You Should Have Been There…

blog
by Jan

From left to right: Norlina, Juri, Jan, Alex, Richard, Carlos ( and the beer for Dirk)

Really… I can’t put into words the magic of spending an evening together with friends you actually never met before… (Technically speaking, Carlos and I did meet before in Sydney and Singapore….).

But Alex was someone I had never met before and there was a great dynamics happening between all present.

There was English/Dutch Juri, Singaporian/Belgian Norlina, French/Belgian Richard, Dutch/Brabants Alex, Singaporian/Aussie/Dutch Carlos and Aussie/Dutch Jan. And he (me) was the only on wearing oranje on the outside…

And let’s not forget the lovely crew at VakZuid (the cafe/restaurant we were at) as they prepared a tremendous cake for birthday boys Alex and Juri, who shared a birthday together.

A summary of the night’s conversation in tags:

The Weather
The Olympic Stadium
The Olympics
The Dutch in London 2012
Alex
Goose
Bitterballen
Belgium
The Belgium football team
Vermaelen/Vertonghen/Chadli/Fellaini/Dembele
Marc Wilmots (although we forgot his name)
Vespa scooters
Italians
Italian girls
Italian girls on scooters
Louis van Gaal
Oranje
Ajax
PSV Eindhoven
Youth Development
Weight loss
Food
Bitterballen
Beer
Dirk Kuyt
Ajax 1995
Travel
Blog
Asia and Singapore
More Italian girls on scooters (I might be mistaken though)

Thanks to all for donating beer money…. We used it appropriately.

0 comments

  2. awesome that you guys met. Yeah, should have been there but have no holidays left this year. Hopefully I will meet one or two of you in the spring in Amsterdam.

    BTW, can you put a name to each face ? would love to know you guys.

  4. Awesome 😀 😀 😀
    Too bad I missed the chat on italian girls as I get to see them everyday, since living 20 minutes from Rome! 🙂
    Not so many on scooters any more 🙂

  6. LVG’s squad for Andorra / Romania (Wes and Arjen out injured)

    Goalkeepers:
    Maarten Stekelenburg Roma
    Kenneth Vermeer Ajax
    Michel Vorm Swansea

    Defenders:
    John Heitinga Everton
    Ricardo van Rhijn Ajax
    Nick Viergever AZ
    Ron Vlaar Aston Villa
    Bruno Martins Indi Feyenoord
    Daryl Janmaat Feyenoord

    Midfielders:
    Urby Emanuelson AC Milan
    Ibrahim Afellay Schalke
    Kevin Strootman PSV
    Rafael van der Vaart Hamburg
    Nigel de Jong AC Milan

    Attackers:
    Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Schalke
    Dirk Kuyt Fenerbahce
    Ruben Schaken Feyenoord
    Luciano Narsingh PSV
    Jeremain Lens PSV
    Robin van Persie Manchester United

    1. Telegraaf reported that Van Gaal says “the selection of [Dirk] Kuyt is simply a matter of who is match fit and who is not, in addition to my desire to annoy frequent dutchsoccersite.com commenter Tiju.”

  8. It seems you had a great day , guys 🙂 . Happy for all of you 🙂 .

    I don’t like the squad actually .
    Andorra is an easy game , but Romania is not .

    I hope lvg doesn’t start with de jong .

    The best three for the midfeild are strootman , afellay and vdv .
    Emanuelson can play instead of afellay , i’m ok with this .

    I think BMI will play in the left back position , virgever may have another chance to show his talent in the CB eith heitinga .

    Lens narsingh and persie should play upfront , perhaps afellay plays as a winger .

  9. ———–Persie————
    Urby——–Vaart———Ruben
    ———Afaleey—Strootman——
    BMI————————–Vanrhijn
    ———-viergiver–Johny————
    ————-Stekelnburg—————

    1. Actually Tiju i think Lens is a big player in the making 🙂 , i love his skills .
      Excellent dribbler , excellent goal scorer , very fast and has good vision .
      Plus , he can play in all attacking positions , CF , SS , left and right winger .

      Narsingh has some good skills , fast .
      i’m ok with him in the squad but not as starter ” unless other players are injured or against lesser teams ” .

  11. If they are not personal, perhaps more details about the following topics:
    Louis van Gaal
    Oranje
    Ajax
    PSV Eindhoven
    Youth Development

    I would like to see Vermeer, Vorm, van Rhijn, Viergever, Janmaat, Emanuelson and perhaps Schaken tested vs Andorra, especially Janmaat (perhaps so he can gain more confidence?) What happens to youth movement? Does De Jong play well enough to be recalled? How about Afellay? Are these 2 playing at all for their clubs or still bench warmers?

  15. Agree with Mohamed. Since Lens has been playing more at CF for PSV, his game has improved. I’m not saying he is ready to even be considered with RVP or KJH, but perhaps playing inside has helped him develop his overall game….looking at the selection, who plays on the left as a forward…Given the constraints of the squad, would LVG consider going 4-4-2 (playing Huntelaar and RVP together)?

  17. @Goldstone…if van gall says so,the he mean it,what if he gets more fitter and more talented player??Sure kuyt will br dropped that time…So no worries,its for time being…

    1. Really? Kuyt again?

      Hey Jan,
      Can we get a button to ignore/block fools like this ^ ?

      Why do those with the smallest brains have the biggest mouths eh?

      Also, who the fuck is ‘van gall’?

      1. Waar is de gezelligheid?

        * Name-calling is a personal foul.

        * ‘van gall’ is a typo.

        * Teasing tiju, gently, about Dirk Kuyt has a history…

        * but I apologize to tiju for somehow stirring the pot of discontent.

        Hup, Holland!

  18. Wow,that must have been a great meeting.:)
    I hope next time there will be even more
    brothers in passion-for-oranje.

    About the selection,I was not happy at first,but then I realised that some players are dropped to U21 because of the play offs for European Cup where they play Slovakia.That would be Clasie and Maher (who is btw in a very good form now and played the last two games for AZ in his best position-AMF).
    So Van Gaal just picked players older than 21 and in good current form at their club or playing at a strong club in a strong league to replace them (Emanuelson and De Jong).
    And also recalling some players who now integrated into their new clubs,and you have this selection!

  19. good stuff Jan! sounds like a fun outing. hmmm italian girls on scooters…. now that the euro is so cheap maybe its time to go to italy for a visit…

  21. Eventhough brain is small,whatever i say it happends..so am not that worried,keep stay in your dreams,also think CR7 is fart and only dutch has excellent players in the world….
    Opponents are not strong like turkey,this squad is enough to beat andora,Sanmarino and Romania..strootman,Vaart will have a great game for us,orange will play a slow and defencive game…but still they will win and they should win…

  22. Guys,

    The pics look great. I would have liked to be there.

    As for Van Gaal selection I would use Strootman as the holding mid but I think Van Gaal will use De Jong there.

    So:

    1 Steks
    2 Van Rhijn
    3 Heitinga
    4 Vlaar
    5 Martins Indi
    6 De Jong
    7 Narsingh
    8 Strootman
    9 Van Persie
    10 VDV
    11 Lens

    Good team but still I do not understand why Douglas is not included. I watched him against Ajax and he is not worse than Vlaar, Heitinga and Viergever and with Mathijsen injured he should have been called. I think Van Gaal wants to give Dutch defenders a chance before testing the Brazilian man, but with the defensive problems we have had everyone should understand Van Gaal if he calls a Brazilian with a Dutch passport.

  23. @Mario Afaleey just scored a goal for schalke…i think he will start in left wing,,ahead of lenz i think,but i dont like both,though they are skilled players..

    1. Just drop everything and just say “the final we win against Brazil” and then imagine Louis van Gaal doing his winning speech at the Museumplein in Amsterdam saying “We are the best, not only from the Netherlands but from Germany and from Spain and from Brazil, we are the best from the world” after which he starts a dance with king Willem Alexander.

  28. PSV coming into form…me likey.

    Glad to see the meeting was a success!

    Im watching the Man U, Newcastle game right now, a classic EPL game, plenty of action, back and forth. RVP not too involved yet, other than build up play and a yellow card for a striker’s challenge..

  29. WOW,what a crazy referee at the Twente-AZ game! Two red cards for nothing!!! That man has some personal issue against AZ or he was paid to be against them.No other explanation. Destroyed the game.AND the next AZ game because their two best players wont be able to play!
    In my opinion he should be dropped to lower league football immediately. That has to be punished somehow.
    By drastic measure…

    1. When I read my comment again seems like I overreacted much,lol…
      But still I stand by my opinion that he should not have given 2 red cards for those silly things that happened.

      1. Maher’s trip shows him to be immature. U-21 is still the place for him. We all have high hopes he’ll grow into something much more.

        Altidore should know better, too.

        Ref went big.

  30. great to see the meeting was a success and our beers were used for a good cause! i hope we can make these meetings an annual or bi-annual occurrence.

    if any of you live in the miami area/southeastern USA i would love to meet up as well!

    regarding the team, i think its fine for andorra but not sure if we are strong enough to face romania IN romania…. clasie, sneijder, fer, douglas, hunter, and buttner are big misses! why did he stick with janmaat??? he played horribly! PSV has maintained a very solid backline, too bad Tim Derijck is Belgian! wow belgium keeps getting better and better…. has anyone played fifa 2013? it’s fantastic.

  31. I have fifa 13 but my sons wont let me get on it!
    The Dutch team selected looks like a very weak line up, they should still do the job on Andora though!

  32. Afaleey is nowhere near to Vaart,welsy,Robin and roben in terms of fotball intelligence.He is quick and speedy boy with some skills,But lacks the quickthinking in the feild,that why he couldnt win in barca…

  39. LINE-UP:

    Maarten Stekelenburg Roma

    Ricardo van Rhijn Ajax
    John Heitinga Everton
    Ron Vlaar Aston Villa
    Bruno Martins Indi Feyenoord

    Kevin Strootman PSV
    Rafael van der Vaart Hamburg
    Nigel de Jong AC Milan

    Luciano Narsingh PSV
    Jeremain Lens PSV
    Robin van Persie Manchester United

    1. I like it.. although not sure about Narsingh and Lens in the front. I know they have done well so far but …

      the rest looks good. And maybe give Janmaat another chance.

  41. @Balkan i liked the way you responded,if u feel undesirable,dont come,or u might lack passion,it not a big problem,life is like that,at times we get bored..BIG WELCOME for your thanks…

  45. @tiju Afaleey,welsy,roben,lenz,van gall,viergiver,Johny, Stekelnburg,Jody Lukkoki,ericikson,Cryuff

    I know i am being pedantic, but please learn how to spell the players names, i understand bad english if it isnt your first language but if you’re a fan you should know how to spell the players name.

    Rant over. lol

  46. @Ajax 95…I type the name according to my pronounciation of name,it is not the way others speak or pronounce.thats the reason.Many people in india from otherstates calling me Tijo,teju etc,i dodnt mind it,it happens with mothertongue influence..Some people in india write Yohan cruyff and dutch people write Johan Cruijff,thats how it is….But welsy,van gall was a speed typing error by me,i like John heitinga ,thats why i wrote Johny…sorry for my typing errors.

  49. Grewt news to have Douglas in the squad .
    I think a douglas – Indi pairing in the center can be the strongest CB we had since stam and fdb 🙂 .
    I hope we score more than 6 goals against andorra .

    1. To be honest i wouldnt worry about GVW, he has stagnated over the past couple of years whilst he has a bigger ego which we dont need. RVR in my honest opinion is like a second chance of the potentially world class right back we had with greg except he is more enthusiatic like if you compare their performances against madrid, Greg would fear ronaldo ( like vs portugal) but rvr just got stuck in

    1. Steve, I’m in Vancouver but unless the game is during the weekend, I won’t be able to go and watch any. Only saw half of the NL-Portugal game last summer because the other ones were during the week.

      Cheers

  54. Van Gaal needs to give a chance Van Wolfswinkel, Ola John, Wijnaldum etc…if these guys are fit. I’m glad that Douglas is getting his first cap.

    This is exactly the kind of game where we need to rest the big names. There’s no point in starting RVP and risk getting him injured.

  55. Wow! Soooo cool that you all got to hangout. Maybe again next spring? My wife and I go to Europe for our Anniversary which is in April. Of course Nederland is always a destination. We used to go at the end of our trip near Queen’s Day but we’ve had our fill of that chaos lol

    @ Andrew & Vincent. I’m from the Bay myself guys. If we theres more Oranje fans from the Bay we should set up a hangout.

  56. I’m with SamDC. No need to play big guns for Andorra. I would start all the substitute players first, Douglas, Janmaat, Vorm/Vemeer, Emmanuelson, Afellay, Schaken,….

  57. It is simply never enough. LVG has already played Janmaat, Indi, Clasie, Fer, Krul, Narsingh and Lens but it’s funny because it’s never enough for us: the fans.

    Now we want to see Wolfswinkel, Wijnaldum, Ola John…but it’s OK and normal.

    LVG is doing a good job.

  58. —————Stekelenburg————-

    —V.Rhijn—Douglas—BMI—Pieters—-

    ——–Sneijder—-Fer—-Strootman—–

    ——-Narsingh—-Persie—-Robben——-

    what do you guys think about this one for next call ups?

    1. nice. a couple of comments:

      a. might want to swap BMI and Pieters for CB and LB respectively.

      b. still not sure about Narsigh

      overall, I like this one a lot.

    2. I want to see VdV in that midfield over Sneijder. Sneijder looks stagnant with our new system. He doesn’t keep the ball at his feet and dictate the pace of the game and that’s what we’re missing in our midfield. VdV is more suited to this kind of play and if Fer wasn’t injured it would have been nice to try VdV – Fer – Strootman in the midfield against Andorra.

    3. I would put Afellay in Narsingh’s spot, not sold on that kid yet and I have always liked Ibi!

      I would have NDJ on Fer’s spot (assuming thats the Number 6) with Fer and Strootman battling for the Number 8 jersey.

  59. March 22 Estonia / March 26 Romania – both in Holland!

    1 – Krul
    2 – van Rhijn
    3 – Heitinga
    4 – Douglas
    5 – Pieters
    6 – de Jong
    7 – Afellay
    8 – Strootman
    9 – van Persie
    10 – Sneijder (c)
    11 – Robben

    If all goes well this week, we could have things all but sewn up after these two matches.

    1. His start at Tottenham was terrific too. VdV is the main star at his new club, so he gets a lots of attention. As everyone else on this blog I want him to loose some weight to be able to play 90 mins, other than that he’s great footballer.

  64. I hope we play with this line-up :

    ______________ stek _______________

    Van rijn___ heiginga ___ douglas ___ indi

    ________________ strootman _________
    Van der vaart _______________ emanuelson

    Lens___________ persies ________ afellay

    Unlikely though 😛

    1. that is very possible except for indi/douglas.. they are both central defenders….

      will look more like:

      —————–Stek——————–
      ———-Douglas——Bruno———-
      Van Rhijn————————–Janmaat

      I wish Pieters or Buttner could play LB

      1. I think van rijn can play on the left side . He did play as a left cb earlier this season . May be van gaal will try him on the left . He did almost the same thongs with Lahm 🙂 .

  65. Can anyone else believe we now have a Portuguese/Brazilian duo in central defense?? No way we will lose the world cup now 🙂

    I know @SamDC will like this

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