Tag: Van Bommel

June 26, 2012 by Jan

Don't be fooled by all these media people

Before I begin this post: I have something new and exciting on the homepage! Exciting for me, that is hahaha. A donation option!! Yes… You can finally share the love with me ;-).

Seriously, I do incur some cost for this site and although I’m happy doing this I wouldn’t mind you would support me for the time I put into this… So, that is all I will say about it. For now. I will try and make the option a bit more sexy, but for now, it works. Wanna check? Be my guest!

Back to football!

I can imagine most of you are getting really anxious reading about all the things that will happen with Oranje.

Let me assure you: most of the stuff that you read is spat out into the open by none other than Johan Derksen.

A vulture.

This guy is the biggest commercial rat out there. He is the publisher/editor of the VI magazine, co-produces the tv program he co-hosts and he publishes football books (which he plugs constantly during the program). He makes stupid music cds around the euros and is the one to gain most commercially from the Dutch team. But whenever he can, he will slander and criticise and humiliated our players.

Take the wife of Heitinga. She is not a bad looking girl. And apparently wants to be on tv, like Sylvie. So he attacks her in a vile way for being the leak of Oranje and trying to be as good as Yolanthe and Silvie. And in a vile and meanspirited way.

Mrs Heitinga

He will never conduct himself in the right way of checking sources and stories out but is the first to throw up his rumours on telly because he wants to be first.

Last time he said “all players have a line out to their fave reporters and then they will use those reporters for their own personal interests etc etc.” A day later, he suddenly comes with all sorts of stories about all the big name players in the squad. Bar one. Wesley Sneijder. So the show’s host asks him: so now you have a player chucking a line out and using you, eh? And as Sneijder is the only player not named in his diatribe, the link must have been Sneijder. Or maybe Derksen makes it all up?

I watch the program ( I like Rene van der Gijp) but I loath Johan Derksen.

The stories simply don’t add up.

Now he said Bert doesn’t want to work with Hunter and Raf anymore. Ridiculous.

I personally don’t believe that is true. Two days ago, for instance, he said that the whole squad wanted Huntelaar out, as he behaved like a spoiled brat. Jack van Gelder, the reporter on the rival channel, checked this over the phone with Sneijder ( on holiday on Ibiza), who said: “Huntelaar? Bullshit. That is nonsense. We didn’t have a problem with Huntelaar.”

So, Derksen is trying to create mayhem, because it sells magazines.

But if it is true, it would be stupid. If Raf and Hunter were showing discontent, it had everything to do with expectations management by Van Marwijk. I don’t think these players were annoyed that they didn’t play, but that there was no clarity. Van der Vaart had demonstrated his contributions and value at the World Cup 2010 and in the qualification games. He expected to hear from the coach what the plans were, but the coach was never consistent in his communication and choices.

Van Persie and Huntelaar with an awkward embrace

If there is one thing, players despise in a coach, it is uncertainty and doubt.

Cruyff is 100% right when he said that no one on telly sees the big picture. They are all talking about Ibi being arrogant, Robin not needing to talk to the media, Robben being selfish, etc etc. But that is all symptoms!! Not the problem.

The problem is management! Clear and simple.

Codes of conduct.
Shared values.
Rules.
A shared objective.
And sanctions if you don’t live by this.

If the rules says that players need to be available for interviews, then Mr Wenger and Van Persie have a choice: either you give interviews or you are out.

If the rules say that the coach needs to be clear and consistent, then Bert should not exit Urby for not being a real left back but at the same time keep Schaars for that spot.

If the rule says that benchwarmers can not come to the Euros, sorry, but Bouma and even Afellay shouldn’t be there.

Johan Cruyff: “Talk to the hand, Bert! Talk to the hand…”

If the leader does not behave in accordance to the code, the players won’t either.

So, despite my sympathy for Bert ( he won us a UEFA Cup in 2002 and got us to the World Cup finals) but he made too many mistakes to be given a second chance. I simply don’t think it will work. So, I’m protecting Bert a bit as well.

The travel arrangements ( 3 big flights before 3 big matches???) were a big blunder.

The selection criteria changes ( Bouma, Afellay, Willems, Maher, Anita, Emanuelson) were questionable.

The “chance” Vaart and Huntelaar were given was questionable.

The decision to play a non-fit Afellay and bench fit Vaart or Narsingh was questionable.

Not instructing Robben to play on the left and cross balls in was questionable.

Too many things happened (in my view) to ever enable players and coach to look each other straight in the eye.

I think Bert should say to the KNVB: “I want another chance, but I want a round table meeting with my key players. If they afterwards demonstrate a will to go forward, cool. If not, I will resign.”

And I wouldn’t invite Bouma or Narsingh per se, but the strongholders of the team: Sneijder, De Jong, Stekelenburg, Van Persie, Robben, Huntelaar, vd Vaart, etc.

And have a go. For half a day, full day, what ever.

June 16, 2012 by Jan

Portugal Preview

Bert van Marwijk practiced behind closed doors. And with a grim look on his face attented the press conference: “We will play 100% attack! We need two goals more after 90 minutes, so that is a clear mission.” And: “I wish the vibe in our camp was as bas as it allegedly is in the Spain camp. They won 4-0, despite their internal strife.”

Van Marwijk is on edge. It’s do or die for Oranje. Not winning with 2-0 or more ( and Germany not winning vs the Danes) means Oranje will go home and Van Marwijk will most likely go home. And the next job won’t be Tottenham, Liverpool or Valencia but West Brom, Freiburg, Salzburg or Tenerife.

Skipper Mark van Bommel looked back at the Germany game: “I played a good pass onto Robin. He missed. Not much later, I missed Schweinsteiger and he allowed Gomez to score. I could have been the king, but I ended up the joker.”

“It’s football, isn’t it? I haven’t the “son-in-law” comment for many years but now things are going bad, everyone mentions it again.”

Asked if he believes that he can’t manage the midfield role anymore? “I can. But I do understand these criticisms. The first Germany goes was totally my fault. But our midfield is too stretched for anyone to cope.”

Ironic pic: Mark and Bert creating history together…

The skipper had this Euros as the last big trophy with Oranje on his wishlist. After a Champions League with Barca and titles in four countries ( PSV, Fortuna, Barca, Bayern and Milan).

“The vibe is a bit different now, that is true. Players like Van der Vaart and Huntelaar were benchwarmers at their clubs before the World Cup and are established players now. Dirk was a starter at Liverpool but a benchwarmer now. But we are still one group. We are mates and we support each other. If we would have won twice, no one would have concerned themselves with Van Persie making that phone-call, simply because he didn’t have connection in the dressing room.”

Van Bommel did see his team lose it tactically and physically. “It was like playing in a wok. It was so hot and humid. We couldn’t keep on pressing. Why we didn’t pick a hotel in Charkov? I have no idea. I believe we decided to pick good hotels before the draw and Charkov didn’t offer what we needed? But that was not my call.”

Van Bommel has a positive outlook. “Italy won the World Cup in 1982 after three dreadful group games. And in 2004, The Czechs beat Germany with their B-team. Allowing us a trip to the quarters…”

Portugal has a tremendous record against Holland. Of the last 10 games, they won 6. We won only one. And three draws.

Belgium might be historically our foe. Germany might be traditionally our arch enemy, but is Portugal then our “angstgegner”?

The last time we won was in 1991, in the qualications for the 1992 Euros. With a Richard Witschge goal.

But….

These statistics are flawed. Let’s look at the last four games.

May I remind you that we should have won twice in the World Cup 2002 qualifications when we didn’t win (lost one, drew one) because Louis van Gaal had his moments of madness against them in both games? We lost at home because Van Gaal played Reiziger as left back an some moron in the stands had a referee whistle. He blew on it, Davids stopped playing and Portugal took the ball and scored. Ouch.

In the away game, Holland was 0-2 up when Van Gaal brought more forwards to humiliate them. Within ten minutes, Davids was sent off, Figo scored from that free kick and they equalised in the dying seconds.

The 2004 Euros game we lost was a deserved loss. Portugal was better.

The 2006 World Cup in Nuremberg was a disgrace. We lost, but not because we were not good enough. We had a massive Van Persie chance he fumbled, Cocu hit the bar and Kuyt choked one on one with their goalie. With a tad more luck, that game would have been ours.

June 15, 2012 by Jan

Oranje – Germany; what went wrong?

It’s 24 hours after the Germany game. The Day After.

We are not yet out of the competition. It’s a simple calculation. If Germany wins against Denmark and Holland beats Portugal with two goals difference, Oranje is through!

So, let’s first analyse the Germany game.

What happened exactly?

We needed a win. Germany would have been happy with a 0-0. So Holland starts with some intent. Indeed, the first 20 minutes were fine. Not great, but we did create opportunities. Robin van Persie on a good long Van Bommel pass, Van Persie with another opportunity and Afellay with a cross to Van Persie which he basically squandered by playing it behind Van Persie.

The pace was good, the passing was ok, but when Germany had one opportunity, they scored. 0-1.

And fear entered into the frame. The defence stayed back. The midfielders drowned, the wingers didn’t get a good ball and Van Persie was on an island.

And when Germany had another option of slicing through our defence (another Schweinsteiger pass for Gomez) it was 0-2. And Oranje was chasing the game.

In the second half, Huntelaar and Van der Vaart came on and late in the game Dirk Kuyt came on for Robben. One great one-touch attack and Robin van Persie was able to score the consolation goal. Sneijder had an opportunity to score the equaliser but Boateng risked his ribs blocking this attempt.

Let’s look at what went wrong:

Tactics
Our 4-2-3-1 doesn’t work if it’s not executed well. Our defence kept on tracking back while our forwards wanted to push forward. Space between the lines was huge and our holding midfielders drowned in that space. Our full backs didn’t do anything on the overlap. While our wingers lacked the form (Afellay!!) to make a dent.

The Goalkeeper
Stekelenburg actually had a couple of good saves. The Ozil ball on the post. The Badstuber header. The weird high ball falling almost under the bar. But he didn’t look too good with the second Gomez goal. The angle was astute. And for some reason, Stekel decided to go to ground before Gomez even hit the ball… Why?? If Stekelenburg would have stayed on his feet, he could have simply caught the ball.

Defence
Our defence is atrocious. Willems is a very young, inexperienced left back. Who did ok. He made mistakes, but that was to be expected. Where was the support for the young Sparta prospect? Heitinga and Mathijsen were both guilty for allowing Gomez all the space to score two goals and didn’t have the balls to pressure forward. Van der Wiel, like against the Danes, was invisible. Didn’t add any value to the game.

Midfield
Both Van Bommel and De Jong seemed dinosaours. Too much space for them to cover, not enough balls or dynamics to push forward and play tightly within the team. Both Bommel and De Jong did not offer any added value and with defence were the “six players tracking back” while the forwards were focused on attacking.

Forwards
The four forwards were again focused on attacking and scoring goals. But Robben and Afellay did not have the form while Sneijder had problems making his mark in the first half. He played a better game in the second half when Afellay made way for Huntelaar and Sneijder had more space on the left wing. Van Persie had a number of chances again, but he failed to convert them, while the Germans did.

Individual Form
Too many players lack the form needed to win gold. Robben, Afellay, Van der Vaart, Huntelaar, van Bommel and De Jong and the whole defence seemed to be seriously under par.

Physical Condition
It’s hard to say, watching a game, what the status is of the physical condition of the players, but it does seem like the energy oozes out of our players a bit quicker than with other teams. It could be result of being deflated due to the results… It could also simply be the result of the pitch being too long for our players to cover. But both Morten Olsen and Joachim Low stated that Holland didnt look fit. And of course this Raymond Verheijen character is yelling this in tweets as well. But then again, if you have 5 players in your line up that are not 100% fit (Willems, Van der Wiel, Mathijsen, Van Bommel, Afellay) is it possible to play this high energy game??

Mentality
In a way, the mentality seems to be fine. Players like Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder, Huntelaar and co play top football for years already and are used to pressure and playing big games week in week out. Jetro Willems also doesn’t seem to be fussed playing with the big names, on the big stage, against big opponents. One thing that does puzzle me, is the fact that we have players who said a number of times already “we don’t have the form now, but once the tournament starts we will flick the switch and be ready”…. I don’t think that actually works like that.

Dynamics
The Dutch total football school is based on dynamics. JC everywhere on the pitch. Van Hanegem placing the ball anywhere. Krol being left winger. Rep center forward. Haan playmaker and Neeskens running from box to box. Etc etc. This worked with Gullit and Vanenburg and Muhren. And Erwin Koeman ran from box to box. And with Cocu, Bergkamp and Davids ran from box to box. But where are our dynamic players and patterns? Robben and Afellay? Predictable. Van der Wiel and Willems? Limited overlaps. Two central backs. NEVER pushing forward. Holding mids? Static. Just like Sneijder… Lots of dynamics in his passing, but doesn’t pull his weight in yards covered like Iniesta/Silva/Ozil/Modric… In my view, we lack penetration. Who runs from box to box? How many times did we see a potential cross (ok, they were mostly shite) but only Van Persie in the box? Maybe time for Strootman!

Sharpness
Gomez only needs 4 chances to score 3 goals. Van Persie, Robben and even Sneijder seem to be overzealous or maybe lacking sharpness… amongst ourselves, we might have had 15 good opportunities? Only 1 converted. And with his right! Is it lack of sharpness or too much will, too much eagerness… Did you see Arjen Robben’s face and grimace when singing the national anthem? Was he impersonating Jack Nicholson as the joker (Heath Ledger for younger generations) or does he simply want to it too badly?

The Run Up to this Euro Tournament
Before we started the WorldCup 2010, most of our players came out successful seasons. This time around, Sneijder has had his problems, Afellay hasn’t seen a ball, Van der Wiel was injured, Mathijsen was injured, Robben had some dramas to process and Huntelaar now has to accept that he’s not a starter.

History
Everytime Oranje played a good tournament, the next tournament was played crap. In 1974, we were vice world champs, in 1976 we made a mess of it. In 1978 we were vice world champs, in 1980 we were sent home after the group. In 1988 we won the Euros and in 1990 we ended in shame. And now we are the vice world champs, so this tournament might be the next drama…

Available Players
Looking at Germany, one sometimes wonders what kind of squad Holland could have if our country was bigger. If we has 30 Mio in stead of 15 Mio people. I’m not saying “Let’s invade Belgium”… But if there ever was a reason to do this, this is the one!! Add Vertonghen (left back), Vermaelen (CB) and Kompany (CB) and we’re laughing all the way to shake Platini’s hand. If we need to rely on an 18 year old lad who played Emmen and Helmond Sport last year….well….

The Coach
So, summing all the above up… Our coach is obviously responsible for this all. For team selection, for fitness, for tactics, for team motivation, etc (not for history, ok….).
He might be a great guy for a focused campaign when all the players are on a high and fit (2010) but maybe the wrong guy for a campaign where we need more tactical flexibility, more balls and more empathy. Who will tell him? I am guessing that we will….

Let’s create some solutions for the Portugal game!

June 9, 2012 by Jan

Let's have some Danish tonight!

So tonight it will all cut loose for us. Pondering this opponent, what comes to mind is this…

1. Who the ^#@() is Michael Krohn-Dehli?

I know that name… And then it sinks in. This guy played for Ajax. Then Sparta and then RKC and then he went back to Denmark. There’s more mediocre Eredivisie players in the Danish squad ( with all due respect). There’s Pedersen, Schone, Rommedahl and Silberbauer. Not names that will panic Van Marwijk any time soon. These guys wouldn’t make it to our squad. Simon Poulsen, the AZ leftback would be the only player who’d be called up, most likely. Even Christian Eriksen, the Danish star, would have left after the prelim days were over. With Wijnaldum and Maher.

In other words: Oranje has much more quality.

2. Agger
Liverpool defender Daniel Agger got on the score sheet in the World Cup 2010. By beating his own goalie. The center back, playing Van Persie tonight, will most certainly remember this.

3. 1967
Oranje hasn’t been beaten by the Danes since 1967!!! That is, if we count matches to be decided in 90 minutes! And that is how long we’ll play tomorrow. Oranje lost 3-2 in 1967. Cruyff played his fourth cap and Wim Jansen made his debut. (We do not mention the lost semis in 1992!!)

4. Danish attack
Our defense may be a bit wobbly at times. With Denmark it’s the forwards. Their star player is Nicklas Bendtner. He was loaned out by Wenger and he scored eight goals for Sunderland in 27 games. Yes, eight. Huntelaar and Van Persie score that number after a quarter of the competition. Their other striker is Tobias Mikkelsen. Played 4 internationals, scored zero. So you know.

5. Decisions…
Team manager Morten Olsen was confronted with a late decision to be made. His midfielder Zimling ( formerly of NEC) got injured and needs to be replaced. Bert van Marwijk already knows who he will play (and that he’ll miss Mathijsen). The big question for us is: will Jetro Willems grab Scifo’s record of youngest player ever on a Euros?

Bert’s staff is making sure they cover everything. One item that came up is the low hanging sun at the start of our game. It’s skipper Mark van Bommel’s task to make sure we win the toss so he can have the Danish goalie squint his eyes…

Speaking of Van Bommel, our skipper is making his Euros debut at 35 years of age. He was injured for the Euros 2004 and not available for 2008 ( the Van Basten rift). “I am keen to play. I really want to win a trophy. I was heartbroken after the World Cup finals. I cried for days. I have never been able to watch the game ever again. And with the passing of time, I sort of regret mostly that we failed to play our own game. We were very reactive, and a bit stressed I suppose…”

Today is the day that Wesley Sneijder turns 28 years old. Isn’t that the age a player is at his peak??

Oranje: Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Vlaar, Willems; Van Bommel, De Jong; Robben, Sneijder, Afellay; Van Persie.

Denmark: Lindegaard; Jacbosen, Kjaer, Agger, S. Poulsen; Kvist, Eriksen, C. Poulsen; Rommedahl, Bendtner, Krohn-Dehli.

Venue: Metalist (Charkov)
Referee: Skomina (Slovenia)

The Sneijder pic above is made by Pim Ras

June 5, 2012 by Jan

Let's get to know one another…

Dear friends, you all know that thing will get pretty hot very soon!! Before you know it, we are cheering, dancing, yelling, singing, celebrating, cursing, screaming and crying together. We will stand shoulder to shoulder and will sing hand in hand ( comrades). We will experience our wins and our losses together and even though it’s only virtual, only via this cyberhangspotforcooloranjefans, I think it’s cool if we would get to know one another a little bit… I mean would you jump into someone arms crying, without being introduced properly?

Right!

My name is Jan. A typical Dutch boys’ name. But I live in Australia now, where Jan is a…well…girls name. I grew up in Hendrik Ido Ambacht, close to Rotterdam. A Feyenoord town. Many Feyenoord players lived in our village. I played my football at ASWH – currently Hoofdklasse amateurs – and spent my weekends in De Kuip. I worked in marketing and sales in Holland and Europe before we immigrated to Australia. Why? Why not! Climate, space, lifestyle…

I’m married, have two daughters (who love football) and two labradors who love footballs. I live near Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia. I am in business and apart from football and writing, my hobbies are reading, watching movies, acting, playing the guitar, cooking (and eating) and playing sports (tennis, football, baseball).

The first tournament I watched in Oz was the EC 2004. I lived in Western Australia then and there was no coverage in tv. A friend of a friend in Oz taped the games of the commercial cable channel – not available in WA – and mailed it to us. We’d watch the games two days after they were played. But we watched them in the evening at least… I still remember the game against Czech Republic… Robben played great! Until Dick Advocaat…well…you remember.

I could watch the WC2006 live, early in the morning, after we moved to the East Coast. Which is when I found this site and not much later was asked to join as moderator.

Football background: Limited, was a talented but lazy left-footer, have had interesting connections to football (via players, managers, businesses)

Favorite clubs: Many… Feyenoord is in my blood, but I respect Ajax. Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool, AC Milan. But Oranje tops the list!

Fave players: Again, too many to mention: Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Nees, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Litmanen, Mario Been, Hoddle, Eder, Zico, Overath, Antognoni, Paulo Rossi, Richard Witschge, Edgar Davids, Gary Lineker, David Ginola

Fave players of our current Oranje: Raf van der Vaart, Mark van Bommel, Robin van Persie, Tim Krul

Fave moment of Oranje: The Van Basten goal in 1988, which I witnessed in the stands, behind the goal…

Sympathy for other nations: I do like Spain and have a soft spot for Italy and England. I truly wish Belgium will get their axto together for once!!

Bold predictions: Spain won’t survive the first round. Germany will but will be knocked out in the first knock out. Sweden will get far this tournament

How I watch Oranje: It’s bloody 4 am in the morning in the freezing cold here, so I watch with uggboots on and a blanket around me eating muesli and yoghurt where anywhere else in the world they party with beer and bitterballen :-(. Oh, and I’m obviously doing live webcasts for us all 🙂

One thing no one knows about me: Oh dear… Something secret…? Ok, I made my money in ICT and I currently blog like crazy but I’m actually the biggest computer illiterate you’ll find, hahaha…..

Anyhow, here’s a pic of me presenting a Johan Cruyff boot to the world… The guy next to me is actually the legendary no. 14

June 2, 2012 by Jan

A look at our rivals: Denmark

Willem van Hanegem, Louis van Gaal, Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola… they all said at some stage in their career: “I don’t care who we play, what their tactics are or what they do… We play our own game. And we won’t change it for the sake of our opponents…”

Tough talk. But let’s have a look anyway, ok?

Denmark is our first opponent this tournament. They are the filler in this Group of Death. All eyes will be on Germany, Holland and Portugal and Denmark will be seen as the ugly duckling, used to prop up the goal difference. But is that the right attitude?

Denmark was our first opponent at the World Cup in S Africa as well. They are seen as a weaker nation but we did need an own goal from them to start our winning campaign. Underestimating an opponent is always stupid and as Morten Olson’s men can look back at historical success at the Euros level, it is probably smart for Holland to take them seriously.

Denmark got their international breakthrough at the 1984 Euros in France, when they turned a 0-2 trail into a 3-2 win over Belgium. They lost the semi finals against Spain, but since then Denmark has been a staple at Euros.

They actually won it in 1992, in Sweden, as the so-called “beach team” that came to the tournament only because Yugoslavia was banned as a result of the Balkan crisis. Richard Moller-Nielsen’s team got a second bite of the cherry and totally relaxed and without pressure played themselves to glory. Partly by beating Holland in the semis on penalties. And this was even without their best ever player, Michael Laudrup.

Denmark was never able to even come close to this feat, but they did force Brazil to a hefty quarter finals game in the 1998 World Cup and they didn’t do too shabby at the 2004 Euros either.

Denmark has garnered fans all over the world by their joyous football: attacking, skillfull and somewhat undisciplined. Their former heroes include forwards like the Laudrups, Preben Larssen, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Allan Simonsen and more controlled players like Morton Olson and goalie Peter Schmeichel.

In today’s Denmark, youthful talents like Christian Eriksen, Michael Krohn Dehli and Nicklas Bendtner take the limelight, although the playing style under Morton Olson is more of a counter-attacking unit.

Coach Morton Olsen was the Danish Beckenbauer, a midfielder transformed to libero. He was the first Danish player to reach 100 caps the former Anderlecht star would later coach Ajax and Brondby IFK. Olsen still claims that the beauty of the game is more important to him than results, in real Ajax style, but the way his team plays doesn’t always exude that mantra.

The Captain
Stoke City goalie Thomas Sorensen is Olsen’s skipper. The seasoned goalie was supposed to be Schmeichel’s successor but struggles to make minutes in Stoke’s first team. Sorensen recently injured his back and might be replaced by Man United’s Lindegaard in the Holland game.

Defensive Rock
Andreas Bjelland is Denmark’s rock in the back. Strong and focused. Definitely not a big name player ( yet). He’s only 22 years old and has only played 4 international games for Denmark but he’s seen as the mainstay in Denmark’s defense. The young Dane will join FC Twente this summer. He plays center back for Denmark but is capable of playing full back and holding midfielder too.

Midfield Maestro
Christian Eriksen can play his football where he wants. All European topclubs are interested in signing the playmaker, as they were back in 2008 when he was only 16 years old. It was Ajax that snatched him up and Eriksen said only recently he will stay at least one more season in Amsterdam. He enjoys working with Bergkamp and De Boer and loves the open Dutch competition. But the biggest Danish talent since Laudrup will most definitely end up wearing the Barca club colours one day…

Star striker
Nicklas Bendtner is a lad with a big ego. And big strikers tend to have big egos ( ask Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Gullit and John Guidetti if you are not sure). The 23 year old Arsenal striker ( on loan at Sunderland) played an important role for Denmark in the qualifications, scoring key goals in important games.

Other interesting players: Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Nichoai Boilesen ( Ajax), Simon Poulsen ( AZ Alkmaar), Lasse Schone ( now NEC, Ajax next season), Mads Junker ( Roda JC, maybe Feyenoord?) and Dennis Rommedahl ( ex PSV, ex Ajax)

What to expect?
Denmark plays an interesting role in the group. We expect them to lose against Holland of course, but depending on the result of Germany – Portugal, anything is possible. If that game ends in a tie, and Oranje is capable of beating both Germany and Portugal, Denmark will have shot at second place. They will have to beat Portugal ( which they have done before in the qualifications) and need a result ( a tie? ) against Germany to be the dog that gets away with the bone.

Despite Olsen’s words and his reputation of playing attractive football, Denmark will calculate their way through the group and might be a surprise knock out rival.