Tag: Olij

by Jan

Oranje Hungary for success!

And here we go again chaps! Time for Oranje banter. Stop hiding and come out and play!

If Frenkie de Jong is back in the squad, why aren’t you back here?

Oranje only needs to win the Hungary game on Saturday to qualify for the final round of the Nations League. I personally don’t get super enthusiastic about the Nations League, but I do love to see my team play well. The World Cup is where it’s at for me!

This Nations League round, we had a very decent and at times impressive first international break, in which we played a really good half against Germany and the second international break was the opposite, with a pretty lacklustre Oranje playing a terrible half versus Germany.

We scored 5 against Bosnia, kept Germany at 2-2 in Holland, then we drew against Hungary away, and lost 1-0 in Germany versus our Easterly neighbours. One win, one loss and two draws.

But the most important factor we should be looking at is: how did we play?

How did we play?

Did we dominate? Did we manage chances? Were we able to bring our danger men in to the game (Gakpo, Xavi, Reijnders, Brobbey). Did we see any flow?

We all remember the disappointing campaign in the “Covid” Euros, the dreadful World Cup campaign under Van Gaal in Qatar and in part the flat Euros under Koeman.

Remember the Euros under De Boer? We did well in the group stages and ended up seemingly in a comfortable chair on our way to the finals, only to be ousted by the Czechs in the first knock out game?  I remember the circumstances: Oranje only flew to the humid mid European venue the day before the game and the team did seem very leggy. De Ligt got red-carded. Malen missed a sitter. And we ended up losing.

Or the Qatar World Cup. Playing 5 at the back. Never really impressing, until…. the last 15 mins of the Argentina game when Van Gaal played 4 attackers. Immediate results. But in the extra time, Van Gaal directed his men back to defend again. And Koeman also had an easy route to the finals and is probably proud to have made it to the semis, but the quality of the football was under par.

Our squad

So, out with the old guard: no more De Roon, Blind, Wijnaldum and – for now – Memphis.

With exciting players like Lang, Gakpo, Brobbey, Xavi, Reijnders and more, we expected to see some joyful and adventurous play. And we did, in that first week. But not even close in that second international break.

During the presser before the Hungary game, Koeman was asked about it. “I too felt the drop in quality was a bit much. But we were dealing with two issues: the plan didn’t work and the individual quality of the players let us down. Germany in particular played differently and we had trouble adapting to the game and finding the free man.”

Koeman also mentioned the lack of football intelligence: “Don’t forget we used to have a number of “captains” in the team and we missed Ake, Van Dijk, Frenkie for these matches while before this campaign we had Daley Blind and Gini Wijnaldum as well who would be able to read the game. And in those situations you can easily look like it’s all really bad, but it is sometimes just a little tweak that is needed to get a better performance.”

Memphis Depay

Memphis performances in Brazil were mentioned and the question was: why isn’t he in the squad now? He plays his games, he is important for Corinthians… Koeman: “Well, not good enough yet and not fit enough. I am watching his games, I am frequently in contact with him and I get his data too so I know. The timing is not right now. Also, I started this campaign with these players and I don’t want to interrupt our process.” Asked whether bringing Memphis back in the future would be for Depay’s ambition to become Oranje’s top goal scorer, Koeman said: “That will definitely count for him, but not for me. Although…. if he scores 6 or 7 more goals, that will be good for me as well of course.”

Frenkie was a question mark on Sunday, when he had to abandon Barca’s game after taking a hit. Koeman: “Yes, I have to say, I did check in immediately via the app and luckily he messaged me to say he thought it would be fine. Just a knock on the shin I believe. He will train with us and we’ll check him and keep an eye on him but he should be ok to play.”

Who will play

Koeman and the reporters kept on returning to the midfield question: who will Koeman play? Is Gravenberch/De Jong/Reijnders the logical combi? Or De Jong/Koopmeiners/Xavi? And don’t forget Timber. Koeman agreed we are doing well in the midfield area.

Apart from the available players, there is also still Veerman and Schouten, while Koeman also called Ken Taylor of Ajax. “He used to be part of the squad and I was critical on him, last season. I thought it was only fair to let him know that I felt he is doing well again and he’s not forgotten.”

The reporters asked about Feyenoord talent Milambo, the 19 year old wizard who impressed so much in this season. “Yes, there is him but I can see others as well, I think Sem Steijn at Twente and Mijnans at AZ Alkmaar are interesting lads to follow, but there are only 3 or sometimes 4 spots available, so it’s not easy.”

There were some critical questions about the strikers. Brobbey having a dry spell, Zirkzee not scoring much…. The national team manager didn’t agree. “I think Brobbey is playing really well and that means the goals will come. He scored a zinger this weekend, right?

And Zirkzee, he’s another type of player and also didn’t play that much this season. And at times, you also need to look at the players around them. What service do they get?”

Lastly, Koeman was asked about the value of the Nations League. Is this a good way to prepare players? The former Barca coach was clear in his response: “It’s a prize. Another trophy. So even though it doesn’t yet have the allure of a World Cup, it will count on your CV. And it’s a more serious way of organising games, as opposed to the friendlies we used to have. We’re in Group A and we have been there from the start. Only Group A teams can make it into the finals and win this. And don’t forget, this is also a backstop, for teams that can’t qualify for the World Cup, the Nations League finals allows for participation in a series of play-offs allowing you a ticket for the World Cup. That is nice to have, eve if you don’t really expect to need it.”

Line-up

I think Koeman will play with a strong team versus Hungary, as we want to win and need to win.

Verbruggen

Dumfries – De Vrij – Van Dijk – Timber

Frenkie – Gravenberch

Simons – Reijnders – Gakpo

Brobbey

I think we’ll win this 4-1 allowing for Oranje to experiment a tad versus Bosnia Herzegovina.

We might see Olij make his debut against Bosnia and a return to the team for Koopmeiners and Lang.

by Jan

Our talents at Oranje: U17

For the second time in 2 years, the Under17s won the European cup. Something the big boys can learn from. Success coach Albert Stuivenberg: “It’s great to see that both individually and as a team we are consistent and we can bring talent to the point where we can actually win trophies. Once, it might be a one-off, but doing it twice means something.”

Stuivenberg: “And it’s about experience, isn’t it. Experience in playing big games and gaining experience in winning. In how that feels. Any prospect that reaches the big Oranje can resort back to this experience and bring that along. That is the added value. And clubs benefit too. Quite a percentage of my lads have already played in the first teams of their clubs. This might be partly due to the financial stress some clubs have, but also because these players are almost ready for that. Seedorf, Vanenburg, Kieft, Robben, Van der Vaart, Van Persie, they all made their debuts around this age…”

In this campaign, Stuivenberg found that the quality of the smaller nations is increasing. “The difference in quality and playing level is diminishing. Countries like Slovenia and Poland play really strong football. They may lack the huge talents, but their team tactics are really good. Some nations compensate their lack of class with intense team practice and these nations almost play like club teams. So consistent and with lots of cohesion.”

Holland played Georgia in the semi finals. A strong and tough team, that defeated Spain and England in the group. “We played most of the game with one man more, but still have difficulties breaking them down. We played in a too low pace. Sometimes, when the other team gets red-carded early, complacency sinks in to the team. As if it’s easy to beat ten men. Experience learns it is not.”


Coach Albert Stuivenberg

Nathan Ake, the ex-Feyenoord midfielder in Chelsea service and PSV striker Rai Vloet had the best of the game and most chances but it was PSV defender Hendrix who found the net in the last quarter of the game. When Georgia tried to break for the equaliser, Oranje got more space and Feyenoord midfielder Trindade de Vilhena offered Thom Haye the deciding goal.

Oranje U17 would play the finals against Germany again, a repeat of the 2011 game, which Holland won 5-2.

The finals ended in a draw this time, but Oranje was better in taking spot kicks. The Germans did leave the initiative to Holland in the first part of the game, playing more old-fashioned counter football.

In a tense game most opportunities were shots from distance. Germany took more initiative in the second half and scored with a header from a corner in within 5 minutes: 0-1.

Germany got the better chances and Holland was a bit shaken after this German goal. It took the Dutch a while to get back into the game. Holland pressed and pushed but it took a lucky cross in from Haye to enable sub Acolatse to score in the dying minutes of the game. Goalie Nick Olij was the Dutch hero in the penalty series. He stopped the fourth German penalty and Tonny Trindade de Vilhena scored the winning goal.

After the finals, Albert Steuivenberg said the late goal was not just luck. “We know and knew we had talent but I wanted the boys to fight for their chances too. To stick together and work when things go against you. Against Georgia, we had to already and against the Germans you saw this again. Sure, it was luck but this is luck you sort of generate yourself by believing in it. And this late goal was a tremendous boost for us in the penalty series, just like Germany will have had trouble processing the late equaliser.”


Tonny Trindade de Vilhena and Nathan Ake

Stuivenberg is seriously impressed with his squad. “As I said, some of these guys have made their debut in the Eredivisie and with Feyenoord on the way up, AZ doing really well and also Heerenveen and Vitesse doing great the future of Dutch football is rosy.”

Ajax and PSV are the main suppliers in this age group.

“It’s interesting to see that clubs in England, Spain and Italy are already scouting these lads. It’s a good confirmation for them, but not necessarily a good thing to follow up on… But Ake has a good contract for instance, at Chelsea, and he will train with the A-team and what not… It’s hard for these lads to resist that…”

Both Ajax and PSV have four players in the squad, with Heerenveen/Emmen three.

Elton Acolatse, Djavan Anderson, Branco van den Boomen and Queensy Menig (all Ajax), Thom Haye and Nick Olij (both AZ), Nathan Aké (Chelsea), Tonny Trindade de Vilhena (Feyenoord/Excelsior), Sandy Walsh (RC Genk), Pascal Huser, Wouter Marinus and Joris Voest (all sc Heerenveen/Emmen), Riechedly Bazoer, Jorrit Hendrix, Rai Vloet ,Bram van Vlerken (all PSV), Mike Havekotte (FC Utrecht) and Jeroen Lumu (Willem II/ RKC).