)
    Nigel De Jong (Ac Milan)
    Arien Robben (Bayern Munich)
    Gregory Van Der Wiel (Paris Saint German)
    Robben Van Persie (Manchester United)
    Alexender Buttner (Manchester United)
    Kevin Strootman (if Manchester United)
    Bruno Martin Indis (If AC Milan)
    Darryl Janmaat (If Juventus)

  21. The most similar player to Hulk in Oranje squad is Lens . High stamina , nice dribbling skills and excellent goal scorer .
    He can also play as a CF or as a winger .

  22. I think Virgil van Dijk international call up for senior squad is due. The Friendly with Portugal in August will be be good testing ground for the defense. I hope Douglas, Bruma,Dijk all are called up for this particular game. we really need to intensify the search for the best centre halves.

  23. My only concern with van Dijk in Celtic is, he won’t get used to quick manoeuvres of Italian-Spanish players, which is quickness is typical weaknesses of over 1.9m defenders, we don’t want to see another awkwardness of van der hoorn in important match in WC14. However in term of reading games & positional, it looks people have more faiths in him than other tall-strong defenders like:

    Douglas
    Bram Nuytinck
    Mike van der Hoorn
    Mitchell Dijks
    Nick Kuipers

    1. Wish we had many “de jongs” in Oranje . I hope Sneijder is doing the same .
      The point is , de jong and strootman in the midfield would be too defensive to play attractive football . That’s why I’d like to see how De jong and BMI pairing in the CD would look like 🙂 .

  24. Johan Cruyff: “The U21 Euros made it clear at this moment no one (Dutch players) is ready to make the step and move abroad.” [de telegraaf]

    Cruyff reiterates his stance players shld not leave before they’re 24 & hopes this generation will be “the first to dvlp in the Eredivisie”.

    Last week in his column in De Telegraaf; Cruyff: “A year before the World Cup the coaches in the Eredivisie still have a lot of work to do.”

    Copied from Moallim’s twitter account .

  25. Absense of Nijle affected city in EPL title race…if Dejong was there then Manu would have had a more tough run…though Nijel assures full secuirty,it affects free flowing game..if orange use 1 holding mid then it should be Nijel..closset to him is Deguzman…
    ————–Seim/persie—————-
    Roben——————————–Lenz
    ———Vanginkel—Strootman———
    —————-Nijel——————-
    Blind——————————Janmaat
    ———-BMI——–Bruma—————-
    —————Vermeer——————–
    Is the strongest eleven of current dutch squad…
    on bench
    ————–Seim/persie—————
    OlaJohn————————Maher/wijnaldum——–
    ———wesly/vaart/fer—-Clasie/fer————-
    —————–Deguzman/Fer——————–
    Van annholt—————————-Vanrhijn
    ————–Vlaar——Devrij—————-
    —————–steke/krul——————–

  26. @Cruyff: I do not disagree with what he said, but I also keep in mind that U21 team is not national team. That’s why we need RVP, Robben, perhaps Sneijder/VDV, all together to lead this group. I also think LVG is many level above Cor Pots. From goal.com fans voting for who will win WC2014 (http://www.goal.com/en/news/3790/world-cup-2014/2013/06/12/4043223/poll-of-the-day-who-will-win-the-world-cup?ICID=CP_19)
    1. Germany
    2. Spain
    3. Argentine
    4. Brazil
    5. Italy
    6. Someone else
    7. England
    8. Netherlands
    9. France

    I agree with the top 5 except I put Spain at 1 and Germany at 2. I think Netherlands are in the contender group with England and France. The last 2 new nations that broke through the world champion’s club are France (98) and Spain (10). It has been dominated by these nations. Let’s hope it is Netherlands’ turn next year as we are about 1 year away.

    1. Argentina shouldn’t be 3 IMO. Their top two players are great (Aguaro and Messi), but after that I’m not that convinced. Then again Holland almost won on the backs of Sneijder and Robben

    2. 1- Spain

      2- Germany, Brazil

      3- Italy, Argentina

      4- Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Uruguay, Colombia

      5- France, England, Croatia, Russia, Chile

      Well, I put Belgium and Colombia in our level, but honestly, I expect them do to better, and do believe they have more big names than us on the paper currently. Or at least, more players in good form and performing better with clubs.

      Ivory Coast can be a great team also if they qualify, they were unluncky with two hard group stages in 2006 and 2010, but they have a very strong potential.

      Drogba, Gervinho, Doumbia, Bony, Lacina Traoré, Kalou, Arouna Koné…Crazy attack. Especially with Yaya Touré behind.

      1. In the mini WC, confederation cup, we’ll see how brazil play again spain, mostlikely in the final. IMO the only nation that can beat spain in this cup and in WC14, is Brazil on home soil. Other nation is Holland if we given the second chance in the final. As long as we survive along the way to the final and avoid our Achilles heels, portugal & italy. I think we have a chance to beat world cup nations club, like Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Germany.

        1 Spain

        2 Brazil

        3-5 Germany, Italy, Argentina

        6 Netherlands

        7-9 Portugal, Belgium, Uruguay

        10-11 France, England

        As we know there are 8 WC nations club, logically netherlands can only be considred contender no 8 or 9 at the highest. Spain the last breakthrough can only happened after golden generation, 2008-now. France breakthrough was done solely by zidane.

        I dont think we have individual class of zidane, berkamp or ronaldo, or golden generation as shine as Spain, but we have LVG….:-)

      2. Uruguay is on a downfall… Only Suarez is performing. We already beat them at their peak.
        And Colombia? Seriously? I don’t think they have players performing better with their clubs. We have a Robben and Van Persie, which both would be in my top 10 of the year, and many outstanding talents. Colombia is dreadful in defense, but that’s just my opinion. I can live with putting Belgium as dark horse.

  27. Latest on Elia – Liverpool from Wender Bremen. If this happens you can pencil him in for WC 2014 right now. After Robben he is the best contender for the left wing . EPL will transform him into a super wing. Contrary to this I hope Lens move to Dyamino doesn’t turn into Bas Dot and Luuk De Jong Scenario when they moved to Bundasliga. That would be devastating especially when he almost nearing his peak.
    The midfield will be headache area for Van Gaal given the talents that are available. This will be hotly contested
    Sneidjer/ Van der Vaart / Maher/ Affellay
    Dejong/De Guzman/ Van Ginkle
    Strootman/Classie/ Foer.
    Still have doubts on Strootman, if foer moves to Everton, he might have a upper hand.
    Centre halves are the problem area I would like to see douglas to start against Portugal with BMI. He needs to given a chance to prove himself, if not Bruma . Especially when Ronaldo will be playing. I bet the defence will have to be on the next level.

    1. Lens’ situation won’t be like Dost/Luuk. Lens is proven in the national team already, whereas Dost was only proven in Heerenveen and had never been capped, and Luuk moved to the BL looking to get into the NT, and also was anything but proven for Oranje.

      It wasn’t the Bundesliga that made Luuk shitty.

  28. TFC Ajax,I dont see Luuk De Jong as a orange material after EC.Compare him with Morrta who only plays for Real Madrid B team, I think De jong had a average outing given that he only scored 1 goal especially with Maher and Van Ginkle around him. I wont be surprised if he not on the the plane to WC 2014 unless he can prove other wise

  29. The last 3 times WC was held in America, the South American team won (Argentine in 78, 86 and Brazil in 94). They will make it tough for European team to win. Clearly Spain and Germany are ahead of the group, but Brazil and Argentine will also benefit. Messi did not score well b/c he did not have his Barca’s system/teammates (same argument that RVP did not have his support with NT as with MU/Arsenal). We are contender but we need a bit of luck and peak performance like defeating Brazil and Uruguay in 2010. I’m trying to watch confederation semi-final and final to see how Spain, Brazil, Italy and Uruguay will play. I’m impressed by Spain and Brazil in this Confed so far but they are still beatable.
    I don’t see Elia will make it back to NT. It looks like Lens, Ola John, Narsingh, Wijnaldum ahead of him. Too many players to pass.

  30. Why does Oranje not get respect for beating Brazil in 2010? I was listening to Raphael Hoginstein on a podcast last week and he called it a freak result. That game was no fluke. Brazil played well in the 1st half but Holland imposed his will in the second half.

    Honestly if Huntelaar could have finshed better in the 2nd half that game could have been 3-1. It was a well deserved win.

  31. Elia just took Lens seat on the flight to Rio…sslaasshhh…life is harsh

    Liverpool are ready to rekindle their long-standing interest in Eljero Elia.
    Brendan Rodgers has been active in the market already this summer, having sealed deals for free agent Kolo Toure, Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas.
    And now he is set to turn his attention to Elia, currently at Werder Bremen.
    Liverpool’s interest in the Dutchman dates back to his time at Hamburg but they missed out on him when he signed for Juventus.
    The move was a disaster, though, and he made just four league appearances in his only season at the club. Elia moved to Bremen in 2012 for £5m and Rodgers has tracked his progress – with a potential move now in the pipeline.

  32. @liverpool doesnt have much money and if they have some money the they will purchase players like Caroll,henderson,Adam etc for huge amount.and they sucked in big time.finally they got one good siging that was suarez.He alond acrried liverpool to 7 th place.Kudos to suarez for his performance on ground except his caniballism and diving.i am 90 % sure Elia will suck in liverpool too.he has got a weak heart and lacks intellignec to play with the like of Gerad and suarez.While Lenz will play everygame for dynamo and he is a winner not a looser like many othe dutch primidonna players…Most of the liverpool sigings in attack are joke,they surivived all these yeras mainly coz of Raina,Agger,Gerrad,suarez,caragher, etc,but over all i fell brenden rogers is singing better players than kenny daglish..but still Liverpool is noway near to Mancity,Manu,Chelsea,arsenal and they have trouble in beating Everton,Spurs..

  33. i think tiju is very right…his analysis has always proven to be sound…just take his euro 2012 prediction for example…which no living soul on this blog foresaw

    1. Do you mean the prediction that he got completely incorrect?
      That we would lose because Dirk Kuyt played?
      That prediction?? Yes??
      Moron.

      Please don’t drag yourself down to his level.
      We already have one Tiju here. There isn’t room for two wheelchairs.

      1. To be frank i said and kuyt was one of the main player,my list included bommel and other 4 guys.My dislike with kuyt was wellknown…with kuyt we sucked 3-0 against germany…ahahaahLOL

  34. sorry to tell a truth..
    @LVG Dutch have no chance of 2014 against Germany,Italy,Brazil,France,Belgium,Spain,Arjentina if dutch are taking Afellay,kuyt,Joris,Elia,Narsingh,Depay,Van derhoorn,Williams,luuk dejong,hoesen,Jozefoon,schaken, in 23 mna squad.
    also i would like to add if Wesly and vaart are not fit then it would be wise to drop at least one of them.
    Also i would like to point out that RVP should nt be the main striker against these team when Wesly is also in starting eleven..it would be wise that play
    —-Roben————-Lenz———
    ———–Wesly——————–
    —–Stroot———Vanginkel——-
    ———–Nijel——————–
    or
    Roben——–Siem———-Lenz
    ——-Vanpersie–Van ginkle———
    ———–Nijel——————–
    against big teams
    At present dutch have only 3 good wingers those are Roben,Lenz and ola…interms of efficiency/productivity/threatening to opponent or guys who forces other wingbacks to only defend.

    Wijnaldum is needed agaisnt strong teams he can give u a goal from vaccum or emptyness.Ola is a soft boy will have a hard time against kinda that left back of italy.
    4 winger Boetius Vs urby Vs Wijnaldum…

  35. the achilles heal of the current team are
    Wesly-Not in good physical shape,tends to shoot in the box rather making it into a sure Goal.
    Vaart-Fitness problem.
    Devij-Slow
    Van rhijn-Inexperince
    Van Persie-Not good when Wesly is on the feild
    Vannanholt-Lack the intellignce of Blind
    Blind-Lack the speed of Van anholt.
    No real RCB
    only three good wingers.
    Lacks the character and confidence(biggeste issue).
    No fighter when things are not goin well.

  36. To sum up quickly, we currently have 5 big names : Robben, Van Persie, VDV, Sneijder, N.De Jong. Two first ones are performing really good, third one is doing not bad but in an average club, fourth is in bad form since years (except a good EC2012) and the last one has been injured all the year.

    We also have many good keepers.

    Next to that, we really have average players or players who didn’t prove out of the Eredivisie, that’s why I think even a team like Colombia can be considered as stronger or same level nowadays. Falcao, Martinez, Muriel, Guarin, James Rodriguez, Cuadrado, Zuniga, Armero, Zapata, Yepes, they’re all doing well in good clubs.

    1. Columbia is also a good team also Switzerland is also a hard team to beat.Latin americans will have good support their and am sure Germany,Spain,Belgium,Italy and France will do well.also with lots of support we can see Columbia,Equdor or uruguay in Qf at least..apart form Brazil and Arjentina.Arjentine defense is also weak so there is hope aginst arjentina.
      Brazil,Spain,germany,Italy,Belgium and france have the better defense supported by good front attack.so they will advance if they dont collide each other.

    2. Muriel’s been terrible for the whole season apart 4 or 5 matches in Udine. Guarin started great and then contributed to Inter’s lack of play with his pretty selfish attitude. Zapata is a nightmare for me since I cheer for Milan in Italy and get to cross fingers every time he touches a ball. Cuadrado played great matches for Fiorentina, yet it has to be said Fiorentina play a very fluent style of football and that eases his attacking duty. Falcao had a wonderful start of the season but ended on a down. Zuniga is just ok going forward but defensively is below average. Armero has played very little for Napoli. Yepes, no comment. He’s old and never got serious playing time this year.

      I generally agree with your posts, but putting Colombia so high up for me is overestimating their attacking potential and missing on their very average defense (I seriously prefer by miles the Oranje back line).
      I’d be curious to know how many people think Oranje would be the underdog when playing Colombia, Belgium or Uruguay in a Quarterfinal or round of 16.
      I wouldn’t.

      1. I don’t watch serie A too much, but Muriel scored 11 goals in 22 games this year, it’s already better than all our strikers except Van Persie. Zapata makes mistakes and doesn’t seem at east with the ball, but would BMI do better in Milan ? He also makes mistakes against amateurs clubs from Holland.

        Yepes almost didn’t play yes, he is old but it’s the typical player who can give 100% of himself in a worldcup. He was good with PSG and Nantes, really respected player in France.

        On the paper, I don’t think we’re better than Colombia, I wouldn’t say underdog neither, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat us.

        We are in a transit period with a rest of “old” players in a doubtfull condition, and new ones who aren’t ready yet for the highest level. Form with clubs is also important and last EC proved it for us, we went with an important proportion of our starters who were injured or just didn’t play a lot of championship games :

        Van der Wiel : 19 games on 34 (started 18)
        N.De Jong : 21 games on 38 (started 11)
        Van Bommel : 25 games on 38 ( started 22)
        Willems : 20 games on 34 (started 18)
        Afellay : 4 games on 38 (started 1…)
        Sneijder : 20 games on 38 (started 15)
        Robben : 24 games on 34 ( started 18)

  37. i think Belgium is goin to be the dark horse…
    With Benteke and Luakaku they have SCORING STRIKERS.with good midfeild and solid defense.
    ————-Courtios———-
    Gillet—Vertoghen–Kompany—Alderweilrd
    ———Fellaini—Dembele/Defour———–
    Martens/chadli——-Debruyne——Hazard
    ———–Lukaku/Benteke—————

    1. I think Vermaelen or Vertonghen would be played in place of Alderweireld as Left Back. Still, Robben or Lens would have a pretty easy task on the wings, especially on that one, since there would be an adapted centre back.

      1. i was just putting names,i dont know abt wilmots tactics ,i was thinking about the quality of the belgian players..i agree thae Verthoghen or vermelen will play and i think they are head of Toby.but it doesnt matter for me.its just respecting the belgian team..

          1. @To Be Frank (aka KiNG, Clog, and other shitty names) I think you should be the one who fuck off this blog you piece of shit.

  38. Belgium maybe has surpassed Holland but I followed Uruguay closely and they wouldnt beat Holland even if they were allowed to start the match 1-0 …Colombia..u gotta be joking…the only reason u wud say that get wud even make it deep into the tournament n face beloved oranje is if u want to gape at their beauties in the stands..n for that I commend u

    1. Good for Ajax. Perhaps Dutch clubs will eventually get the message that Ajax isn’t going to spend that kind of money on players.
      Bad for Maher though. Ajax’s style suits him far more than PSV’s.

      1. Good for Ajax ? Good for teams which will be in their CL group I would say.

        Ajax is going nowhere with such a politic, you can’t pretend being an ambitious club if you’re not able to spend 8mo for a player. You really think AZ asked for something too high ? It’s his price, he is young and already international, 8mo is a normal price.

        1. + they aren’t even able to offer a salary of 2mo for a player, letting Babel going to Kasimpasa is a shame for dutch football.

          Such things only happen in Holland, it’s total nonsense that a rich country which is one of the top world football selection isn’t able to have good clubs in europe nowadays. And it definitly has something to do with money, salaries in Holland are quite low for footballers, you can talk about TV rights etc. I agree that it’s nothing compared to England, Germany etc. but Ajax sells every year players for 10/20mo and uses 1/5 of the money to buy players.

          Portugal also have ridiculous TV rights, but Benfica is able to spend 12mo for John.

  39. @Van Vader: you are correct. NT-Brazil 2010 game should be used as a motivation video for NT squad. I watched it again last night. NT played well. There is no gap in midfield, players are fit and pressuring opponents, Stek save off Kaka. NT got under Brazilians’ skins and you could tell from Robinho and co losing their composure. Yes, had Hunter passed a second faster when NT are 3 on 1 with the goalie the score would be 3-1. Oijer was no Mathijsen but he did his job. Style will be different b/c of different coach (LVG vs BVM) but I would love to see the same spirit again with this current squad.

  40. I see a lot of negativity in the blog with people saying we won’t win the WC. It’s easier to say that we won’t win the WC than to say that we will win it.

    I won’t get into the Columbia debate because they are a bad team or maybe an average team with the only great: Falcao. Uruguay is a good team but they were in a greater shape in 2010 and we kicked their asses so I wouldn’t worry too much.

    1. I agree. It’s pretty much a numbers game, isn’t it? I also predict that Canada won’t win the WC, nor Libya, nor Iceland- mark my words. It’s obviously far easier to predict who won’t win the whole thing, so repeatedly ‘predicting’ that the Dutch won’t win is pretty pointless.

      To me, the point is that they actually could win, assuming the right players, tactics, etc are in place. Most nations can’t say that.

  41. Every team has their issues. For instance we criticize V.Persie with the national team for not doing too much during big tournaments but what about Messi?.

    France with the whole team fighting in 2010 and that’s something their coach will have to deal with. Also Benzema is heavily criticized right now.

    Italy with a good team but their attack is a question mark, El Shaarawy isn’t that ready yet but maybe in one year he develops even more and their main man in attack is a crazy player who can disturb the whole squad in a split of a second or can get sent off by the refs.

    Germany and Spain seem the most solid teams but they won’t win it…mark my words.

  42. Miguel and Ferenc said the most logic comments about Oranje . Actually with a bit of luck i can see Oranje in the semi-final’s in Brazil which is very good imo with our new young team.

  43. ok tiju this is insane ..u even added
    Eljero Elia,
    Luciano Narsingh ..wth
    Depay……???? r u kiddin me…
    Van derhoorn….1 mistake to anger master tiju eh?

    jetro Willems -> shud the lad retire now that he is not oranje material in ur head

    luuk dejong && danny hoesen —>> why dont u just add huntelaar, dost, and van wolfsinkel to this list

    Jozefoon,schaken –> they are both mediocre but schaken has been good for us whenever played…and jozefoon has a pretty good u 21 if u ask me

    1. the way they make mistake is important,it was not a simple mistake..Something more in it..Cannt explain it.Watch out narsingh/Elia aginst top teams then you will realise…it

  44. Been a reader of this blog. Got some questions for you guys

    Assuming a healthy nigel de jong that’s a world beater, what place does he play in the louis van gaal oranje.

    Furthermore, what midfield trio do you guys best benefits holland to play attacking football while not being beat defensively?

    What is the most likely line-up Holland will field at rio 2014, now notice I did not say which lineup is your preference, but which is most likely louis van gaal will play.

    My preference would be a 3-3-1-3 like ajax in 1995, nigel de jong sweeps for any mistakes bruno or vlaar make, they play narrow de guzman and strooman handle any runs by wingers, but alas my friends its unlikely this would be played, but a guy can dream right!
    ……………Van persie………….
    Olaa……………………….robben
    …………..Sneijder…………….
    ……Strootman…….de guzman…….
    ……………Clasie…………….
    ……………………………….
    ….Bruno………….vlaar……….
    ………..N. De jong……………
    ……………………………….
    …………..Steks………………

  45. Something about Holland total game.It is connected with culture.We can explain what is really dutch total football ,on the one way (of many examples) dutch life and culture.One on the way it is built dams and fight against sea.Dutch people in history must to make a war against sea. How one man.All together…o.k. lets go on the football game.Total football.(years when started total football,late 196os.) In football fields Holland team had and made special kind of the players .On the one way the best on the world ,on the second way ,under level(“holes in the dam”).It was reason because often in other countries dutch players become weaker and weaker. They buy special Holland players and use them wrong(on the circus master way)and destroy them.Then come things for relax etc…o.k. back in Holland.Holland had and made precise and concentration players(Cruyff,van Basten,Bergcamp,Kist..),warriors(Neskens,van Hanegem,Davids)fine space control(Krol,Frank de Boer,Kuman,Gio),dribblers,strange speed(Marc),”eat to space”(Gullit).. and many others.But always with some “holes in the dam”.They become one body when one help other,to become complete player.Example.If Kouman or Gio has big problem in defend ,in one on one play or dont know how it to play , others players work in space on that way that nobody can,t find something wrong in their game.And Kouman can to do with his special the best thing.They become One Man.It,s like Fellow ship of the Ring.(one tall,one small,one white, one black ,one weak one strong,one ugly, one beauty , one slow, one fast…etc).That One Man take space.It is total.Taken space on that way is total.When is total footbal good we have results(good example Holland-England 3-1,1988).And it was noticed 1974 by Maradona .And on that base and coaches and experts must find how running is need,ball possession, 442 or 433 or 3412….It is first rule.Then ,total football is not Real(M)or Spain, against Malta city football club .Total football(roots) is war weaker(Holland 1950s,1960s) against stronger.And win.It is ethic.Frodo against Sauron. And it is continue today.Then ,Spain football is not total football.Spain is instant total football.It is atomic catenaccio in box of rival with 90 procent ball possession.Mamma mia!!!With tricks circus masters, tika-taka.Cruyff made big mistake.Gave Ring the Spain .It is without value.Only “Big Monster”.People who supported catenaccio, today support tika_taka Spain.Who,ll stop this? Maybe it will be Holland third wave? And on the end ,I had a night dream and saw Marc van Basten.What could be to means that symbol?Heerenveen?Little club against big clubs(Spain,PortugalGermany,England….).Sign is Heart.Many hearts is need to Holland.Van Basten is the right man on the right place.It is road for really warriors.Young talents in Holland must to support this road.To understand.If they want. And maybe is Marco van Basten golden boy from shadow after Louis van Gaal.Again.Maybe in dream Rinus Michels want to say me something like this.And I, m happy to hear what is Cruyff said.He had to listen song of the Beatles “Get back”(…get back where you once belonged…) rooftop.And Marco van Basten hadn,t too much weak matches.Almost nothing weak.The matches Holland against France and Italy 2008 were on the level 1974 Holland_Brasil.Maybe and better.Holland for me didn,t play ugly in final 2010.For me it was heroic game by Holland, especialy if is it true what said Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes (december 2010) “If I told them what I know,then goodby to the world cup and european championchip.” But Holland always must to be careful ..always when got red card it was extremly dangerous. Oranje WC 14 .Only good wishes .For me is important Portugal -Holland and Estonia-Holland.About Brasil , maybe after 15 october.But good thing is it that former ABBA singer Agneta Falstkog published new CD called “A”.And on the end(I dont like to give answer (make me tired) on the question OranjeFan :are you writtings in Netherlands).I, m writting from Vojvodina(Serbia).I was born in Novi Sad (Albert Stuivenberg win 2011 in this city with Oranje U17 against Germany u17 5-2)and celebrated in “Flying Dutchman” where I, m drinking coffe sometimes and etc.)Novi Sad is famous because have music festival “Exit” and Vojvodina looks like Netherlands in older days.Only has two hill, but on the photos always put this two hills. Somebody can think that Vojvodina is mountin area!

  46. There must be a way to curb the big European clubs’ spending (Real, Barca, Chelsea, ManCity, Bayern, Milan, Juventus…) like a salary cap or club budget cap then smaller Euro’s nations’ clubs can have a more level playing field. I’m sure Platini is trying and these giant clubs’ owners threaten to boycott Champion League and that’s the end of the idea. It is a shame that Eredivisie clubs losing players left and right and it is sad to see Ajax does not have or is not able to buy Dutch talents (instead of Danish or other national players).

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