Tag: Italy

June 20, 2023 by Jan

Oranje simply not up to it

The cliche “men versus boys” has been used here a lot. In the past. And how I hoped that would remain a thing of the past.

But the games versus Croatia and Italy have yet again demonstrated where we go wrong. Again.

And I wonder who or what is going to change this!

The System

Lets start this two-match review with the obvious: some people claim that due to the losses and the conceded goals we will need to consider a switch back to the 5-3-2 of van Gaal.

One photo will show you why this is nonsense.

As one can see: we had enough defenders in the box (5!). It’s not about the number of defenders. It’s about how the defenders defend and about what they do.

Combine this insight with the fact we conceded two downright idotic penalties versus Croatia and the analysis is done: stupidity, complacency and laziness.

Gakpo trying to turn the best midfielder of the past decade on the edge of his own box. Gakpo losing the ball and then trying to pick up the little maestro from the back (and what… bring him to the kids’ stands??)…. And late in the match, Malacia with a lunge in the box. I mean, a rush of blood to the head of course but I could accept the explanation of Malacia: only minutes left to score a goal and we needed the ball so I took a risk. And failed. But either way: two cheap penalties and very unnecessary.

The Croatie second goal was a typical example of alibi defending. Or pseudo defending. Making people believe you’re doing what you can. Dumfries, in this case not putting any pressure on the ball and staying at 1,5 yards from the forward. In his own box! That is not something you see Croatian or Italian defenders do. And Ake, Virgil and Koopmeiners all looking at each other. Typically something that happens even more with a 5 at the back system.

Not enough pressure on the ball. No communication. Ake can see it all happening in front of him,

Versus Italy, same old same old. Two early goals because no one really defends! No one attacks the ball, no one clears the ball, no one puts pressure on the ball and the key forwards who should track back to cover the Italian wing backs: absent!

Dimarco gets time and time from Malen and his defender mates were not able to recognise or communicate the danger to him. Where is a screaming Frank de Boer when you need him?

We didn’t lose because of the system

The quality of the players

I think we all know we have a lot of players who can play some neat, nifty football. Xavi Simons, Noa Lang, Donny Malen, Joey Veerman, Frenkie, all gifted players. But tenacity, leadership, personality and mentality are also part of the complete package of qualities a player requires.

And we lacked it. Again. We did see some good moves, we did see some decent actions and at times we played some nice football. Sure. But it’s about when things don’t go your way. When the opponent finds spaces where you didn’t expect it. When team mates get sloppy.

The quality we need then, is not the step-over of Noa Lang, the shimmy of Frenkie or the dribble of Xavi. We need the leadership of a Roy Keane. The big mouth of Gatuso. The piercing look of Mark van Bommel. I can fully understand that Wieffer, Geetruida, Dumfries and Lang are not the players to demonstrate this part of the game.

But Virgil. Nathan Ake (treble winner!), Frenkie de Jong ( skipper at Barca) and Koopmeiners should do more in this domain. Captain Van Dijk should be in Malen’s face, if he doesn’t track back! Frenkie should be ready to make the tactical switches where need be.

It’s all too sweet. We’re too friendly. We play too many card games at training camp and we focus too much on funny youtube clips with quizes, or raps with cigars and fashion shoots.

Mentality, commitment, leadership

And these are the elements that are missing. Some players came to the Nations League final round complaining that the season was too long and if we don’t win versus Croatia, we can’t be bothered to play the Losers Finals. Koeman should have sent these players home!

If you can’t get inspired for a football game, not hoping the coach will do it for you, then you have nothing to do in an orange jersey.

Every single player of Spain, Croatia and Italy has had a long and tough season! Man up!

We believe we are great football players. But we are only great on the ball. And not great. Above average. And we suck in the mental department.

And this is not something we fix by changing systems.

The Coach

I never believe in getting a coach back for a second stint. It was a success with Michels and Oranje, ok. But not in any other instance. Mourinho at Chelsea. Van Marwijk at Feyenoord. Van Gaal at Barcelona. Van Gaal with the Oranje/Ajax contingent in 2000.

There is a sense of “comfort”, working with a coach you know. Whenever a coach says it feels like coming home, you know you’re in trouble. It shouldn’t feel like home.

Why pick Koeman again? Because it worked so well before? Well…. did it? He bailed before the Euros. Not really a success. So in my book, a big cross should have gone through his name.

Peter Bosz was available. Just sayin’.

Koeman has end responsibility and he needs to get his players mentally ready for a match or send the ones that can’t be bothered home. And when Malen doesn’t track back twice in 15 mins and we get hammered twice: immediately sub the dude. Show grit. Show courage.

Just like our team wasn’t able to show courage versus Croatia, our coach lacked courage in his choices.

The Future

I do believe the youngsters we see in Orange will grow into good solid players for the team: Wieffer, Veerman, Geertruida, Simons and even Malen, Gakpo and Lang are still youngsters, compared to Blind, Van Dijk and Memphis. We need to give them a chance.

But we need to give Botman, Frimpong, Schouten, Dallinga and Spierings a chance too.

Bijlow was not 100% top, but was only really at fault with that third Croatia goal. It wasn’t an easy one, but it was stoppable.

A back line with Ake and Botman, De Ligt and Frimpong should work. Or Malacia, Ake, De Ligt, Frimpong.

A midfield with Veerman, Frenkie and Wieffer should work. A forward line with Lang, Gakpo and Malen should work. We do have enough quality on the ball. But we need to turn it into a team and we need to wise up really quickly now and start switching that button on in their heads.

Playing for Oranje is not a summer camp outing after a tough season at the club.

It’s do or die now.

March 29, 2017 by Jan

Oranje: where to now?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The most important question is:

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

February 6, 2013 by Jan

Oranje – Italy LIVEBLOG

[liveblog]

February 6, 2013 by Jan

Lets have us some Italian!!

Holland never won a friendly against Italy.

We don’t do friendly too well.

For the 18th time in history, both nations face off and elevent times this was a friendly. Holland lost 6 and drew 5.

Goalie Buffon has more international games to his name than the whole starting line up of Holland.

Amsterdam has been the venue for a Holland – Italy five times. The Azzuri never lost in our capital.

The last time Holland beat Italy was at the EC in 2008. For Holland, Mathijsen, Kuyt and Van Persie were present. For Italy, we welcome back Buffon, Barzagli and Pirlo.

Holland won against Italy only once on home ground, in 1974. In De Kuip in Rotterdam, Boninsegna scored first before Rensenbrink and Cruyff (2x) responded.

Louis van Gaal will offer Daley Blind and Ola John their first starting position. Goalie Krul will start with Blind as left bank. Martins Indi, De Vrij and Janmaat complete the defensive line up. The midfield consists of Clasie, Maher and Strootman while the attack is formed by Lens (left), Van Persie and Ola John.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar had to leave the camp. A weird eye injury means he can’t assess depth. “He can’t play like that,” stated LVG. Experienced bench sitter Arjen Robben is now called up. The winger does not play regularly for Bayern but Van Gaal likes to make exceptions.

“We know what Robben can do. He is fit. He won’t start for us, but start on the bench, like he does at Bayern.”

Van Gaal wants his young squad to play dominant and pressing. “It is going to be a major test for the youngsters and I am actually pretty tense. They can hold their own in the Dutch league but now they need to make a step up.”

Players like Van Persie, Strootman and Krul know what that means, as they have played at this level many times. For Maher, Blind and John, to name some newbies, it might be tough.

“We know they have the quality. They lack the experience and maybe the mental strength. The good thing is, Italy will play with three strikers too and I don’t think they’ll hide against us. Let’s hope we can see some real football.”

Van Gaal is testing Maher as replacement for Sneijder and Van der Vaart. “If he is quicker in the turn around when we lose possession, he can score bonus points.” Van Gaal is also using Martins Indi as central defender, while Koeman uses him at Feyenoord as left back.

“I know that and I think it is because Koeman doesn’t have the same options as I do. I told him I would use Martins Indi as a central defender and he didn’t object.”

July 1, 2012 by Jan

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe….

And it’s less than 24 hours to go before Holland and Spain kick off for the Euro 2012 finals.

A revenge game for the Dutch after their tragic loss in 2010.

But, coach Bert van Marwijk said this in the press conference after the last practice: “We already took revenge. We took in on ourselves. The fans and media never liked our gameplay at the World Cup and the whole squad plus the staff were keen to make a strong impression here. To return to Total Football. We are very hungry and have all the desire to win this finals, but if we end up losing, this Euros does feel better than the World Cup already.”

Let’s track back a bit.

1. The Preparation for this tournament
Bert kept his cards close to his chest this time around. He had some intense meetings with the key players as he realised that some players expected to have a better position in the hierarchy. Oranje did lose a couple of warm up games, but Bert didn’t care. “I wanted the boys to relax, feel good and to find their feet amongst themselves. In the meantime, I worked with Philip Cocu on the mental state of our lads.” Key in the preparation was Bert’s meeting with Klaas Jan, explaining him well before the tournament that Robin would be the key striker to start off with. And he did the same with Rafael. Van der Vaart was key in the Sweden qualification game we won and expected a starting berth as a holding midfielder. Bert flew to London in May on a mission and unbeknownst to many, he asked Frank de Boer to come along. Frank and Rafael go way back and Bert got Rafael on board for the new mission.

With Emanuelson as left back ( with Stijn Schaars as stand-in) and young Nick Viergever in the squad as central defender, Bert felt the balance was there. “I was really tempted to take Jetro Willems along, but I felt it was better to put Urby to the test. With his experience, he can handle this better than a rookie 18-year old. Willems’ time will come…” Also, Fred Bouma didn’t make the cut. Bouma: “I would have pulled out myself if Bert would have selected me. I was never really fit and for these top games in a short time span, you need to be 100%.”

Bert also added: “Mark played in a different role for AC Milan. Much more static. We want to press forward and play Dutch style football so I do fear for Mark’s fitness. I spoke to him about it and despite him being our skipper and being important off the pitch, he might have to accept a different role.”

Robin keeps on scoring

2. The Denmark Game

Within 5 minutes of play, Holland silenced the world with how they burst into the game against the poor Danes. It was Urby who found space in the first minute to push up and test the goalie from 30 yards out. Bert gave Afellay a starting position on the wing, with Van Persie centrally up front and Robben on the right. Nigel de Jong and Van Bommel played in midfield with Sneijder as the playmaker on the left side of the field. His pass to Afellay caught the Denmark defense off guard and with a typical futsol / practice goal, Van Persie opened his account. A low pass to the first post, and a clean inside foot finish did the rest. Oranje kept on swinging and a neat combination between Robben and Robin got the Bayern man into the box… Despite Sneijder and Afellay showing up for support, Robben hammered the ball in the near top corner and within 15 minutes, Denmark was down for the count: 2-0. When Heitinga found Sneijder with a long ball, he passed the ball to Van Persie, who in typical Arsenal style used his right foot to position the ball in front of the left and the goalie never even saw the ball. Van Persie’s second and Oranje’s third…

The Danes were all over the place and with 32 minutes on the clock their goalie gifted the ball to Robben – put under pressure – and again, with some team mates confusing the defense with some good runs, the Robben left did the job. Curling the ball past the goalie, inside post. Both Robin and Robben on a hattrick.

Before the Robben goal however, Denmark did benefit from a mistake in defence when Krohn Dehli found a way into the Oranje box. And while Heitinga allowed to former Ajax prospect to cut the ball away, it was Stekelenburg who couldn’t close his legs in time and Denmark got an early consolation goal…

Bert started some fresh legs in the second half. Afellay was struggling after 45 minutes ( to be expected) and Huntelaar came to join Van Persie up front. Van der Vaart came to replace Van Bommel who was starting to look less fresh as well. In the second half, the game was played already, but the team clearly wanted Huntelaar on the score sheet as well.

A tremendous outside foot pass by Sneijder reached the Schalke man who cleverly chipped the ball over the unexpecting goalie: 5-1. Van Persie and Huntelaar walked back to their own half with their arms around each other shoulders… The former Feyenoord talent finally got his hattrick when Sneijder reached him with a through pass into the box and his diagonal low shot was a perfect executed strike, with his whole body in perfect balance: 6-1.

Late in the second half, a high ball into the box for Huntelaar was handled by a Danish defender twice and the ref even joked after the game he considered giving two penalties to the Dutch. Van Persie is normally the first penalty takes in the squad but he really wanted his buddy Robben to overcome his penalty anxiety so Arjen got this hattrick as well: 7-1.

It did become a bit of a Sunday morning park game with Sneijder and Van der Vaart going for goal from every possible angle but with 7-1 the final score, Holland immediately instilled some fear into the rest of the pack at this Euro2012 tournament.

3. The Germany game

A lot can be said always about our games against Germany. For this match, the only thing the Dutch thought about was to beat so we could win the whole thing and to beat them to set the record straight of that 3-0 loss in the friendly…

Holland started very strong again and like in the 1974 finals, it took some time before the Germans actually touched the leather. Mark van Bommel started again and his early ball over the top released Van Persie who didn’t have any trouble beating Neuer with a cool inside foot placed ball in the far corner… Holland did it again! Full on attack from the word “go” and an early lead. Germany looks a bit shocked and only 5 minutes later, Van Persie – still on fire after his sensational season – is sent away again and again hits the ball in the far corner past a flabbergasted Neuer!! 2-0 in the first ten minutes!

Germany gets back into the game with an Ozil snapshot hitting the post and ten minutes later a defensive mistake by Holland allows Gomez to score the 2-1. His first touch of the game, it seems. Holland becomes a little complacent and Germany turns up the gas. Van Bommel has difficulty closing gaps and Schweinsteiger finds Gomez yet again… The Bayern striker hits it well but Stekelenburg doesn’t look sharp: 2-2.

In the second half, Huntelaar and Van der Vaart come on again ( for Narsingh, who couldn’t impress and Van Bommel who looks spent) and the game flows better. Van Persie on the right wing, Robben on the left. And it’s his cross low to Van Persie which offers the Arsenal striker a second hattrick. His low kick in the corner defeats Neuer and Holland is 3-2 up!
Germany is clearly beaten and it’s their central defender Hummels who gets the best opportunity in the second half as no one picks him up. But Stekelenburg is doing his job.

The Oranje attacks are cutting through the Germany defense and Sneijder gets a clear shot on goal after a good Robben dribble. Instead of hitting the ball first time, he cuts the ball away, allowing Boateng to slide past and Sneijder can find the best corner of the goal to place his ball. Neuer doesn’t even dive for it: 4-2!

Best of mates… The Germans are green with envy in the background…

Then Van Persie scores his fourth after what is probably one of the best little plays of the tournament so far. All one touch football. Heitinga to Van der Vaart. Vaart to Sneijder. Sneijder to van Persie. tick tick tick. And Van Persie decides to have a go at goal. Why not. He hits the ball through the legs of Hummels and Neuer does see the ball a tad late. With Robin’s right foot. 5-2 and the media are convinced. This is clearly the new Euro Champs.

Bert, after the game: “Let’s not get too excited. Germany was clearly not too strong. Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Muller…. they don’t look fit. And their coach made some strange decisions. But when you create many chances like we do and you convert them, you win games. It’s a simple as that. Now we want to beat Portugal. We have scores to settle.”

4. The Portugal game

For this game, Bert decided to let Narsingh and Afellay on the bench ( “it’s a lot to ask of young players, to play 2 top games in four days) and started Huntelaar and Van der Vaart. Van Bommel started on the bench and Raf skippered the game.
Portugal needed a win but they couldn’t make the play even if they wanted it. Oranje bossed the game from the start and it was captain Van der Vaart scoring his goal after 20 minutes of play. The game turned a bit cagey with Oranje trying to press and create but Portugal was getting better and better on the counter. Again, it looked like we can not really kill games off if we don’t really have to. C Ronaldo scored his first goal ( too little too late) for Portugal but in the second half, Holland took the reigns again. Ron Vlaar scored his second goal for Oranje after a precision cross by Sneijder. The tall Feyenoord man was unmarked and hammered the ball to the far corner, via the ground. Unstoppable. With 2-1 down, Portugal had to take the game to Holland and got the equaliser via another C Ronaldo counter. The Dutch squad did seem to get some agitation as a result and it was – again – skipper Van der Vaart who led the way. This time using his right foot, he curled the ball again in the far corner. Like a mirrored copy of his first goal. The ball hit the inside of the post and made sure Holland got the 3 points and could avoid the Spanish until the finals, by winning this group.

Vlaar scores again!

Germany finished second in the group and would eventually be beaten by boring Spain.

5. The Greek Game

From now onwards, Holland was focused to get to the finals. The Greek were merely an annoying stumbling block. Holland played with Robben-Hunter-Persie upfront and Vaart-DeJong-Sneijder in midfield. The Greek had their moments breaking away and trying to put Holland under pressure and after Samaras was sent off for collecting two yellows as a result of continious snapping at heels, the Greek blocked the goal off with all they had.

It took a pinpoint cross by Sneijder on the head of Huntelaar to break the spell and with a disappointing and forgettable 1-0 win, Holland faced Italy in the semi finals…

Bert: “I have learned to be flexible and I have sort of experienced my coaching-version of total football. I need to be able to change and adapt and the team has responded really well to my progression as a coach. We won ugly this time against the Greeks and I guess in every successful campaign you are allowed one ugly game. We had ours.”

6. The Italy game

Italy had progressed with great football. A simple system, really. Two brillant strikers, one brilliant playmaker, one crazy goalie and 7 anonymous workers. Asked if he would change anything to take Balotelli and Pirlo out of the game, Bert smiled: “You’ll see.”

The tactical wizard played Kevin Strootman against Italy and used him to guard Pirlo and to make Pirlo follow him, instead of the other way around. In order to contain Balotelli, Bert used Ron Vlaar. And the trick he played was this: he sent Ron to the hairdresser and made him come onto the pitch with the exact same hairdo as the childish Balotelli. This shook the tall striker visible and whenever Vlaar won a duel against the flamboyant City man, Vlaar would assume the stance Balotelli used after beating England. With him out of the picture and with Heitinga torturing Cassano by constantly being in his face like a bag of cocaine, Holland got the better of Italy. When Pirlo was subbed after an hour of play, Strootman could be named Man of the Match already and it was his run into the Italy box that gave Sneijder an opportunity to play the pass of the tournament: he hit the ball behind his standing leg which such a curve that it bounced off the referee’s head into Strootman’s stride. His shot was bloked by a nervy Buffon but Hunter was at hand to slot the ball home: 1-0, with only 15 minutes to go.

Winning. Business as usual for Bert and Wes…

Italy started to play all balls on Balotelli allowing Vlaar to easily grow into a force of nature and it was a counter attack Italy-style that sealed the deal: a long header forward by Vlaar, Robben on full speed past two Italian defenders and wonderful pass to Van Persie who scored his 8th goal of the tournament and made sure that the Italians could convincingly engage in their Teatrico Dell Arte antics. Balotelli was red carded after hitting Vlaar smack in the face and Prandelli asked Van Marwijk after the game who his taylor was…

Holland reached the finals yet again. With fresh, total football.

I would like to read your version of the final game against Spain :-)….

After the Euros, Bert will focus on getting younger talents in the team…