Van Basten and his boys are ready
Remember Jaap Staam. One of the best defenders in the world. Now injury riddled and at half the pace.
But the the Dutch defence has surprised with its resiliency. They conceded only three goals in the 12 qualifiers and they played against the likes of marksmen Jan Koller and Milan Baros. And this defence is extremely mobile and capable of moving ahead into opposing terrritory. Khalid Bouhlarouz of SV Hamburg, Joris Mathijsen of AZ Alkmaar, and Giovanni Bronckhorst of Barcelona have built a solid defence. Kew Jaliens and Tim De Cler will come off the bench.
Veteran Philip Cocu leads the midfield and with Mark Van Bommel provides the conduit to strikers Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robin Van Persie, and Arjen Robben. Edwin Van Der Saar should be his usual dependable self at goal. This Dutch team is so strong that they left out Roy Makaay, Clarence Seedorf, and Edgar Davids.
The Dutch are in Group C with Argentina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ivory Coast.
i think that van basten should just get off the team. he worked to much on getting a team that plays together he took off all our good midfields like edgar davids and such, he also needs patrick klievert back on the team.... and staam with out key midfields and strikers we won't stand a chance in th eeuros or next fifa.
I'm just glad Ruud VN scored his 1st goal of the tournament.
But I've one very critical point about the Oranje team. Especially Arjen
Robben.
He's a very skillful player, but I think he doesn't care about teamwork.
Too one-man show off.
He dribbles too much and there are many instances where Ruud VN & Van
Persie were completely free. But Robben opted to shoot frm difficult
angles & wasted goal-scoring opportunitites for the Ducth team. If I'm
Marco Van Basten, I'll take Robben off the starting line up and replace
him (Robben) with Van Persie on the left, Dirk Kuijt on the right.
...and supply those passes to Ruud VN.
In football, individual skills are important, but the team comes
first...
True. No Huntelaar in the Oranje national team. I hate it for the kid as he's really talented.
But I think van Basten made the right decision to stick with vNistelrooy up front..
Don't forget Huntelaar, they didn't include him either...
Well, it looks like I have to eat those words almost as soon as I typed them out.
I think Marco van Basten might be reading your blog. The NOS just reported that he's giving preference to van Persie over Kuyt.
He's starting with Robben on the left and vPersie on the right.. :)
I don't think you'll see Van Persie and Robben playing at the same time. Robben can also play on the right side, but his preferred is left wing, just like van Persie.
It will probably be Robben, v Nistelrooy and Kuyt up front.
vPersie will probably have to make do with some late sub appearances at the cup. Which is too bad, cause vPersie has some insane skills..
HUP Holland!