Tag: Fer

August 14, 2014 by Jan

The Future of Oranje is Lucky

While the umptieth war is waged (I am not talking Israel – Hamas, but Laurent vs the rest, which I choose to ignore) lets have a look at our future…

When Louis was signed I was cynical. I thought it was all about Louis’ ego and personal ambitions (and it was, actually) and feared he would screw up in the social realm (media, clubs, some players) but he actually did remarkably well. And that is an understatement.

I have said it here and will say it again: he did an amazing job. With Three World Beaters, one World Beater fighting back to top form and a group of young talents and/or mediocre players, he was able to squeeze the maximum out of the orange. And if Robben took that chance to shoot in the dying minute of the Argentina game, we could have gone all the way.

So Louis has taught us some things. 1) Preparation is everything. Working hard on tactical discipline, game plan and physical fitness brings dividends. 2) It’s not about the individual names, it’s about the team! 3) Good changes / substitutions can alter the game and affect the result. 4) Focus and believing in the mission allows athletes to rise to the occasion and exceed expectations.

To me, this means that there are no more excuses possible in the future. Germany for instance, has a great team. But they do not have a Messi or a Robben. They have many great team players and a number of players who are more than a team player (Kroos, Muller, Lahm, Ozil) but none of these will be remember in 30 years, like a Beckenbauer, Muller or Netzer. Only Klose, as a result of his record. Depending on how long that will stand.

It’s the TEAM that wins it. Brazil was all about Neymar. Argentina was all about Messi. Oranje was definitely leaning on Robben a lot but we did have that massive team spirit. Vlaar. De Jong. Blind. De Vrij. And those wonderful subs: Huntelaar. Depay. Wijnaldum. Fer.

I was not too happy with the choice of Hiddink but I now believe it is not a bad move.

Lucky Guss will not add a lot of tactical wizardry to Holland. But he will bring his typical toolbox. He will bring a sense of “relax, it will all be good” charisma to the table. His pizzazz and cool will deal with the media and some of the big boys (Van Persie, Sneijder) while Blind will continue the work of Van Gaal.

And when RVP, Sneijder, Robben move on, Blind will be the man with the authority before a new group from 2016 onwards.

And with all the talent that is emerging, and with Blind’s skills in managing and prepping teams (assuming he has learned a thing or two or three from the Master) we should be VERY confident.

The key thing is: how and when will we move from the reactive style to the more dominating style we like to play. Ajax, Feyenoord, Twente, Heerenveen, AZ and PSV all tend to play that game. So does Bayern. We can only hope LVG will do the same with Man United and I guess Galatasaray will not play reactive football in Turkey?

Guus is not as adventurous as I would want him to be, but in the lead up to the EC, in that qualification group we’re in, I cannot see Holland play like we did in Brazil.

When Guus Hiddink was introduced to the media the other week, and he praised the work of Van Gaal. “Louis has add a dimension to Dutch School football. I will pursue that avenue myself too. Sure, playing creative and playful is fun but we need to watch out that we are not just being world champions playing nice football within the borders of our own country! It’s key for our talents to learn how to perform under pressure. The pressure of winning! We have many talents but they need to be transformed to players who can win games.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy, assistant of Hiddink and Blind: “I never listened to the assistant coach…”

Hiddink emphasized that winning is important. Silverware is important. He also stressed that Danny Blind will have an even more dominating role. “Danny will be in charge as field coach but will also be involved in the media and press conferences. He is a very astute coach and we will jointly manage this two years, as we both bring our specific qualities to the fore.”

Blind is an astute tacticus and I hope he will find a way to have Oranje play the Dutch football style we see being played by Bayern and Germany. (Ouch, I didn’t expect THAT to come out of my keyboard!!!).

But when you have the likes of Promes, Boetius, Robben, Depay, Kishna etc up front and the likes of Maher, Wijnaldum, Clasie, Klaassen, Van Ginkel, Siem de Jong, Strootman, Blind, Fer, Sneijder, Afellay in midfield and wing backs like Janmaat, Van Rhijn, Van der Wiel, Willems, Kongolo and Van Aanholt you cannot but play attractive attacking football…

The only worry I have is the center forward of the future…. Is it Castaignos? Or Luuk de Jong? Or Van Wolfswinkel? Or is it a player that has yet to be spotted? Or will we play without a real center forward…..? We were spoilt for choice in the past (Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert, Makaay, Hasselbaink, Van Hooijdonk, Van Basten, Van Vossen, Gullit, Kieft, Bosman, Gillhaus, Houtman) but we seem to not develop any real killers anymore… Is our development to blame? Or is there no more space for strikers…

Klose doesn’t seem to agree with us but most other goal scores at the World Cup are more attacking midfielders (James) or false strikers/wingers (Muller, Robben, Messi).

I personally don’t mind. Because whatever the need: we have Dirk Kuyt.

July 16, 2014 by Jan

Oranje has 2 players in Top 3 of World Cup

Sorry guys, traveling for my work. Less time and opportunity to write. Back home again this weekend, so expect the ultimate WC2014 Oranje analysis and debrief :-)….

Thanks to all for your tremendous support. Still working on improving the site. I will get back to all of you soon with some specific questions on this….

This is like the afterplay with sex. We have had our peak experience but we don’t want to get out of bed yet. We want to cuddle a bit and maybe relive some of the good moments.

Best player this, best goal that.

Apparently, Messi is the best player of the tournament. Yeah right. Even Maradona, who normally talks a lot of crap, saw that his fellow countryman didn’t deserve it.

For me, biased as I may be, Robben was the most dangerous player of this whole tournament. He has had most fouls against him, he scored goals, he created goals (assists and penalties) and he was continiously leading and threatening. Hands down, best player of the tournament.

The Castrol rating system determines the best player based on the passing quality of the player, where forward passes in the final third are valued higher than passes back to the goalie (otherwise Martins Indi would be the be the best player of the World Cup….).

The Castrol system says Toni Kroos is the best player, with Arjen Robben as the number 2 and Stefan de Vrij (!!) as the number 3.

This means, De Vrij is the Best Defender of the World Cup. Robben would be the best Forward of the Tournament. More like it.

According to the AD newspaper De Vrij is actually the best overall player.

Obviously, Arjen Robben’s story is quite sensational. The usual story line. Prodigal son. 16 years old when he broke at Eredivisie level. 18 years at PSV and prolifically scoring. Transfer to Chelsea, but there injuries disrupted his career. Mourinho wanted to offload him (and get Malouda in…) and at Madrid Robben continued his injury stricken career. When offloaded there he found his home in Munich. And turned himself from choker (CL finals, WC 2010 finals) to winner. He won titles at Bayern and seemingly fixed his fitness problems. Seeing him play, run, fight, battle etc at this World Cup gives me the idea we will see a bit more of Robben, yet.

However, Stefan de Vrij’s story is a fairytale as well. Started in Feyenoord 1 in a time when the club didn’t have too much options. The club was technically insolvent and used young talents to cover the gaps in the team. De Vrij did really well until the start of this last season when he lost his mojo at Feyenoord. When he decided to work on his fitness without the club doctors aware of his training program, he lost the captain’s armband. The “experts” (also the ones here!) wrote him off. De Vrij should not be part of the squad, he was not good enough, he was not going to cut it, etc… But Van Gaal kept faith. Because Van Gaal analyses players well and is not carried away by emotions. De Vrij has too much quality, Van Gaal knew, and he was able to get the youngster to play his usual self.

And to me, while Vlaar is compared to a player like Jaap Stam, I personally liken De Vrij a bit to Pique or Laurent Blanc… Less confident and cocky in terms of personality, but similar in style.

So, the 22 year old who was passed over in a friendly vs France for Joel Veltman. But he fought back and got the starting spot. And he played versus Torres, Alexis Sanchis, Lionel Messi, Vidal, Chicharito Hernandez…. none of them scored.

Feyenoord will do well financially this summer. It has bagged 20Mio euros already from the sale of Pelle, Janmaat (Newcastle) and Martins Indi (Porto). There is a fair chance De Vrij and Clasie will leave too.

Only eight years ago, Feyenoord had a negative equity position of 35 mio Euros. Today, they need to get rid of 6mio euros debt and then it’s all good. Tech Director Van Geel is allowed to use one third of the incomings on new players.

With Bayern Munich, Feyenoord had the most players active in this World Cup. If you would add the Feyenoord developed players to the mix or players with a Feyenoord background, the list is longer and Feyenoord is recognised as the current benchmark of Dutch youth development, surpassing Ajax.

With 11 former and current Feyenoord players in Netherlands’ squad for the World Cup, including nine Academy graduates, the club from Rotterdam had a massive influence on the surprisingly good performance of Oranje in Brazil.

Current Feyenoord Academy players: Bruno Martins Indi, Daryl Janmaat, Stefan de Vrij, Terence Kongolo and Jordy Clasie and former Feyenoord Academy players: Robin van Persie, Jonathan de Guzman, Leroy Fer and Georginio Wijnaldum, while Ron Vlaar might not have been developed in Rotterdam (AZ player), he has worn the skipper band in Rotterdam, as has Dirk Kuyt. Salomon Kalou of Nigeria is another player with a Feyenoord background.

July 13, 2014 by Jan

Oranje 3rd of the World after 3-0 Brazil win!

What an amazing end to an amazing campaign!

The Dutch National Team has knicked the 3rd spot of the 2014 World Cup, against all odds, in the process beating World Champions Spain and hosts Brazil! And brushing aside Mexico and Chile and beating minions Australia and Costa Rica. Without suffering defeat in open play.

What an achievement!

I think it is quite something…. In 1974 we finished second after a disappointing loss in the finals but also after teaching the world to play. In 1978 we got unlucky and we might even got screwed as Argentina might have paid their way to the finals back then… In 1998 we could have gone all the way but lost the consolation finals versus Croatia and in 2010 that frickin’ toe stopped us from winning.

In ’74 and ’78, expectations were low. In 1998 and 2010 we knew we had a chance. Now, in 2014, most experts felt we would be extremely lucky and successful if we made it out of the group!

A bunch of oldies (but goldies) and a bunch of youngster, led by an intense and highly strung coach.

And we were a split second decision by Robben away from a place in the finals…

That moment in the last minute of the Argentina game…. let’s not go there.

So, Holland vs Brazil. A classic poster! Played 11 times against each other. Holland winning 3, Brazil winning 3. The rest you can guess.

Last time we lost, was with quite some drama (1994, 1998). Last time we won, we cruised to the WC finals in 2010.

The Canary Yellow agains the Orange.

There are many cool stories and angles to pick when talking about this match, but in this case it was all about: will Brazil be able to win the fans’ hearts back after the abysmal loss against Germany, 1-7?

Some said “expect a totally fueled up and foamin’ at the mouth Brazil”, while other said “Brazil is simply overrated and will be needing diapers when they come up on the pitch vs Holland”.

I think the truth was in the middle. But I also believe this is one of the worst Brazilian teams ever. The 1974 one was quite shabby, and this one, sans Neymar, is not much better.

Sneijder: “I was really annoyed I couldn’t play. I first was bummed out we missed the finals, and then my hamstring gave way during the warming up.”

Fred? Jo? Hulk? Seriously?? Willian and Oscar are very decent players and as a simple defender, Thiago Silva is pretty good too. But once David Luiz thinks he is Beckenbauer and Paulinho thinks he is Socrates you know you are in trouble.

Against Germany, the defence was absent. Against Holland, they weren’t much better.

In the first minute, Maxwell and Maicon and Luiz were a bit too lacklustre when Silva had to check a run by Robben after Van Persie launched the former Groningen man into space. Robben one v one the goalie is not a good idea in the first minute so Silva did what he thought was the best solution: pull him back outside of the box and pray he’d get away with it. Well, he did. He was allowed to stay on the pitch, but the ref did point at the spot.

With only 2 mins on the clock, captain Van Persie took the opportunity to do what Vlaar failed to do in his place versus Argentina (or did he…..). The Brazilian fans – to their shock – saw their team behind once more and when Oranje pounced again in the 17th minute via a beaut by Blind, the fans surely felt it was one of those days again!! Would their team again get trashed? The horror was visible on the faces of the onlookers.

And I have to say, being biased and all…. Holland was on top of the Canaries all the time. Sure, they had their chances and their spells… As they are surely no slouches going forward but in terms of team cohesion and discipline and tactics they played 1970 style football against a team that took a page from the ~~Barcelona~~ Dutch book of gameplay and the Atletico Madrid book of gameplay.

Holland had to deal with a setback when Sneijder grabbed his hamstring in the warm up and Jon De Guzman was told to prepare for the match, which saw us play with Robben an Robin upfront, De Guzman, Clasie and Wijnaldum in midfield and a five man back line with Blind and Kuyt out wide and De Vrij, Vlaar and Martins Indi as the three central defenders.

Blind hardly scores. And now he gets on in the consolation finals vs Brazil

That central block played tremendously well. De Vrij and Vlaar grew into the Men of the Match while Martins Indi, Wijnaldum, Clasie, Kuyt and Blind fought for what they were worth, with Blind regularly offering the team an outlet on the left and Clasie and Wijnaldum being crucial in midfield dominance, against players who play for European top teams ( Bayern, Spurs, Chelsea, Man City).

Sure, Brazil had some opportunities to get back into the game but for me it seemed more likely that we would get a third, as opposed to Brazil getting back into it.

Unlucky Daley Blind had to be subbed in the second half, which brought attacking full back Janmaat to the mix and Holland was the most likely to score the next goal. It seems like Brazil wanted it to end while Janmaat and Robben in particular seemed keen to get their names on the score sheet as well. Wijnaldum was also playing more adventurous, and even clashed with Robben at a certain point in the Brazilian box trying to dish out the final goal. And it would end up being the former Feyenoord man Wijnaldum who’d get his goal, finally, with Janmaat again delivering the assist (like with Gini’s buddy Leroy Fer vs Chile).

By then, Joel Veltman was given his final minutes to replace a cramped up Jordy Clasie while Van Gaal allowed Michel Vorm, the only one without minutes, his claim to fame. The Swansea man was allowed the last 5 minutes and had two goal kicks to his name when finally the ref put Brazil out of its misery.

Van Gaal’s mission has been accomplished. He reached the semi finals with Oranje and was able to do so without having suffered a defeat and using all 23 players. The Dutch have scored prolifically and with the most different goal scorers while we only conceded two goals from open play (Australia and Mexico, both crackers of goals).

I actually believe that we would have beaten Germany in the finals but hey…. I’ll take this.

The best thing for me, is the vindication of the Eredivisie. Many people, national and international (and here too) believed the Eredivisie is a crap competition.

Some Eredivisie quality (and Villan Roncrete Vlaar)

I think the facts speak for themselves: the player development and talent development in Holland is still top notch, if not better than ever. We now clearly also develop defenders! With a good coaching staff and a clear football vision, these lads can get somewhere.

Where Dutch clubs get unstuck internationally is the sheer fact that clubs in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, England, Germany have more money to spend. So they can assemble more good players. That is why Dutch clubs suffer outside of the Eredivisie. But in terms of development, we clearly hold our own!

July 12, 2014 by Jan

Holland cheers and Holland mourns…. Oranje out!

Dear friends, I am writing this a full 48 hours after the game. The reason, work had me traveling and I wasn’t able – in amongst my meetings – to sit and write a deserving post. I was happy I was able to watch the full game and read your comments here…

So, with that time in between I was able to give it all some good thought, and reflect on the game.

Which I will summarize as: 89 minutes of cagey play by two 5-3-2 playing teams giving nothing away until Robben in the 90st minute has a chance to score, takes one touch too much and gets thwarted. Extra time. Penalties. Bad luck (bad penalties). Loss.

This post needs to start with a big thumbs up and a big thank you and shout out for the boys! What they have done this tournament, what they have achieved and brought us is sensational. It’s actually on par for me with 1978. It’s a better performance almost than 2010, if you compare it. Breathtaking, really. What a rollercoaster ride.

And therefor, we also need to congratulate the staff and Louis van Gaal in particular.

He has achieved what no one expected him to do. Apart from us, probably :-). I do know that I have been critical on LVG and his antics, but he did really really well. Who knows, we might start to actually like him, 3 years before he retires, hahahahaha.

He wasn’t perfect though, he made some mistakes. Just like Sneijder, Blind, Van Persie and Cillesen weren’t perfect. But man, did I love this team and what they achieved.

We will celebrate the performance of the team in the days/weeks to come and I am sure the Dutch fans will give the lads a real heroes welcome once they return home. As number 3 or number 4, who cares…

In the words of Louis: “I wish they cancelled this consolation finals. What a bad idea. Who cares about that. You don’t want to lose twice in a row after having played such an amazing tournament. We should be going home now.”

And I agree: Third or Fourth. Who gives a samba? Poor Brazil was humiliated by Germany. What will they do? How will they cope? Will they be on the top of their game? Or foaming at the mouth of aggression and adrenaline? Or will they be stressed out to the max? Will be beat them too? Then what will happen over there? Will Louis allow the veterans their last WC game? Will he rest the top guns to allow them their much deserved break?

All these questions.

However, now…. with the game in less than 24 hours, Van Gaal has changed his tune: “I want to write football history for the Dutch. Never ever before did we finish a World Cup campaign without losing a match. In 1974, 78, 98 and 2010 we lost at least one game. This tournament, I want Oranje to be able to say: we went to the World Cup, played 7 big games and didn’t lose on single game in normal open play.”

I will watch the game and I will cheer for Holland but if Brazil beats us 5-0 I wouldn’t care. It’s a stupid thing. I do hope Louis will allow some of the benchwarmers to play. I think it’s time for Vorm, for Veltman, for Kongolo and Clasie for instance.

I will get back to the Argentina game for a bit here, still.

Brilliant defending header by Janmaat

I read Willem van Hanegem’s column before the game. And I was hoping to have time to put it here. Because I fully agreed with Willem. He basically said:

“Now we have reached the semis, we have formally reached our objective. We have also shown the world how good we can be. But we have not yet played our beloved Dutch style football, bar some periods in games where we had to. Lets take this game against Argentina and do it. Forget about 5-3-2. If you play that against Argentina who do the same, it’s almost as if you’re asking for penalties. Lets take the game to them. If we get past them, we’ll have a chance against Germany to put some pressure on them too. If we do not win against Argentina, we will at least leave the tournament with a good last hurrah! Dutch lose playing attacking football! Better than hearing “Dutch sneak into finals with negative play” again…. So play Clasie from the start. Make sure we have quick feet and quick passing. Put three forwards on and put pressure on their back five. Because there is nothing that can take the pride I feel for Oranje away anymore. You guys cannot lose anymore.”

Heartfelt message from De Kromme.

But Louis didn’t believe. For the first time in his life, Louis lost his bravado and wanted to squeeze out a win with another 5-3-2 “all balls on Robben” tactics. This is the drama for me, of this Tournament.

When I talked about Vlaar’s penalty yesterday ( a fluke as I have now seen footage from another angle, Vlaar touched the ball), I was in need of some drama. Losing games is ok, as long as there is drama attached to it.

1974 – The Swimming Pool Incident; Holland having 24 opportunities to score, German Dive got them penalty
1978 – Rensenbrink hits the post in dying seconds
1982 – Van Breukelen – Krol – Platini – nuff said
1984 – Spain – Malta 12-1
1986 – Grun scored in the last 5 minutes to launch Belgium to the Mexico WC
1990 – Beenhakker, Michels, Cruyff, Gullit
1992 – Van Basten misses penalty
1994 – Brazilian offside goals, winner scored from free-kick which was supposed to be an Oranje ball
1996 – Davids/Hiddink
1998 – Van Hooijdonk fouled in the box; no penalty but yellow for Pi-Air
2000 – Holland – Italy semi finals, Holland miss 12 penalties
2002 – Louis van Gaal
2004 – Robben substitution Advocaat
2006 – Battle of Nueremburg
2008 – Personal Tragedy Boulahrouz
2010 – Casillas’ toe
2012 – Zero points, Van Persie missing 34 chances to score
2014 – …….

I was hoping it was “Penalty goal Vlaar overseen by ref” but it most likely should be “Van Gaal sticks to defensive tactics too long”.

But of course, always easy to criticise in hindsight. In Dutch we say, “Hindsight is like looking a cow up her arse”… I do not know who made THAT up (not Cruyff!!) and why he / she made it up…. But if there is one thing I wish LVG hadn’t done, it was playing 5-3-2 against the masters of 5-3-2.

Also…. with what I saw of RVP and heard about him having stomach and bowel issues… I think LVG should have left Van Persie on the bench and only use him as a supersub (for instance, to score a penalty).

The signs were ignored. Van Persie’s body gave clear signs of exhaustion. The misses against Costa Rica. The stomach pain… Clearly an immune system response, saying “I am done”.

In hindsight, we should have gone Kuyt – Vlaar – De Vrij – Janmaat. Midfield: Sneijder – De Jong – Wijnaldum. And up front: Depay – Lens – Robben.

With Depay dropping back and Lens as deep striker.

During the game, we could bring Clasie for De Jong, as LVG did.

And bring Huntelaar AND Van Persie when / if the game needed it.

Btw, I just saw that a rumour has been going around saying that Sneijder, Kuyt and Robben asked Van Gaal to use Huntelaar instead of skipper Van Persie as Robin didn’t look too fresh. Van Gaal and Kuyt at the press conference said that was bullshite. Kuyt: “I have played on 5 major tournaments and never ever have seen so much team spirit and cohesion in the squad a snow. And Robin is our captain. There is no foundation to all of this.”

But….. Easy to say for the steering people standing on the shore. Another Dutch expression for you :-).

All of this is not to say, that I am proud, extremely proud of our team.

If I already can give you a headsup of my upcoming rating for the Squad, I think Vlaar was sensational, I think De Vrij was great, Wijnaldum played a bland first half but ended the game on a high. Clasie had a good turn as a sub, and Janmaat was at his usual high level. Sneijder was not too shabby either, but Robben and Robin, the special ones, were not special enough for us against Argentina…

What actually is a fun statistic: Wesley Sneijder is the player who ran the most kilometers on this World Cup. Of all players. If you would have said this to Louis van Gaal last year, he would have done this:

Robben is short listed for the title Man of the Tournament and if he does well against Brazil and Muller / Messi do not well in the finals, who knows. Memphis Depay is mentioned as the Talent of the Tournament title. Maybe LVG will get coach of the World Cup, who knows…

Anyway, enough musings. We’ll have some Samba time tomorrow.

Lets finish with some fun. This is how the English viewed Holland-Argentia:

July 9, 2014 by Jan

Oranje-mania in Holland

Before the World Cup, many Dutch fans felt we shouldn’t even go… We didn’t have any defence to speak of, we missed Strootman, De Jong would be over the hill, Sneijder wouldn’t be fit, RVP and Robben wouldn’t be able to carry the team leading from the front and LVG would be too intense and too self obsessed to do the right thing.

Depay, Blind, Cillesen, Wijnaldum, De Vrij….nice players for the Eredivisie. Not good enough for world class level.

I was one of the ones who didn’t like Van Gaal in the job. I actually also didn’t see Koeman or Gullit or any other “normal” coach in the job either. For me, it was Co Adriaanse because of his courage and then as soon as possible Frank de Boer.

I felt Van Gaal was too much about Van Gaal….

Whole tv programs (VI Oranje) were established with one goal only: to ridicule Van Gaal and criticize Oranje. But this particular program is now losing many viewers, as one can criticise anything and anyone in Holland, but you simply don’t touch the Dutch National Team. The ratings have dropped enormously and the icons in the program – Dutch football journo Derksen and ex PSV and Oranje winger Rene van der Gijp – are at each others throats.

But the unfathomable has happened. And the whole nation is going berserk as a result. The team that was expected to go home after three games and the coach who was expected to self destruct have performed beyond expectations and have made a huge leap from a talented group of outsiders to the favourite semi finalists of many international football fans.

Arjen Robben might become the Player of the Tournament. The Dutch youngsters have tripled their transfer value and could be on their way to bigger things (BMI, Janmaat, Fer, De Vrij, Blind, Depay) while Nigel de Jong, Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder have re-established themselves as football royalty.

And what about Tim Krul: the man of the moment? Or Klaas Jan Huntelaar? Deadly in the box. 8 minutes on the pitch, 7 touches, 1 assist, 1 goal.

But the real Man of the Tournament is not Robben or Kuyt or Krul for us. It’s none other than Louis himself.

He was responsible for the systems change, for the intense focus on match fitness, the emphasis on commitment and team spirit and the many substitutions that really worked out well.

He truly shines on this platform and it feels as if he is not ready yet.

The Dutch supporters at home can’t get enough. The clips on Youtube of groups of Oranje fans watching on big screens or in cinemas and pubs show masses of orange clad people partying like its 1999. Oranje is getting crazy popular again and there are more and more spontaneous celebrations in fountains and parks and streets….

And the love-fest continues with Van Gaal declaring that this is the best and most professional group he ever worked. “Not because they are the best players individually. They’re not. But because of their commitment, spirit and mentality.” Van Gaal has worked on this on purpose. Two years ago he already said “we might not have the best players, but we can make sure we have the best team”.

Bar Jordy Clasie and Michel Vorm, everyone already had a chance to contribute. And not for sentimental reasons. Van Gaal changes players with a clear solution in mind. And as a result, they pay off. Depay needed versus Australia. Fer needed versus Chile. Huntelaar needed vs Mexico. Kuyt back into the frame. Krul needed versus Costa Rica, and who knows, Joel Veltman vs Messi.

When Kuyt started the preparations weeks ago with Oranje he secretly hoped LVG would allow him to make some minutes in the team as to reach his 100st international game for Oranje. Nope. Louis doesn’t do sentiment. But at the World Cup 2014, a thoroughly motivated Kuyt plays as a 25 year old. Wesley Sneijder was told, 12 months ago, that he needed to shape up or ship out. And a super fit Wesley Sneijder is currently assuming the role of field captain again. Or Klaas Jan Huntelaar? A negative noise generation is 2012, has already tweeted numerous positive little messages to his followers. After the 120 mins vs Costa Rica, Van Gaal walked on to the pitch to speak to his troops. He saw that Kuyt and Robben took the word and started to instruct the players. Van Gaal stepped aside. “Robben was saying the right words and Kuyt made a lot of sense too. I wasn’t needed. It is super when you see the players take care of things.”

And before you know it, Stefan de Vrij or Georginio Wijnaldum could be word champions in a week. And six other Eredivisie players as well. Quite an achievement. Or better: reaching the semis can already be regarded as a tremendous achievement.

Its interesting to note that second to Bayern Munich, Feyenoord is the the club with the most players at the World Cup. I will post soon more on that topic!

So we’re about to take on Argentina and if we or when we do, we get to beat the Germans!

Perfect revenge for the Dutch: we took Spain and now we will go for Argentina and then the Zjermans!

Bring it on!

As for fitness updates… Sadly, Robin van Persie didn’t look to fresh. Bowel and stomach issues. He didn’t train yesterday but LVG is quite positive: “He is my captain. He normally always plays. But it is too early to tell now.” Leroy Fer has trained with the team but is still not in the clear. Ron Vlaar is most likely fit in time to fill in his spot (although I wouldn’t have minded Veltman) and the biggest miracle of all is that Nigel de Jong might actually be fit for the semis!!

There is a bit of a risk in that, of course. For Nigel and for the Oranje. Because it might happen again: Nigel only 8 minutes into the game, he gets another jolt, Messi runs away from him and scores while Nigel needs to be subbed….

Van Gaal didn’t say much about the options he has. But he did say he thinks he has a plan. “I think it will be a close game. A typical 50/50 game and we need to hope the dime falls our way. They are well organised, experienced, have a couple of extraordinary players and always a tough opponent.”

Argentina won all their games with only one goal difference while their opponents all seemed to approach Argentina with a open game. Belgium even used three forwards. The main question for us will be: will we see Depay or Lens upfront or will Van Gaal go back to the 5-3-2 we started the tournament with. Against Costa Rica, we used the 3-4-3 system, and were able to create a lot of opportunities but we simply didn’t score.

July 6, 2014July 6, 2014 by Jan

Holland needs penalties to beat CR goalie!

What an epic thriller! Where to start… I predicted a 4-0 win the other day and by Golly, I could have gotten that one right. If only….our forwards did their job (Robin van Persie!), if only we knew what offside was and if only their goalie had an off day…

We had 14 corner kicks, four dangerous free kicks, three balls denied by the woodwork,forced 14 saves by their goalie and had more than 65% possession.

But we didn’t score. We outplayed Spain that allowed us to play and scored 5 in 90 minutes (4 in 45 minutes even). We weren’t capable of taking down a highly defensive Costa Rica and score one in 120 minutes. And sure, their goalie is good but we should have beaten him at least twice.

Still, every game has a hero and it could have been Robben or De Vrij and it should have been Van Persie but it ended up being Tim Krul and Louis van Gaal… Who immediately shared a moment with keepers trainer Frans Hoek after the game. Hoek prepared the goalies for this and Hoek will have told Van Gaal: in case of penalties, use Tim.

The Newcastle man only stopped 2 out of 20 in recent times but upped his stats by stopping 2 out of 5 tonight. And he was so close with 2 other penalties. And while Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben and Kuyt scored their penalties impeccably and deserve the compliments, it was of course coach Van Gaal yet again claiming the kudos for this win.

For the first time this tournament, Van Gaal started with three up front. The back line consisted – as expected – of three (Vlaar, BMI, De Vrij) with Wijnaldum playing in the De Jong role and Kuyt and Blind outwide. Sneijder in a free central role with Depay, Robin and Robben upfront.

It took some time for Holland to get into the game and to settle as CR was not planning on playing along. As the great ones all know and say “It takes two teams to play good football”. If one doesn’t want to play, the other team needs to either totally overwhelm the opponent with fast, flashy football….or be patient and grind out opportunities. Percentage football, one could say. Holland doesn’t have the flow to take the first option, so we played cautious, deliberate and wanting to wait for a good opportunity to play Depay or Robben in.

And it worked. Albeit that we simply forgot to score. Van Persie had a chance which resembled the Australia goal he scored. A good pull back from Kuyt, who again played an epic game, with a quick reverse pass by Depay but the ManU striker found his shot blocked. Depay had a chance later on from a similar position. He went for the near post but saw his attempt stopped as well. There were not many chances but Oranje dominated the game and it did seem that a goal could be scored any minute. Sneijder was already mentioned by Van Gaal as a potential goal scorer from a free kick and it took another great save from Navas to stop a Sneijder free kick going to the top corner.

In the second half, CR absorbed more and more pressure with Robben continiously threatening the opponents with his runs, fed by a strong playing Sneijder and supported by an outstanding Kuyt. The latter seems to have won the race for right full back now.

In general, the team played well with the supporting actors all doing their job. Notable exceptions are De Vrij, who for me was one the best players on the pitch and Wijnaldum who I felt was very bland and almost invisible. He is a player who can bring a surprise, do something unpredictable but he did what he needed to go (I suppose) but really nothing more.

Of the players who needed to make a difference, Depay and Van Persie were a bit disappointing. Van Persie did get in good positions and worked like a beast but at the crucial moments, the ManU man looked a lot like the striker we saw fail versus Denmark in 2012, missing a complete sitter even on a Blind cross.

Tim Krul can lay claim on the Man of the Match title, but Robben and Sneijder for me are good contenders for that title. Sneijder used his energy and passes where he could and rattled the woodwork twice (one from a free kick and one from open play).

Van Gaal: “This is the best team I have ever worked with. Not per se the best set of players. But surely, the best team in terms of spirit and commitment. It’s a joy to work with these guys.” About the Krul Cillesen substitution. “This is all about details. I did feel that Krul is the better penalty killer. So I took the chance. If we would have lost, people would have crucified me for this decision. But these games, normally the team missing the chances in the game lose the penalty shoot outs. Happily for us, that didn’t happen now.”

Robben: “I think it was only justice that we won. We had so much more chances, and we wanted to play, whereas they wanted to get to penalties. Football has won, tonight. They were stalling and time wasting in the first half already. Our team spirit is amazing and with Krul we demonstrate yet again we do it with the whole squad. We can go far.”

Bert van Marwijk in the tv studio: “I am envious that Van Gaal has this Arjen Robben. When we played 4 years ago, Robben wasn’t fit. The Robben of today would have scored that chance I am sure. What an amazing player. People talk about Messi being the best and all that, but for me it’s Robben!”

Captain van Persie: “What a rollercoaster this was. The ball simply didn’t want to go in. Post, cross bar, goalie…you name it. Crazy. This takes up so much energy. But we did it and we will now focus on the next game. We’re still in it to win it.”

Penalty killer Tim Krul: “I had the feeling I could get a shot at it with penalties. I was doing well on practice. It’s simply a matter of standing as long as possible and watching the ball. You always have a chance. But don’t forget Cillesen’s save right before the game was over. If he doesn’t stop that ball, there are no penalties needed. We are really doing this with the whole group! This is a dream come true for me!”

Its a bit too early after this big win to go and put salt on the snails (Dutch expression meaning that you are going to put your finger on all the little things that went wrong) but it is clear we are not capable of dominating and playing Total Football as yet. We do have the players (Lens, Depay, Wijnaldum, etc) but we lack the flow, the automatisms to make it work. Our game is probably at its best when playing stronger opponents. Well, in the semis, we can go back to absorbing the play a bit more and utilising the space behind the Argentinian full backs as Argentina will try and create more than a team like Costa Rica, playing anti-football.

So we won’t go into too much analysis now. We’ll enjoy the game and realise that the seemingly undoable objective of the KNVB, to get to the semi finals, has been achieved by Van Gaal.

Despite the role of Robben and Sneijder and Huntelaar and Kuyt, it does seem Van Gaal is the Man of the Tournament for Oranje.

I criticised him here as a person (I never doubted his coaching skills) and I doubted his motivations to go to the World Cup but Van Gaal shows that personal ambition and focus can result in people and teams to outdo themselves. Van Gaal is in top form and he is pushing the group to greater heights every day, supported by the incredibly in-form Arjen Robben.

Two more to go!

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Jan

Preview Oranje – Costa Rica: the fairytale continues….

That is for sure. Because the fairytale that is Costa Rica might continue ( as the media calls it) but for me, the Oranje Story is a fairytale as well!

I mean: we struggled during the Euros 2012. We lost our complete defensive backline. Our goalie mocked up his career, and months before the World Cup our strongholder in midfield Kevin Strootman got injured. Kevin who???

Indeed! It almost feels like we didn’t need him…

The media in Holland, most supporters, the football experts and former players….no one saw this coming. The draw was a bitch and most people had Holland going home after the group stages! With our 2010 squad, we were unable to get a single point vs Denmark, Germany and Portugal in 2012. Now, we beat the World Champions and South American big guns Chile and Mexico and we can safely say we have a pretty good look in into the semi finals. The semi finals!!!!

What a rollercoaster ride. And we all believed in it, and we were there. Just like we have heard the stories about 1974 or some have heard the stories of 1988, this World Cup might well be a tournament that will be relived forever.

Obviously, we can lose against Costa Rica. Italy did. Uruguay did. England couldn’t score against them. Their defence is solid and strong. Their goalie is more than decent. And upfront they have some special players. We know Bryan Ruiz pretty well, in Holland. He was a connaisseur’s player, when at Twente. He could only score beautiful goals. He was the golden boy of Twente and did inject some class into PSV this season.

But. He didn’t manage too well in England. He picked the wrong club, maybe. Playing relegation football in England is not for everyone. And he did score some scorchers for Fulham. Ruiz is a good player in possession but also worked hard this World Cup for his team. He will able to do special things in big games. Another big name player is Joel Campbell. On the books of Arsenal but on loan in Greece. A great dribbler. Opportunistic player, with a good shot. His biggest problem: he is hot or cold. All or nothing. Another good player to watch out for is Christian Bolanes, who plays in Denmark. Playing from the left, coming inside and has good vision. He is the man where Costa Rica regularly starts its attacks. Celso Borges, playing in Sweden, is also a strong player.

Oscar Duarte, playing in Brugge, is also a key player but he is suspended and will be sorely missed.

All in all, a fun opportunistic team, riding the wave, not unlike Denmark in the 1992 Euros. But it does feel that it will be over and done with vs Holland. With all due respect: if there is one game Holland should win, it’s this one.

On the other hand, this will be the first time that Holland is not the underdog. The players are really supposed to win this game and it remains to be seen how they will handle that.

Because when the World Cup was discussed before the event, anyone would have applauded Holland reaching the quarter finals. But now they’re in it, and versus Costa Rica, suddenly everyone will expect them to win it. That is how football works and opportunistic it all is.

What happens after that (Argentina or Belgium)…who knows. It can go any which way.

But enough about Costa Rica!!

The pale faces of the youngsters De Vrij, Blind, Janmaat, Cillesen – worrier – and others have made place for the stern look of the confident warrior. Watching the lads in the tunnel before the Spain game or watching them now. A huge difference. “We made huge steps,” said Van Persie recently, and he is right. The weak defence was exposed in several friendlies against big nations, but at the World Cup, it’s Italy, England, Portugal and Spain that had to go home early, while BMI, Vlaar, Janmaat, Clasie and Depay are still in Brazil.

Van Gaal: “We might not have a fantastic team with experienced, world class players. But we are unified. We are confident. And we are very hard to beat.” He is right. The numbers don’t lie. In 3 out of 4 games, we fought back from being behind. Against Spain with many goals and good football. Against Mexico, in tough conditions, with character, shrewdness and determination. Is there a chance for underestimating Costa Rica. “No. No chance at all. What the players have as their goal is so big, so immense, there is no place for underestimating anyone. This is the quarter finals of a World Cup. The next step is the semi finals. Everyone is very aware of what is at stake.”

Van Gaal practices behind closed doors and for the first time was able to actually keep his starting line up a secret. Although it does seem he has decided to use Blind as De Jong’s replacement. Meaning Martins Indi will play at the back, most likely with Kuyt next to him on the flank. The biggest question mark now is the right full back. Runner Janmaat, or positional back Verhaegh?

But will LVG play 5-3-2? In earlier matches, Holland was most impressive with the usual 4-3-3. Putting pressure on and forcing the opponent (Australia, Mexico) back. Costa Rica too, will play with one striker when they lose possession, so 3 at the back + a central defensive midfielder is a bit too much. The Costa Rica backs don’t like a direct opponent so it does make sense to go for 4-3-3. In which case, we might see a midfield with Kuyt, Blind and Wijnaldum and the golden triangle up front with the option to mix it up. Or will Van Gaal opt for Kuyt as winger up front? Like he plays in Turkey and used to play in Oranje? Will LVG keep Depay on the bench for a turn in the second half when he is needed? Questions questions, and only LVG has the answers for now.

Internationally, Oranje is being compared to the Brazil of 2002. The Italian media praise Van Gaal and Oranje up into the sky. “In Holland, Oranje is criticised by the media? We don’t get that. They won four in a row. We would be on the streets celebrating if Italy did this. Van Gaal created a winning system that allows the youngsters to grow and gives the older lads a role to shine and lead. The big names still make the difference, but players like Blind, De Vrij and Depay have made enormous impressions on the Italian clubs. Holland might not win it this time, but they are definitely amongst the top of the world.”

The Japanese media: “Holland can reach the finals and win it too. Holland could make it for the fourth time. For a small nation, that is amazing. You can win it, but you could also lose it. Which might become a huge trauma. Anyway, LVG has created the perfect system for Oranje and created it around Robben, just like he did with AZ when he built the team around El Hamdaoui. I loved that AZ and I love this Oranje.”

German media: “Louis van Gaal vs the romantics. Johan Cruyff, of course. But Van Gaal is winning so he should be above criticism. He is able to switch between systems, and this rhythm shift as we call it works really well. We can see you get to the finals and win it.”

Brazilian Media: “Arjen Robben is a benevolent maniac. He is on a mission. It failed in 2010 and it seems like he deadset on winning it now. Oranje reminds me of Brazil 2002, when romantics and adventure were replaced by aggression and effectiveness. We had Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to make the difference. You have Van Persie and Robben. In my view, the birth of this team came when Van Persie made that diving header against Spain. The team was losing. It didn’t have much say. But Van Persie believed in that goal. He dove, without knowing what would happen. And the whole team joined him in that big dive. And that leap was the launch of this new Oranje.”

Belgian media: “I do feel that Oranje is not Oranje, with 5 defenders. But I also believe the Dutch media are too harsh. When Van Basten played wonderful games in 2008 with counter football against Italy and France, the media loved it. Van Marwijk didn’t play too impressive in 2010 and was somewhat criticised. But now Van Gaal, playing with a new team mostly, is at the helm, everyone seems to want him to fail.”

The Dutch players are slowly starting to realise and talk about their dreams to win this World Cup. Vlaar was one of the first and now Wijnaldum as well. The PSV midfielder, who missed half this season due to injuries, is the new marathon man in midfield, in Strootman’s spot. Ask the squad which player is the fittest and they’ll yell “Wijnaldum”. He was 16 years old when he made his debut. The man with the backheel, the stepover, the dribble and the trick. Criticised for being too creative. Now, 7 years later into his career but still only 23 years old, he is battling as the Marathon Man. Asked about his experiences before this quarter finals… Is he nervous? “Not at all. I don’t notice my nerves. All goes so quickly. Before you know it you are in the match, all focus. I haven’t played for a while and I am all enthusiasm. The pitch, the ball, the fans…I’m loving it.” Mexican star Guardado experienced how it was against hardworking midfielder Wijnaldum. Winger no more. Well, my job was to contain him. Make sure he couldn’t create anything. It went well although I almost played right back!”. Wijnaldum’s story is a fairytale like Oranje’s or Costa Rica’s… “I didn’t believe this was going to happen. I wasn’t part of the plans of Van Gaal, I don’t think. And when I got my back injury I thought I was completely out of sight. But the last months I played well and clearly Mr Van Gaal was looking for a certain type of player. I was one of the lucky last in the squad and now I am a starter!”. Gini Wijnaldum knows Costa Rica well. “I watched them a lot to follow team mate Bryan Ruiz. He is a good mate and I think they’ve done really well. At this stage, everything is possible. Anyone of the remaining nations can make it all the way. Us too!”

July 1, 2014 by Jan

Tribute to Nigel de Jong

Oranje practised against France in March 2014. Van Gaal didn’t call up Nigel de Jong. He wanted to use Clasie in midfield. He knew what De Jong could and couldn’t do. The AC Milan destroyer seemed to smirk when confronted with this, as if to say “you wait and see, I will play at the World Cup”.

Holland got muscled off the pitch against France. Our complete midfield was too light against the Pogba’s of this world. In the meantime, Nigel was outstanding for AC Milan week in week out, even taking the key free kicks and scoring goals with his head. Nigel returned in the squad and into the team.

And became the Man of the Group Stages for Holland, along with Arjen Robben.

Sadly, it seems his World Cup is now over with a serious groin injury. It’s too early to call maybe, but it doesn’t look good.

Vilified in 2010, declared a hero in 2014. This is the opportunistic game that is football.

Nigel as ball boy with future coach Clarence Seedorf

De Jong’s story is quite remarkable. Son of Jerry de Jong, former Oranje international, but hardly knew his dad. He came through the Ajax development system and was known as a creative, dynamic midfielder, scoring many goals, most notably the one in the European Cup competition against Thierry Henry’s Arsenal. He was Ajax’ Player of the Season in 2004 but lost his spot in the season following and was disgruntled with his treatment.

He made his international debut in 2004 but was overlooked for the 2004 Euro tournament. when Hamburg SV came for him, he gladly made the step to the Bundesliga. HSV paid 1million euros for the midfielder. Huub Stevens, his coach at HSV, turned the attacking midfielder into a defensive block in midfield. Stevens recognised De Jong’s tactical vision and physical strength and motivated De Jong to work and focus on this role. “He said to me: as an attacking midfielder, you will be sub top in Europe. As a defensive mid, you can become world class. I believed him. And he was right. I am no Messi or Ronaldo or Robben. I do not have that quality. But I can definitely hold my own in a competition of defensive mids. I think I would be among the best out there.” A knee injury kept De Jong out of the World Cup squad of 2006, although he was on standby in case any of the other midfielders had to bail out.

Marco van Basten used De Jong next to Orlando Engelaar in the 2008 Euros where he played outstanding.

The metamorphosis was spotted by many European top clubs and in 2009, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes signed him on their quest to the European (and English) top. They paid 25 mio euros for the midfielder. He became a fan favorite in his first season and added grit and professionalism to the second Manchester club. He won the FA Cup and the EPL title with Man City, before he was sold on to AC Milan in 2012.

De Jong was also a starter for Oranje in the 2010 WC campaign and played every game bar the semi finals vs Uruguay due to suspension. Demy de Zeeuw played for him. In the finals, De Jong infamously hit Xabi Alonso in the chest with his studs, which got him criticised globally and he was the symbol of the “Ugly Dutch team of 2010”. In the same time, he had a couple of incidents on the pitch in England and with Holland against Australia in a friendly, which prompted coach Van Marwijk to not select him for a spell. De Jong never publically commented on this and would later say that “there will be no words that would convince people otherwise… being silent and playing your game is all you can do. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. I don’t think I can change that or should try to change that. What counts is what my family thinks and what my coaches think. The rest is irrelevant.”

He suffered injuries in the first half of this season in Milan and Van Gaal ignored the blocked midfielder for a while to try out different players. But with the absence of Strootman, the loss of form and fitness of Sneijder and the lack of experience of our defence it became apparent that De Jong could and would play an important part in Brazil.

His tremendous concentration, leadership and commitment has earned him many compliments this tournament. Van Gaal, after the Australia game: “I don’t like singling out individual players but if I have to, I will name Nigel de Jong as the man of the match.”

In an interview, recently, with Helden Magazine (Hero Magazine, about football players and ex players): “I used to really get off on doing a cool trick with the ball. A little flick or a step over. But I came to realise that many players can do so. There are 100s of players in Europe who can do a cool trick or two with the ball. They practice this day in day out. But I also realised there are maybe only 10 players who can execute the perfect block tackle. And enjoy doing it. Seriously. There are not that many who can do this. I like to think I am one of them. The perfect block tackle to me is much more satisfying than a step over or a Cruyff turn. I get off on stopping an opponent. And in all honesty, I focus on getting the ball, but if I don’t get the ball, I will settle for the man. One of the two will be mine. I cannot allow both of them through.”

De Jong is 29 years old and back in demand in the EPL. Arsenal is supposedly zooming in on the midfield block while Man United is being named as his new club as well, what with Van Gaal being their new coach. “I wouldn’t mind returning to the EPL. But I am at an age where I will need to make the right decision and it really needs to be a good deal for me.”

All was looking so good for him. He was revered by his mates and his coach, while the media and fans at home again realised what a power house and important player he is. That, plus the fact he realised this could well be his last World Cup gave him the extra energy to support the youngsters and to bring Holland closer and closer to the finals.

De Jong is very positive about the chances of Oranje: “This 5-3-2 is a perfect system for this group and the circumstances in Brazil. These tournaments are tough, physically, mentally. We play with lots of young, untested lads, who have played Eredivisie and some international games with Young Oranje. Hell, most of the Feyenoord players haven’t played any European games of note. So the way we are approaching this tournament might not be to everyone’s liking, but it does do what it needs to do for us.” De Jong doesn’t want to compare with the 2010 World Cup.

Nigel with a juicy tackle on Brazil’s Kaka

“Totally different. New group, new staff, new stage… We need to stop comparing with the past but simply deal with the present.”

And the present is, that De Jong is most likely out for the rest of the World Cup. I’m sure the interest in his services for next season will remain but Van Gaal will need to look for another option in midfield.

He does have a couple: Wijnaldum has played on the center mid spot but will be considered too light for the role. De Guzman has been tested there but Van Gaal declared that he doesn’t consider the Swansea man an option for the role. Clasie and Blind play in this role for their respective clubs, but might be considered too light against really tough opponents (France, Argentina), while Fer could be considered once he is fit again or even Dirk Kuyt. Even Cillesen commented that he is worried that Kuyt might take his role in the next game!

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014 by Jan

Winning Oranje shows its Klaas!!

You know they say this about champions… If you can win ugly and grind out victories when you are playing bad, you can win the title.

This team may not dazzle with gallery play but they sure impress with grit, worksmanship and effectiveness.

We played four games at this World Cup. We won four and three of those we had to get back into the came after being behind!

This team might not have the pass and move total football of 1974 or the overall quality of 1998 but we sure have the tactical smarts, the laser focus and winners’ mentality to take the opportunity when it comes.

So we were trailing against Mexico 0-1 until late in the game. And it was a thoroughly disappointing Wesley Sneijder who put all his frustration in that spectacular volley to score the equaliser, a taunting Robben who simply collected the penalty he was denied in the first half and the coolest of heads (Huntelaar) to convert the spot kick.

Goosebumps!

I will leave you with this for a moment.

(Me after JanKlas scoring 🙂 )

In my preview of the match I spoke about the quality Huntelaar could bring to the team and like with Kieft in 1988 and Pierre van Hooijdonk in 1998, there are times when 10 minutes of game play is enough to make a player legendary. It is not a nice job to get. As I said earlier, when KJH is brought on, you know we are in trouble. But the coach made the right choices, again, and it paid off. Klaas Jan was key in getting Sneijder on the scoreboard and that penalty he took… We normally do not swoon over penalties. It’s always the flying headers or the long Robben dribbles that get attention, but this particular penalty was probably the perfect penalty, if ever there was one.

Can you imagine. You are only 10 mins on the pitch. You didn’t play all tournament. It’s the last minute of the game. It’s 1-1. If you score, we are in the quarter finals. And to score a penalty in this way, that is just art. Plain and simple, art. With a capital A. Art.

I am processing the game while writing this post. I think I shared with you my concern as the circumstances weren’t super for us and Mexico is really a strong opponent. The first half was quite dramatic. We lost Nigel de Jong very early on in the game and LVG decided not to bring Clasie but to move Blind up and bring BMI back in. At that stage, probably smart. De Jong has a groin injury and it doesn’t look good, I can say (quoting Van Gaal).

We were not really settled and in particular our midfield (Sneijder, Wijnaldum) was struggling, as was Van Persie. Could have been the weather, could have been their form, could have been tactics…or a mix of all. I think Van Gaal did tell the lads to start slowly and to be aware of the hard circumstances. We never really played full throttle except for some bursts from Robben.

Defensively, we were all over the place too, particularly in positioning. 5 Defenders against 2 forwards and upcoming midfielders… I don’t like it. Add to that a very tense Cillesen and there is your recipe for disaster. At times it felt like Mexico was cutting through our defence like a knife through hot guacamole.

We didn’t concede in the first 45 mins but at times it felt like luck. Mexico got lucky too, as we deserved a double penalty when Robben was hacked down late in the first half by two defenders.

Paul Verhaegh started in place of Janmaat and that didn’t really work out well. I never understood this move anyway. Kongolo for Kuyt is a big chance. As is Huntelaar for Van Persie. But Verhaegh for Janmaat is almost literally like for like. And Verhaegh didn’t look any better than Janmaat. Why take that decision? I don’t know…

In the second half, things changed and maybe for the better, in hindsight. Dos Santos scored a cracker. How was this possible, I would like to ask Daley Blind. And Cillesen for that matter. The strike was sweet but from that distance, I would expect the goalie to do better and I do think Krul would have saved that shot.

Anyway, it made the Azteca track back a tad more and it prompted Van Gaal to bring Memphis Depay and resort back to 4-3-3. The whole team played a gear up and bar a couple of breaks by Mexico it was mainly Oranje playing in the second half, with Robben threatening on the right and Sneijder becoming more dominant.

Stefan de Vrij was very close to scoring his second of the tournie on a Robben corner kick but the impressive goalie and the upright saved Mexico. It felt like the equaliser was coming but would the extra time help us win it? Or would we be destined to go into another penalty shootout lottery?

When Robben was fouled yet again by two players in a row when he dribbled into the box but given not even a second look by the ref, it felt like it wasn’t going to be his day.

He had another good run into the box later on, with a wild Marquez lunge, but this time decided to stay on his feet as he had a bit goal scoring opportunity (and the option to pass square to the open Van Persie). Robben took the shot and the goalie blocked it.

Robin van Persie – practically invisible this game – was taken off but his older brother – the referee – would play a part in us getting the victory.

But first it was time for Huntelaar’s entrance. He didn’t get much time from Van Gaal but the Hunter look focused when he came on and with his new RVP-style hairdo, it felt like he could become the day’s hero.

First he cushion-headed a Robben cross back to the spot where Wesley Sneijder had his only good touch of the day. With his majestic right, he took the ball on the volley and found the empty corner to finally put his name on the scoresheet.

It felt like Holland should be able to kill the game in the last minutes, as clearly no one was looking forward to extra time.

In those dying minutes, Robben – again he – started another rush, which ended on the byline and prompted Robben to dribble back into the box again. Veteran Marquez thought “enough is enough” and took a late nibble, motivating Robben to go down. Third time lucky, and the ref pointed at the spot.

With only 2 minutes left on the clock, Robben declined to take the ball. “I guess I could have claimed it but it didn’t feel good. Getting the decision, it’s most often best to let another do it. I was buggered and Klaas Jan felt really good. He converted the penalty in sensational fashion, so all good. I can cry with happiness,” said the Bayern man after the game.

Practically all the players talked about their joy and the tremendous heat. Van Persie: “I am so happy. This team is amazing. The spirit is enormous. I am a big believer. We didn’t play great but the circumstances were outrageous. I have never played in temperatures like this. I wanted to play more attacking than we did, but we simply couldn’t. The space would be too big and Mexico would benefit from that.”

Kuyt (playing international match 100!): “This was so hard. I don’t think I ever had it this warm ever.”

Vlaar: ” We started drinking a lot of fluids 3 days go to allow the body to adjust. I must have drank 3 liters before the game. This was a win of tenacity and patience and grit, but also a result of great preparation by the technical staff.”

Some will say Robben was Man of the Match, other will name Huntelaar. The Schalke striker had an assist and a goal. “This is what I dreamt about since 2006. To be important for Oranje at a World Cup”. In the 78th minute, Holland was on its way home, in the 92nd minute, Holland was quarter finalist. In the 88th minute, he saw the cross coming. “I knew it was hopeless to go for a goal. It was too hard, so I decided to cushion it back towards the edge of the box. I know Wes is always lurking for a lose ball.” When Robben got himself his penalty, he asked KJ to take it. “I do tend to get nervous before taking a spot kick, but not this time. They tried to disrupt my focus but I closed myself off completely. I focused on the spot where I’d hit it and that’s it. I am so glad my patience paid out. Finally I can be of value.”

Coach Louis van Gaal: “Our team spirit won it yet again. This was incredible. We have done our best to prepare the lads but at the end of the day, they had to do and they did. I did see our team was fitter. They were done for, it seemed, from the bench. I never panicked, it felt like we would get back into it and the fittest team won.”

Van Gaal does claim a bit of the success: “I am happy I was successful in asking for those drink breaks. It allowed me to put some details in when we needed to change the game. It’s funny, i wasn’t happy with our game in possession and we sort of fixed that somewhat but now I was unhappy with our pressure on the ball when they had possession. They had a number of distance strikes that we should have avoided. Their goal was also a matter of lack of good pressure on the ball.”

Exacrtly seven years ago, Dirk Kuyt’s biggest friend and fan died. His dad passed away after a long disease period. And here in Brazil, seven years later, Dirk plays his 100th international game. After the game, Kuyt received a beautiful trophy of the Federation and a present from the group. And a speech by captain Van Persie. “The words Robin spoke…they really touched me. I was very emotional. Also because of our win of course. Quite a game to have as your 1ooth game. Robin and I know each other well, for 10 years or so now, and we grew close. Gooesebumps.”

The international media have two main topics, as a result of this game. The Dutch media in particular hail King Klaas. The man with steel nerves. De Volkskrant focuses on Van Gaal first. “The coach prepped his team for this World Cup playing different systems. But when all systems are tried and failed, what rests the team is a system based on hard work, tenacity and passion. At the end of this battle, Dutch values of possession, flair and attacking won us the game.”

The international media focused on the dramatic win of Oranje as well but their focus was Arjen Robben and in particular his alleged diving. There are many fun images of Arjen floating around the internet and I will be happy to post a number tomorrow or so. But today, I don’t want to spoil our fun as we are processing this Mexican appetiser with relish.

In closing, Louis used 20 players now. Only Clasie, Vorm and Krul have not yet had their chance to shine. With Cillesen not really impressing this particular match, who knows… LVG is weird enough to suddenly use Krul. As for Nigel de Jong, his injury doesn’t look good which might well mean we will see Clasie vs Costa Rica!

I need to google what the traditional Costa Rican dish is for one of my next posts!!

Happy times are here again! Holland is amongst the best eight now :-).

June 27, 2014 by Jan

Why Arjen Robben is the best, and other stories…

Hi all, I am starting this post with a big request… As some or most of you know, the blog is undergoing some changes in terms of software and hosting and it has not been an easy ride, doing all this while the WC is on and the blog needs its uptime.

I know I have asked you this some times already and I am also experimenting with Mailchimp email shots to reach out. So it might be that I start to get annoying with this :-). If that is the case, my sincere apologies. This will hopefully be the last time I have to ask you guys this.

But… the cost for upgrading and re-loading to a new cloud host platform is costly and I really need some support from you guys (if you donated already in the last weeks, please ignore!). I was thinking, as we are with 1000s here, if everyone could do maybe $5 via paypal donation, I am guessing you won’t be missing out on too many things (one tequila shot??), while it means the world to me in making sure this blog will remain stable and alive.

So, I would like to ask you: please hit the donation/paypal button if you can and drop me $5, please…. It REALLY helps a lot!

On with the Oranje!!

Gary Lineker tweeted this after Holland – Chile: “For now, Arjen Robben is the best player of the World Cup.” Here is ten reasons why.

Lionel Messi may be the natural heir of Maradona but should there ever be one non Argentine who deserves this monniker it will be Arjen Robben, from Bedum. Like with Maradona, Robben’s dribbles start on his own half this World Cup. And he will keep on taking on opponents even if they jump on his back with three of them. His solos are made easily at the start of the game as in the final minutes of the game.

So here is one reason. Robben doesn’t play in a team with internationally experienced cracks like Neymar with Brazil, Rooney with England or Muller with the Germans. It is Robben who makes the difference with 5 players from the Dutch Eredivisie in his team. Should Holland win the World Cup, it’ll be like Ajax winning the Champions League. German reporter Milani says “Robben is more important than Muller for the Germans or Neymar for Brazil. The Germans also see Robben as the best player of the tournament, at this stage.”

And take also on board all the things they yelled at him in the past. Arjen Flop. The Man of Glas. The King of the Dive. In 2012, the whole supporter group of Bayern Munich booed him and his team mates called him “Aleinikov” ( Egotist, basically), meaning that he should pass the ball more often. His current performance will sooth his hurt soul. He will never mention revenge as a driving factor, but it will most likely play a part. Robben has an ego too. That makes him so strong.

Then there is Robben, enjoying himself in the game. He is literally liberated from playing on the flanks. That is a factor as well. People think Robben is a born winger. He is not. He used to play as playmaker in the youth. An actual number 10. But when he made his debut at FC Groningen his coach put him on the wing, to protect him a bit from the butcher central defenders. At Bayern, his only release from the right flank, is when he switches with Ribery to the left flank. In Oranje, he has total freedom. He can go where he wants and he pays it back with dividends. Bild Zeitung in Germany rated his performance against Chile with a 1. The highest possible and normally only for players who score a hattrick.

Mark van Bommel mentions the fifth reason why Arjen is the best. “Robben played at this level before, but the difference with Bayern or Real Madrid or Chelsea is that with those clubs he would get the ball in the final third. He would not have lots of space to dribble, pace up, taken on opponents and decide what to do: shoot or pass or cross. With this Oranje game plan, he has more space to make better decisions and to utilise his speed more. Sanchez of Chile is basically a similar player but he is only used in the final third of the pitch and there is simply less space to operate in.”

Reason six comes back to the playmaker role. Robben is the man who can score from a throughpass, but he can also give the throughpass… In the first phase of the Spain game, it was Robben who launched Sneijder into space with a perfect touch. This is also a skill Robben has.

Number seven: he is 30 years old. A bit older than Messi, Aguero, Muller, Hazard, Neymar and you name ‘m. He could have been on his way back. Marco van Basten had to retire already a year ago, when he was 30. And Robben history of injuries seemed to go in that direction, but this is where his personality shows. “At Bayern, I do a check up every week. Everything. Bones, muscles, blood, everything. No coincidences for me.” Arjen Robben grew into an iron man, a fitness wonder.

Winning the Champions League in 2013 was not the end of his career and hopefully not the high point either. It’s rather the start of a new era. As if he is capable of making another leap in his career. And enjoying thee game as if he is 14 years old again. Bert van Marwijk: “Some players will become somewhat satisfied after a big win. It’s as if they reached their goal and need time to find another motivation. With Robben, it’s the other way around. Whenever he achieves something, he wants more. A typical character trait of a winner.”

In three World Cup games, Robben has been the skipper three times (parts of the games, at least). The English Guardian praises him as the Man of the Tournament based on his charisma and leadership. “As a young player, he never looked like a skipper or leader. But now, it clicks. He is mature now and offers a mix of get-go, confidence and focus. This combination will make him the man of the tournament.”

And the tenth reason? Simple. Because he is Dutch. And if you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much. Arjen Robben, the best player of this World Cup! And most likely, the best on the planet.

Brazilian and Flamengo legend Zico with Sparta midfielder Van Gaal

While we swoon over our main man, it is good to see how other ex-top players praise Holland and are almost in line to enter the hotel and meet the lads. Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Viera, Fabio Cannavaro, Arsene Wenger, Zico… just a short list of icons who came and visited the Dutch players. Kees Jansma even said the Dutch team received a standing ovation from the international media when Van Persie and Van Gaal entered the press room, the other day.

Still, it is not all kudos and cheers. Top names like Willem van Hanegem, Frank de Boer and Jorge Valdano think Van Gaal is taking the 5-3-2 too far. Valdano: “I don’t see Van Gaal as a top coach. I see Menotti, Cruyff and Guardiola as top. Van Gaal has committed treason to the Dutch. Normally, the Dutch want the ball and do something special with it. This Oranje doesn’t seem to want the ball. A great coach has a vision and sticks to it and makes his team work with it. Cruyff would never negotiate his ideas and vision. I rather see a fool play adventurous football and lose than seeing a shrewd statistician like Van Gaal ruin the game.”

“But I am a fool too!”

De Boer and Van Hanegem didn’t use those terms, to be honest. Willem simply hopes Holland will do better in possession (which is what Van Gaal says too!) and De Boer sees this 5-3-2 as a new trend. And Ajax will have to learn to break this down. De Boer claims he knows how to do this, but refuses to discuss this in the media. “Because we will probably need to do this and I don’t want to make the opponent smarter than they are.”

Back in Rio, Louis van Gaal led the last training session before the Mexican Standoff. “And I realise that this actually might be the last one, because should we lose the game, we will not be doing any training anymore. Weird idea.” The session clearly showed Kuyt again as left back in the 5-3-2, as Martins Indi is still a question mark. The Feyenoord defender is free from pain but has had a little dip in his fitness as a result of his concussion. It seems that Gio Wijnaldum will again get the nod over De Guzman. And obviously, it is Jeremain Lens who will have to make way for captain Robin van Persie.

As it will be very humid in Fortaleza, the ref will have the option to allow an extra drink break of three minutes, when the temperature hits 32 degrees Celcius or more. This will be welcome for the Dutchies for sure.

Georginhio Wijnaldum is 23 years old. And therefore still considered young. The former Feyenoord midfielder made his debut for the club from Rotterdam at 16 years old! And has already played seven seasons at the highest level in Holland. Last season however, was not a great success as he was injured and sidelined for half of it. “Playing football after being away for so long is different. You value everything more. The little things. Being outside, playing football with your mates in the sunshine, the things you take for granted… I can totally enjoy that again. I feel like I’m 14 years old, really. When you become more experienced, it starts to become work. It’s more business like. But now, I have that old feeling back.” A highly annoying back injury kept Wijaldum from the pitch. And he had several set backs getting back in shape. When he finally made his return in PSV in March 2014, he never expected to be called up. “Mr Van Gaal said that the France squad would be his base line squad. That game was in March and I wasn’t part of it. But I guess I got a bit lucky, what with the injuries in midfield (Van der Vaart, Van Ginkel, Strootman) and the fact that some lads weren’t playing too much (Afellay, Maher). When I did get the call up for the prelim squad I made the vow to give everything I have to make the cut. And now I’m in and I will do all I can to play and be valuable for the team.”

Wijnaldum and De Vrij

Wijnaldum takes the role of Strootman. The connection man in midfield. The box to box runner. Not his typical role, as he played winger for Feyenoord and Jong Oranje and the number 10 role for PSV. “I can play diferent roles I suppose, but as I haven’t played a full season I am very fit now. I am probably amongst the fittest players. And I will do all I can to make it work.” He had good sub turns against Spain and Australia and got the nod over De Guzman vs Chile as the Swansea midfielder was not 100% fit. “We are doing fine as a unit. We performed better than many expected but we shouldn’t overdo it now. Some people think we will stroll to the finals. I think any of the last 16 nations will be able to win it. We simply need to work very hard and be smart and go from game to game.”