But forgets the millions of Dutch fans….
Ah well…it was part holiday, part football development mission, part practice, wasn’t it.
Robben, Sneijder and Kuyt enjoying the fans
The big guns all were past their big finish lines. RVP winning his first title. Robben winning his first CL. Kuyt surviving the madness of Turkey. De Guzman proving a point to the Spanish and Sneijder lucky to still get a call up…
LVG used a couple of newbies in the team (Nelom, benchwarmer at Feyenoord and Toornstra, midfield motor at Utrecht) and hussled the team nicely up for the second half.
With a couple of more hares for Cillisen (first half) and Dwight Tiendali in the second half.
What was it all about?
About PR. About finally acknowledging all those fans in Indonesia ( ManU / RVP connection but more so, the colonial Dutch Indies connection).
And it was about having fun. A post-season school trip.
Who cares about the game really? Who cares that RVP missed a couple of sitters. The Indonesians enjoyed it. Van Gaal enjoyed himself. The players must have really enjoyed themselves, being treated like Beatles.
And that Robben goal was quite something too.
Many good things to say about the game and a lot of irrelevant bad things to say.
Unfortunately for Lens, he didn’t make it to the end due to injury and his fitness is in doubt for the China game.
Even the Sneijder situation was not really a downer. On the contrary. Louis calls this as he sees them.
He took the band off Sneijder, telling him he is simply not fit for top football at the moment. A harsh but clear message and somehow Sneijder felt relief. He needs to take time to get back and is there a better place for him to do that then under Mourinho at Chelsea? Yes, probably Ajax… But that won’t happen…
Van Persie didn’t mind it either, as the natural leader is now the deserved Oranje skipper. He led Arsenal in the past and is now the undisputed star of Oranje. Arjen Robben had the band in the second half.
Skipper Robin van Persie
Siem de Jong scored twice with his head. Perfect header as he is. Two goals, that must do him good. Ricky van Wolfswinkel missed luck, just like many other players could have scored if the pitch was a bit more generous.
The surface was wanting, just like the climate was very tough. Humidity up in the 90s and a lot of heat. Van Persie said after the game he had to really grasp for air at times. And this is one of the fittest chaps around….
“It was tough. Playing against teams that only defend is hard in itself, but we couldn’t play our normal fast paced game. Your tank would be empty in 10 minutes… And we don’t know how to play slow…. this is what made us look so bad in the first 45 minutes… “
In the second half, the fitness on Indonesian side ebbed out and Holland got some more space to operate in.
Van Persie is honoured with the skippers role. “Of course. A huge honour. Being the captain of Oranje. You can’t get much higher. Maybe King. Oh and being team manager of course… “
Wesley Sneijder acknowledged he was not able to meet the coach’s requirements. “My year was tough. I didn’t play in Italy for months. At this level, that hurts. Getting back to fitness was impeded by the fact that I wanted to perform for Gala, immediately. We could win the title, we were still in the CL, so you tend to overdo it a bit. And all these little pains start to come, so you are never fit. I will know work as never before to get back to top level. I feel I have let Van Gaal down.”
Lens not so fortunate this game
Jens Toornstra in his first international
