Tag: Martins Indi

November 6, 2014 by Jan

JC: “Give Guus a Chance”

What is the problem? Hiddink? Is it that easy?

The whole nation was in shock after the 2-0 defeat vs Iceland.

And all those people who rejoiced when Hiddink was signed up are now screaming for his head.

As if this wonderful squad ( no. 3 at the World Cup) under Van Gaal suddenly is impotent under Hiddink. As if a coach has that much impact during a couple of EC qualifiers.

Ronald de Boer really gave it to Guus. “He is too old. He doesn’t have a connection with his players, his tactics are non existent and his analyses are pathetic. They should sign Ronald Koeman!”

Ronald Koeman, doing really well with Southampton. “Oranje is totally not on the radar for me. Not now. That opportunity passed. They picked Hiddink. Their prerogative. But I have to admit, I did have a chuckle when I was watching them play Iceland. But I do want them to perform well of course, I am Dutch, so…. And they will. Hiddink will get it together.”

I personally believe the shift from Van Gaal to Hiddink was a big one. They’re very different. It’s like going from the Navy Seals to the local community gardens. Van Gaal is intense, dominating and very critical. Hiddink is loose, wants players to take responsibility and very supportive. Van Gaal is like a pitbull in interviews and press conferences, Hiddink is like your nice old granddad.

Or your nice old dad…because amidst of all this, there is also an issue of this guy coming out in the media claiming that Guus is his dad and he demands a dna test…. More headaches for Guus.

Anyway, Van Gaal didn’t perform too well with Oranje in the qualification times. Sure, he got the points alright against the minions. Something Guus has failed to do twice now. But Van Gaal’s friendlies were not that great and in the run up to Brazil we all thought our mediocre players would be ridiculed by Spain, Chile and the likes…. But look what Louis did only in 3 or 4 weeks of preparation… This is a time frame Hiddink hasn’t had yet and once can only assume that the former CL winner (PSV) and Real Madrid and South Korea/Australia coach can do too.

It’s all a bit early to determine that Guus is to blame. Guus didn’t tell Janmaat to take that risk in the last minute against the Cechs. And Guus didn’t instruct his forwards to be so sloppy against Czechie, Kazachstand and Iceland.

According to the Maestro (one Johan Cruyff) it is ridiculous to blame Hiddink. “The problem is hardly ever the coach. And when the coach is Hiddink, it most certainly isn’t the coach. Do you really think he has forgotten how to work his magic? There are a few problems here. Firstly, our individual qualities are not as great as we think they are. Sure, Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder…. have exceptional qualities, but players like Janmaat, Martins Indi and Wijnaldum are not there yet. Secondly, our players didn’t seem to be present, mentally. Now, this might be a coaching problem, but any team representing their country should need to rely on a coach to make them ready mentally. Thirdly, our midfield play doesn’t work, internationally. There is a reason Van Gaal used 5-3-2. He stacked the midfield with enough bodies to stop the opponent from exploring the space and he played counter attacking football. If we want to play dominant we need to rule in midfield. We simply cannot do this if we play with three midfielders: one sitting deep before the defence, one playing close to the striker and one filling the gaps. Our midfield will get bitch slapped every time. We need to play with three defenders and four midfielders in order to control the opponent. Kazachstan, Iceland and even Czech Republic…did we really need 4 defenders? Our midfield set up, at club level to start with, is wrong. And internationally we will be punished again and again. This is where we need to make changes.”

It does seem that we made a step back in time.

Van Gaal put himself and Oranje clearly on the map. But individually, we are slipping.

Van Persie doesn’t dominate. Afellay plays in a second tier competition. Sneijder is losing grip. Van der Vaart has fitness issues. Only Robben is firing on all cylinders, while De Jong is still going strong.

Van Ginkel, Maher, Clasie, Janmaat, Anita, Siem de Jong, Fer… I have yet to see it.

We have a bunch of older veterans, a number of would-be mid-tier players and a number of young talents who yet need to be tested consistently.

I think we should be fine once we get to the Euros, in 2016. So lets support Hiddink and make sure we do get there…..

In the meantime, there are some wrinkles visible. The KNVB did an evaluation with Hiddink after the dramatic results and a press release was sent out saying that “Hiddink would prepare an action plan” to get Oranje back in winning mode. Questioned by the media, Hiddink responded by saying “I would never use a word like “action plan”. That is not my style. I know what to do to get the team winning again, don’t worry.” And the KNVB had to quickly comment on that again. “The words we use don’t matter. What matters is that we know what we need to do.”

One first step Hiddink took, was to fly to Manchester to talk to his captain. Van Persie: “It was a critical evaluation, for sure. It was good and open but also direct and critical. We all know things need to change and the coach will go and talk to some of the other lads too.”

Van Persie will remain skipper, despite criticism on his behaviour, in particular after his clash with Huntelaar. “The coach was clear in what he wants to see differently. He has a tremendous drive. He is sharp, tough, also towards me. That is good. I came away with a good feeling. It was stern, but he has confidence.” The clash between Hunter and RVP has been resolved. “Oh yes, we have had our talk. I do realise that these images don’t help. We are both winners, we despise losing and want to be important for the team. I respect him tremendously as a player and he respects me too, I think. We do need to be a bit smarter in those situations but it does happen in the heat of the moment.”

On November 12, Oranje plays Mexico in a friendly and on 16 November Lithuania awaits. RVP: “The pressure is big but that is ok. We have failed. We, the players. It’s easy to give the blame to the coach, but we are doing it on the pitch. The coach creates the circumstances for us to excel in but we have to do it. Against Iceland, we let him down. And I spoke to most of the lads over the last weeks and we all realise that this is the case.”

Van Gaal is currently Robin’s club coach. A different style of coach. “Yes, they are not really similar, that is true, but so what? I have had that many times. As a player you need to deal with this. Hiddink gives the players a lot of responsibility but he is definitely the boss. He determines the tactics, although we all get to speak our minds.”

October 15, 2014 by Jan

Crisis Time Again! Is Lucky Gus capable of fixing it?

And here we are again. We finished really well at the World Cup, only to totally screw up our Euro campaign. We saw it in 1974, in 1978, in 2010 and God help us we are not really doing too well now.

Iceland 2. Holland 0.

That says it all. When I read the headline, I didn’t even wanna see the highlights. Or lowlights.

Something is not right in Oranje. And it’s easy to say “It’s Hiddink” and obviously it is not Hiddink, but sadly he is end-responsible and will have to come up with solutions.

There are many things wrong. Tactics, line up, approach/management, team dynamics, individual performance….

We are merely fans, looking in from the outside. But people closer to the squad believe Hiddink has an approach which is the total opposite of Van Gaal.

Where Louis realised this team lacked real quality and he had to bring a lot of additional elements to the team, Hiddink seems to be very loose and managing at arms length. Not just towards the lads, also towards the staff. The KNVB seems to be a bit surprised with his loose and unfocused press conferences and analyses and starts to fear that they might have made a big mistake.

This team did so well at the iron hand of Mr Control Freak Van Gaal. And his successor is the most relaxed and laid back cat the KNVB could find. The contrast is too big.

And as Frank de Boer famously quipped “I never learned anything about football from Hiddink”, his tactics leave a lot to be desired…

You play against Kazachstan. Why field 4 defenders and Nigel de Jong? Why add a static Wesley Sneijder to the midfield?

We could have done with 3 defenders and a more footballing central midfielder. Such as Sneijder. Or Blind. Or Clasie. A 3-3-4 with Huntelaar up top and Van Persie circling him.

Now, we can’t blame Hiddink for the mistake Janmaat made vs the Cechs. Or the mistakes Martins Indi makes. Or the penalty De Vrij conceded vs Iceland.

But we can blame Hiddink for not making sure we didn’t score 3 or 4 already in their goal before Janmaat made that error…

This team needs a leader with vision. Someone who keeps the big guns in check (Hunter, Van Persie, Sneijder) and who is capable of letting the youngster reach their potential by being on their case all the time. Van Gaal is not available. Frank de Boer isn’t available either.

But Co Adriaanse is. He works not unlike Van Gaal. Allow him to coach Oranje to the Euros. Let Blind do the World Cup after that and have Frank de Boer enjoy some time as club coach before he takes over. Maybe Ronald Koeman is the right man to follow up from Blind first, with bro Erwin. Who knows.

But it is time for clarity and a firm hand (again):

1. This is how we play (4-3-3 or 3-4-3)

2. This is the standard, these are the roles

3. If you don’t qualify (Van Persie, Sneijder, De Jong, Martins Indi) you are on the bench!

4. Everyone is fully focused and knows what to do. Anyone not in line can pack his bag.

The KNVB is going to assess the situation in the short term. Hiddink has been tight lipped about his future. But the media have already made up their minds: Hiddink is not the right man for the job. He seems to looking at the Oranje stint as a cool last job before he retires, while it is actually a pressure cooker job that needs 120% of the coach’s focus.

October 10, 2014 by Jan

When we win, I post…. Hiddink gets his points

I am sorry guys, I am making up excuses for having abandoned you. I feel like Darth Vader. Using Oranje’s defeats as an excuse is lame.

But there is no excuse. It is just life. I suppose the high of the WC2014 left me in a slump. We could have won it in Brazil. Robben should have scored against Argentina. But he didn’t, so we didn’t. And then Louis went and Guus came and we have to play Iceland and Andorra and Kazachstan and Liechtenstein again….

I am a slow starter, just like Oranje under Hiddink.

I am also a bit concerned with the fate of our lads in Italy, Portugal and England. I am not 100% convinced of Janmaat, De Vrij and Blind I suppose.

They were great under Louis. Because Louis is like an omnipotent Demi God who gives our players wings. From Depay to Fer to Janmaat to De Vrij. They all added 20% to their usual game thanks to their coach. Add top notch players like Nigel de Jong and Arjen Robben to the mix and you have a winning team.

But can Guus? His style is different. Totally different. Where Louis even determines the brand of the sugar lumps used during the press conference, Guus might not even show up for them as his Harley Davidson took him on a detour and he’s enjoying a fine wine in Tuscany with an olive skinned local….

Danny can do what Louis does. But do Robin, Klaas Jan and Nigel really listen to him like they did to Louis?

So it is one of those “we are focusing on settling into our clubs” phases where Oranje literally comes third. First career/club, second family (settling in, language courses, what not), third Oranje. “Because we will qualify anyway.”

The Kazachstan game was as to be expected… They defend. We try and break down. These games take time to go in the right direction. Why? Because this Oranje is not yet a footballing machine, with Van der Wiel back, Afellay back, Van Persie lacking form, Blind not playing his usual spot etc. So the 3-1 was actually exactly the scenario one could expect. A typical FrankdeBoertje by Martins Indi. A lucky goal. Us chasing the win. More fire power with a totally psyched up Huntelaar. A bit of venom between Hunter and Robin van Persie. And the dream story of the Lost Son making good (Afellay, in case you were wondering).

And we snatch the points up. The first one is down (the first win I mean). Guus can breath. The team can go back to normal and from now on it will be smooth sailing.

Still, heaps of question marks for Guus but not all very urgent. Relevant yes, urgent not so much.

For instance: what system to play? What to do with Van Persie (Van Gaal might ask the same question). How will Blind fair in Manchester and who will take his role on the left full back side?

All in all, Guus will slowly make the changes. The Dirk Kuyt exit wasn’t too clean, I don’t think. But Guus at least is clear. Kuyt saw an important role for himself in Oranje, still. Guus didn’t. Dirk was part of Louis’ inner circle (with RVP, Sneijder, De Jong, Robben) but under Guus he won’t be. No more vice captain. So Dirk decided to go. Rafael van der Vaart may not wear the orange much either and should Guus shift systems again (as he is prone to do), who knows what Robin’s role will turn out to be.

Hiddink did make a comment on that rift between Van Persie and Hunter and what he said was telling. Where both Hunter and Van Persie downplayed the incident as something that always happens in the heat of the moment, Hiddink said he didn’t even want to talk about it. “But I will say this: Robin should have passed that ball”.

So this is clever Guus. He says he doesn’t want to say anything about it, but he does say something about it and he shoves his captain under the bus.

Watch this space, as we will see some fascinating developments for sure, as the players slowly realise it is now up to them to step up. There is no more all encompassing Van Gaal taking the flak and making the decisions.

Good points? Afellay! Huntelaar!

There is absolutely no reason not to be positive about our future and as Sneijder said so tellingly: “We have done well in the last 6 years but coming second and third is not the same as winning a trophy. We want to win a trophy!”

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 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!”

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.”

June 20, 2014June 21, 2014 by Jan

Big Puzzle for Louis van Gaal

Holland was the first European nation to qualify for the World Cup and it is now the first nation to qualify for the knock out stages. Despite all the pessimism and negativity (or concerns) we are doing something right.

We saw the great statistics on the blog, thanks for that, and it is clear that we are on an impressive run.

I personally believe and believed that Chile will be the worst opponent for us in this group and I can see Chile go far this World Cup.

Louis has some decisions to make and these decisions will be influenced by what the coach actually wants to achieve. Do we want to finish first or second? This will depend on how well Brazil will do but we won’t know this before we have to play Chile. Brazil plays Cameroon though and they are having a howler this tournament.

There is a dilemma in terms of playing style / system. The 5-3-2 worked well against a slow and sluggish Spain, that hoped to be able to simply pass their way to victory (and dive their way to victory). But against a hard working and forward pressing Australia the 5-3-2 was rubbish and after Van Gaal switched to 4-3-3 we got more control over the game. Which is exactly what we need if we want to utilise the class of Robben, Van Persie and Depay.

And since one of the key figures at the back – Martins Indi – will not be present against Chile, it might be a good idea to resort back to our normal way of playing . Taking into account of course that Chile has its own ideas about how to play and/or what position to want in the group.

And another issue of course is the yellow card situation. De Vrij and De Guzman are all on edge. Will Van Gaal rest them against Chile? And the ever impressive and formidable De Jong is suffering a bit with little injuries. Maybe he should be allowed to take a break?

This is a tough one. Van Gaal doesn’t want to take risks with key players, but he also wants to maintain flow and rhythm. The scruffy game against Australia is not a benchmark for Van Gaal. “I cannot really process the way that game went. That was not a typical game for us. We will need to improve in possession, no matter what system we pick.”

Sneijder: “You can’t play great every game. We are on a World Cup. You have to calculate lesser games.” And Van Persie: “What counts is that we have two victories and six points.”
Vlaar: “This is tournament football. We need to score one more than the opponent. If we do, I don’t care about the rest.”

All true but it is not wise to simply ignore the inconsistency of the team. Against Australia, players like Janmaat, Blind and Martins Indi were clearly the Eredivisie players again, the ones they tried to outgrow.

The FIFA chose Arjen Robben as the Man of the Match vs Australia. Normally, Van Gaal doesn’t single out players but this time he felt he needed to mention Nigel de Jong as his Man of the Match.

De Jong: “Every now and then you need to bite with the bark, you know? But Man of the Match, it’s not that important to me. The forwards, the goal scorers always get the attention. I had a good chance to score. If I did, it was 3-2 already, I might have had a chance. But it’s all good. I played well, so I can’t complain.” De Jong battled a lot with Tim Cahill. “He is a class act. I know him well from England. He has so much passion. The Aussies are not better than Spain but bring much more power to the game. In the first half, we played to clean. While they went for every lose ball. Some lads need to still grow into that. And you need to show yourself. After the break, we showed that side ourselves too. We drew the longest straw at the end. That is what counts.”

Chile plays 5-3-2. They won’t debate that. So a 4-3-3 seems to be logical. Van Gaal: “I cannot share that conclusion yet. I will have to do some work on that.”

Van Gaal’s friend and ex-colleague at Ajax Co Adriaanse feels the 5-3-2 is done with. “It worked a bit against Spain. One half. And also because Spain lacked the desire, the power and the form. It was dreadful against a lesser Australia. When you play 4-3-3 there are more and better options to build up. It simply is easier to do. I think we got what we wanted versus Spain. Now it’s time to play our own football. I say: use Chile to get the team working on it again, and whatever the result, you know… When you play Argentina or Brazil or even Italy, you don’t want to use 5-3-2.”

Piet de Visser is a former coach and currently super scout for Chelsea. The 74 year old has an outspoken opinion about football. “To me Chile is the best team of the tournament. It was a surprise that Holland beat Spain but Chile gave them a beating too. Quite clear that Spain failed to bring new players in after their wins in 2008, 2010 and 2012. And they probably should have gone with a new coach. Brazil has a mediocre team. I think Holland shouldn’t fret too much about meeting Brazil in the knock out stages. Brazil is David Luiz and Thiago Silva. Oscar and Neymar do not carry the team but have flashes of brilliance. But both players had a tough season and it shows. Most other nations disappoint. Italy is shrewd, Germany is clinical and will make it very far. Argentina is also not performing too well. Again, Holland has a chance, albeit as an outsider.”

Argentine born Jorge Sampaoli, coach of Chile, is a protege of Marcelo Bielsa. Once, when he was redcarded, he climbed into a tree to be able to still coach his team. Like Van Gaal, Sampaoli is obsessed. Marcelo Bielsa is known as El Loco. The Mad Man. The former Argentina and Chile team manager was inspired by none other than our Louis van Gaal and his 1995 Ajax team. And therefore it is safe to say coach Sampaoli as well, is a fan and follower of Van Gaal. This is the first time the two coaches meet and face off.  Sampaoli: “We want to attack, we want to win and we want to put pressure on the opponent. We will never feel less than any opponent we play.”

And rightfully so. In 2013, they beat England at Wembley, 2-0 and earlier this year they outplayed Germany in Stuttgart. Chile is the number 3 South American nation behind Brazil and Argentina.

It is quite thinkable that Chile wants to attack to avoid Brazil and win the group. They’ll attack. And that will mean that there will be space for the Dutch to explore. And Chile might score a lot, they also concede a lot. They are the masters of 5-3-2 so it does seem smart to use a different system, to allow us to control midfield. A 4-3-3 which will be a 4-5-1 when not in possession seems to be the best way to go.

By the way, Chile and Holland only versed each other once before. In 1928. At the Sparta Castle in Rotterdam. Good times, I remember that game well. 2-2 it was and instead of penalties the decision was made by draw. Holland won.

We finish up with Robin van Persie leading the training here, with the young talents!

June 19, 2014 by Jan

Struggling Oranje beats Socceroos…

Wow, what a night! Where to start….

I said before the game I wasn’t too confident. And I also predicted a wishful 0-3, for Oranje. Well, we did get the 3 goals. And we got a big hit in our confidence. Holland is back on the ground after being a little bit lifted after the Spain tapas.

And Van Gaal did something he normally doesn’t do and shouldn’t do anymore. The man who uses logic and statistics for his decision making, this time used his heart to make a decision. Feeling. Van Gaal and feeling do not mix.

He wanted to give the lads who beat Spain another go. The 5-3-2 against Australia’s 4-5-1. Now, I am not a big systems guy. I think systems are overrated. Systems don’t win you games, players and opportunities do.

From a systems perspective, Holland’s system didn’t mix well with Australia. The one lone striker up front worked his ass off against 3 mediocre building up defenders. And the rest of the Dutch team was marked. The Aussies used forward pressure almost Dutch style and never gave Blind, Janmaat, Sneijder and co time on the ball. This rattled the Dutch. In particular Sneijder and De Guzman were at a loss. Sneijder never had so many stray passes, while Robben does what Robben does when things don’t flow. He starts to want to win it all by himself.

From a mentality’desire/focus perspective, it felt we were sluggish, and arrogant even. Our pace was low, our passing was off ( three stray passes to Blind in the first 30 minutes, Sneijder not finding his feet) and we simply were too late for most challenges.

From an individual class perspective, only Robben showed his quality in that particular first goal situation. The rest of the team was mediocre. Poor even.

The first threat was Robben converting an Aussie mistake in the 0-1. In Robben style. The former Groningen man sort of felt his mates were still in the dressing room and he decided to go it alone. Which sort of got the Dutch back on their cloud. So much so that the Socceroos were able to score within the minute. A great one time played ball into Cahill and a Van Basten style volley: 1-1. Cracker of a goal.

This gave the Aussies wings and they outplayed us that first half all over the pitch.

And this is where we really got hurt. Not so much systems, but mentality. Will to win. Desire. And having an Algerian referee on the pitch didn’t help either :-).

The width of the Aussies rattled Holland as well. Spain’s wide players drift inwards when they can. Leckie and Oar however, hugged the line and created a lot of defence problems for Holland, who had to play one on one whenever Australia had the ball. And when they did, they moved their 4-5-1 into a 3-3-4, impressively.

A dramatic accident involving Martins Indi forced Van Gaal to show his cards before the half time break. A tough Cahill challenge resulted in BMI hitting the deck with his head and he is off with a concussion. Van Gaal used the moment to bring the 4-3-3 back with young gun Memphis Depay on the left flank.

The 4-3-3 gave Holland more control over the match. The 3 forwards kept 4 Aussies at the back and more fighting spirit (Sneijder, De Jong, Janmaat, Blind) in midfield helped Holland back into it. But where we created more in 10 minutes than in the previous 45 minutes, it was bad luck in our box that gave the Aussies a lead. A cross against Janmaat arm and the ball went on the spot. Australia didn’t fail and led 2-1. This is where Holland finally straightened their back and inspired by the entrance of Depay, Holland did to the Socceroos what Cahill did to us: score immediately. A good throughpass by the young PSV winger (definitely on his way out of the Eredivisie) to Van Persie who was kept onside and the Man United striker had only one thing on his mind. High and hard.

I did have the feeling we had more in us this game, but was very conscious that this applied to Australia as well.

It took something special and a fail by the Aussies to get on top though. A Depay distance strike C Ronaldo style tricked the young Socceroo goalie and found the net. 2-3 up for Holland but this wouldn’t stop the lads in green and gold to bounce back and come looking for more.

And for me, they deserved the equaliser.

But sadly for them and fortunately for us, we were able to stay in the game and with Wijnaldum and Lens as fresh legs (Van Persie limped off after a shock landing on his ankle) we did create more opportunities but somehow it never looked like we would dance past the ruggish Aussie players.

Lets just hope that this tough game will have brought some grit to the Dutch. Because we will not get away from a team like France or Germany, should they choose to play like this against us.

It is time we all become realistic again, after this fabulous win versus Spain, and realise we can only get something if we really fight and labour like there is no tomorrow all over the pitch. And then, with some class by the Golden Triangle and some tactical wizardry by Van Gaal.

And looking back at the Australia game, one can safely say that: 1) we did not show grit and workmanship but were sluggish and looked arrogant, 2) our big guns were hot and cold this game and 3) Van Gaal got it wrong with his tactical set up.

So there is a big decision to be made by Van Gaal.

Playing Chile, will we go back to 5-3-2 (as they tend to play Spain-like) or will we simply rely on our class and traditional 4-3-3 against all future opponents from now on and use Depay as our tropical surprise?

I’ll give you one hint. Skipper Van Persie was interviewed right after the game and he gave his true feelings away, as he wasn’t as guarded. “It was good to play 4-3-3 again, to be in our own style. We clearly all feel better playing that.”

Your thoughts?