Buitenlandse pers over het Nederlandse elftal

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 00:18 schreef Enchanter het volgende:
Ben benieuwd wat ze morgen na de wedstrijd te melden hebben (uitgaande dat Nederland wint natuurlijk )

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Hij omringde zich met twee voormalige herbergier (Phillip Cocu en Frank De Boer) en de ervaren spelers te doen.

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Holland happy to be the centre of attention at the World Cup

The Dutch coach is determined to battle the enemy of boredom and channel 'arrogance' into a positive in South Africa

For this World Cup Holland are the new Germany. They have not suddenly become three-time winners, nor are they expected to struggle in their qualifying group or be afraid of meeting England in the second round. But they have based themselves in a hotel right in the middle of Johannesburg, in Sandton, where most of the fans and tourists congregate and where the nights are noisy with vuvuzelas and chatter from the restaurants that line Nelson Mandela Square. It would not be quite true to say the Dutch are so relaxed you can sit at the next table to Robin van Persie or Wesley Sneijder, but it has been fairly easy most evenings to spot Ruud Gullit or Ronald Koeman mixing with the multitude, and fans of all nationalities appreciate such easygoing informality.

Germany did the same four years ago in Berlin, though in that instance the World Cup was being played in their country and the hosts wanted to be close to their supporters and as visible as possible. There is no need to be as aloof and isolated as England about these things.

After stationing themselves on a remote Japanese island and a Black Forest mountaintop in the last two tournaments England have chosen a much more accessible base this time, even if Rustenburg is a bit of a backwater. The Americans have adopted a working farmyard on the outskirts of Pretoria, the Italians have taken over a college campus just down the road, but the Dutch have gone for the middle of town. Exactly the part of town that came to a standstill when thousands of supporters came out to greet the Bafana Bafana boys waving from the top of an open-top bus before they had even kicked a World Cup ball.

Any Holland players attempting a mid-afternoon snooze at the Sandton Hilton, or returning from training to find the town centre at a standstill for four hours might have felt the same way as the South Africa coach, Carlos Alberto Perreira, who was dismayed when he discovered the scale and volume of the pre-celebratory event, arguing that it was a poor way to prepare for an important game. It doesn't bother the Dutch coach, though, because Bert van Marwijk thinks boredom and solitude might be worse alternatives.

"I remember when I was a player how it felt after being in a hotel for just two or three days," he explained. "It can be boring. I also know that with Dutch players in the same hotel for several weeks there will be some things happening, but that's not a problem. Not everything will go well but that's good, because teams who learn to manage these things off the pitch will have more resilience on it."

That's a grown-up attitude, and it might even work, although Van Marwijk is clearly hinting at the way things have gone wrong for Holland at tournaments in the past. Internal divisions and tensions have tended to rise to the surface in periods of close confinement, and while some say it is a national characteristic to be outspoken and argumentative, Van Marwijk clearly believes the Dutch "arrogance" can be channelled and need not be an obstacle to them winning a first World Cup.

It is certainly about time Holland won it. Even if their efforts over the last decade have been rather feeble – they failed to qualify in 2002 and went out in the round of 16 last time – they have been in finals, brought a great deal of quality and invention to modern World Cups and not infrequently looked the best team, only for their inability to handle tournaments as well as, say, the Germans, to let them down. This time Holland look easily capable of going much further than the Germans.

For Holland in World Cups, however, nothing is ever quite as straightforward as it could be. Things conspire against them, injuries and accidents happen, and always to the most important players. While England tend to save their best until late in World Cups – usually too late – the established Dutch formula is to sparkle early on then fall inexplicably by the wayside. It was Holland, remember, who dismissed Argentina in 1998 in the round after they had knocked out England. When Dennis Bergkamp scored his wonder goal in Marseille it was impossible to believe there was a better team in the tournament, a feeling that the eventual final between France and Brazil did nothing to contradict. Holland initially looked good at the last European Championships too, so it is surprising that they are going into this World Cup with comparatively little expectation, especially as their qualification was faultless.

Perhaps it is to Holland's advantage that they are not among the favourites to win the World Cup. Their chances are not being talked up, and that may suit them. There is another factor that may work in their favour. Almost all their players play in different leagues, outside their own country. As Van Marwijk has pointed out, most of Spain's players play in Spain, Germany's in Germany, England's in England, and so on.

That makes it harder for a national coach to impose a style on a team in the short time he has available, though it also ought to mean the players are quicker to adapt to new demands. It seems to work for Argentina and Brazil. Holland just might have the international edge.

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For the Dutch,' Total Football' Isn't Enough
By ROB HUGHES
Published: June 13, 2010

PRETORIA — What is it about the Dutch? Since the early 1970s, they have had great talents — Cruyff, van Basten, Gullit, Bergkamp, Rijkaard and others — playing some of the most expansive soccer in the history of the sport.

Yet apart from one European Championship, in 1988, they have always left the big parties early.

The 2010 Dutch “Oranje” might be no different. The team has acknowledged young masters like Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben. The Dutch fans have arrived in Johannesburg and are turning the city orange in time for the first Dutch game, against Denmark on Monday. Expectations, as always, are sky high.

The team was the first to qualify for this first World Cup in Africa, with victories in every qualifying match and with style to make the fans salivate. But it is revealing that the coach, Bert van Marwijk, has already warned his squad: “We can do well in this World Cup — but we have to not be too arrogant.”

Is it arrogance, over-confidence or simply that the Dutch talk a better game than they can sustain?

In virtually every major tournament since 1974, the Dutch have produced marvelous, flowing soccer but have come up short.

The Dutch have a philosophy that even a man standing 60 meters from the ball is active because if a teammate can see him, he can use him with a long pass and long vision. It has long been supposed by many that the Netherlands invented what is called “total football,” in which everybody moves, everybody improvises, everybody is interchangeable on the field.

But the Dutch did not invent it. Austria’s “Wunderteam” of the 1930s was propelled by what became known as the Meisl Whirl — a fast, interchanging method invented by the brothers Hugo and Willy Meisl. One managed the team, the other, a journalist, let the world know what was happening.

The Hungarians of 1954, arguably the best side never to win the World Cup, were also like the Dutch. Hungary’s “Magical Magyars” destroyed the myth of English soccer superiority in 1953, but lost in the 1954 World Cup final to West Germany.

The 1970s brought the Dutch golden — or nearly golden — era. It was led on the field by Johan Cruyff. In the 1974 World Cup final in Munich, the Netherlands had scored before a West German opponent even touched the ball. The Dutch mesmerized their opponents, stringing together pass after laconic pass until Cruyff was fouled and Johan Neeskens scored a penalty. But the Germans came back to win.

So that makes three great teams — Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands — all espousing versions of total football that the Dutch continue to this day. And each failed to win a World Cup.

It does not stop the Netherlands from believing. But maybe van Marwijk, in a single word, nailed the cause of failure. It’s a thin line between heightened self-confidence — the belief that you share something superior to the rest — and arrogance.

The new Dutch side is trying to go that one step further than in 1974, when the Netherlands lost in the World Cup final to West Germany, and 1978, when it lost to Argentina, in each case to the hosts. It is trying to erase the misfortune of 1998, when the Oranje lost a semifinal penalty shootout to Brazil in Marseille.

Van Marwijk leads a new team in a different generation, a team whose talents are primarily in attack and whose defense is mediocre. That bodes well for entertainment — unless, as the coach fears, the players trip over their own over-confidence.

He is not alone in his fear. Edgar Davids, a dynamic player at the end of his prime, has traveled throughout Africa en route to Johannesburg with what he calls his Street Legends. They are a group of players seeking to revive the street game in which their skills were honed, and making YouTube films of each stop, from Senegal to Ghana and to the townships of Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Davids, born in Surinam, the former Dutch Guyana, where other Dutch stars like Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard also have their roots, believes he is giving something back to his game by linking soccer in the street compounds to health care and education in Africa.

He was once sent home from a Dutch camp after infighting between the players ahead of the 1996 European championship in England. “This is another Dutch squad capable of winning the World Cup,” Davids says. “But to shine, you have to leave the ego behind in the dressing room.”

“It has to be a team effort, you have to believe in yourself and your skills, but you are in the most difficult tournament of your life,” he said. “To reach the finals, you must leave out your personal ego.”

Ego and arrogance in this regard might sound like the same thing.

The modern Dutch players, of whom van Persie is perhaps the most gifted, are given a long rein of freedom by their coach. They are the Twitter generation, most of them, like van Marwijk himself, building up huge followings on their personal Twitter sites.

When van Persie publicly suggested that he and his fellow thoroughbreds in the starting lineup felt that another player favored by the coach, Dirk Kuyt, was not at their level, the story broke that there might, again, be egos rising in the camp.

Last week, van Persie retracted his statement somewhat. “I respect Dirk so much,” he said. “This guy is getting the maximum from his career. When he started at Feyenoord people did not think he could make it, but he became a massive example to players who are really good and to players who are less talented.”

Outwardly, Kuyt is comfortable with what his teammate says about him. He knows he is the workhorse of the Dutch attack.

But the Twitterings have ceased. One school of thought is that they endangered team security because players inadvertently published their personal whereabouts. Another is that certain players, Elijero Elia for one, became a little too explicit in dealing with criticisms, and were using their cellphones to play X-box games in camp.

The minds of would-be soccer geniuses, the instincts of youth to play aggressive computer games, and the problems for a coach trying to keep 11 minds on the task in front of them: it seems it was always a problem for the free-minded, outspoken men of the Oranje.

Those close to the 2010 group think that van Marwijk is neither their counselor nor their boss. He is the head coach, trying to get inside the head of players who have very much their own ideas. Van Persie, it is said, is the most opinionated of all.

The first challenge to the Oranje is from a Danish team managed by Morten Olsen who, before he took that role, coached Ajax Amsterdam to win both the Dutch league and Cup in 1998. He departed soon after, the locker room split by differences of opinion, or egos.

Van Marwijk knows the feeling. He has gifted players, and his task is to get them pulling in the same direction, remaining a team focused throughout seven games from now to July 11.

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As a Scot, when World Cups and Holland are mentioned, your thoughts jump to Archie Gemmill and 1978. Gemmill’s famous goal provided Scotland’s best World Cup moment. Not only was it a once-in-a-lifetime piece of individual skill that would have been memorable playing any opposition, but it was executed against an exceptional side which, though missing Johan Cruyff, contained fantastic Dutch players. I particularly remember Arie Haan and his long-range shooting.

Holland were many people’s tip to win that year and they have often arrived at finals as favourites, only to fail to deliver. They are not among the highly-fancied teams this time and perhaps that will help them. I know from speaking to Johnny Heitinga, my Everton defender, that there’s a lot of confidence in their camp.

They should have a good tournament. They won all eight qualifying games and have been impressive in their warm-ups, beating Hungary 6-1 last week. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel were key players for the two clubs that reached the Champions League final and Robin van Persie is fresh, having not played much last season through injury.

I almost signed Van Bommel for Everton a few years ago. He lacks pace but is a very effective central midfield player, an intelligent pro who has a clear idea of his job. Nigel de Jong will sit with Van Bommel in front of the back four and, over the course of last season, I felt he became more and more important to Manchester City. The pair provide the foundation for Bert van Marwijk’s gifted attackers to do their stuff.

A hamstring problem may keep Robben out of tomorrow’s Group E game against Denmark, but he is recovering more quickly than expected and will be an important force for the Dutch as the tournament progresses. Sneijder will feature against the Danes and he presents opponents with dilemmas: sometimes he is a central midfielder, sometimes a second striker. Van Persie is another flexible player, an extremely skilful operator who I remember scoring a great last-minute equaliser at Goodison in 2009. He can finish but he’s not really a classic No 9.

He seldom looks to run onto through balls and often prefers to drop off and do a bit of the work of a No 10. Because Van Persie and Sneijder are both so hard to pin down, when they combine you almost need three players to look after them. On the flanks, in Robben’s place, Van Marwijk can use the exciting young Hamburg winger Eljero Elia. He’s lightning fast and could be one of this tournament’s stars.

Dirk Kuyt provides a more solid alternative and Van Marwijk can bring the prolific Klaas-Jan Huntelaar off the bench if he needs a finisher. Then there’s Rafael van der Vaart, another hard-to-categorise forward-thinking player, generously blessed with talent.

Those attacking options are as good as any. Holland’s problem might be in defence. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the left-back, is a fine footballer but is now 35 and has lost a little of his speed and energy. Joris Mathijsen, at centre-half, has his doubters in Holland and Gregory van der Wiel, a young right-back who plays for Ajax, is inexperienced. There is a general lack of height in the Dutch side, which could make them vulnerable at set-pieces, especially against the Danes, who have a number of tall men such as Per Kroldrup, my former centre-back. Per was unlucky with injuries at Everton but has done well at Fiorentina.

Holland’s vulnerability at the back places an onus on Heitinga, who has been a fantastic signing for me. I initially used him in central midfield but moved him back to play with Lucas Neill in the middle of our defence because of an injury crisis. It was from that point that our recovery last season began.

In an age where, generally, there are fewer differences between styles of play, Holland retain their identity. You know they’re always going to attack, use width and be good in the centre of the park. It comes from the strong tradition of Dutch coaching. Coach education is big in Holland and even legendary players go back to school and train for several years to get their badges before going into management. Dennis Bergkamp, for example, is learning his trade by working with Ajax youth players.

I’m co-commentating on the Holland-Denmark game and it feels great that all the hype has stopped and the football has started. The opening match had problems: the huge traffic jams that meant it took me more than three hours to do what is normally a 20-minute journey — from Sandton to Soccer City — and the quality of football was not high. But the spectacle was absolutely fantastic. There was a real sense of people coming together, with black and white South Africans dancing and blowing their vuvuzelas in unison.

The refereeing I’ve seen so far has been interesting — there appears to be less jostling in the box than normal — and from a coach’s point of view it was noteworthy how Javier Aguirre, Mexico’s experienced manager, used all three of his substitutes early and was able to change the game with his tinkering, helping his side find an equaliser.

That Group A opened with two draws was good for the tournament because it means the host nation’s campaign will go all the way to the end of their group games, at the very least. It didn’t surprise me that Steven Pienaar was South Africa’s best offensive player. Steven is an icon here and I could tell by his body language that he was carrying a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but he handled it well.

South Africa manager Carlos Alberto Parreira was not overjoyed about the pre-tournament parade afforded to his team which brought Sandton to a standstill and the scenes brought me back — again — to 1978. Ally McLeod and his squad went on a procession through Ayrshire to Prestwick airport before flying to Argentina and we know what happened next. Let’s hope, for the sake of the lovely people in this country, that Bafana Bafana don’t suffer a similar fate.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:43 schreef Rectum het volgende:
Dat ene artikel is gewoon in het Nederlands.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:43 schreef Rectum het volgende:
Dat ene artikel is gewoon in het Nederlands.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:43 schreef Rectum het volgende:
Dat ene artikel is gewoon in het Nederlands.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:37 schreef Naj_Geetsrev het volgende:
"Overwinning zonder glans"

Terechte omschrijving. Nederland heeft niet gewonnen, maar Denemarken heeft verloren.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:43 schreef Rectum het volgende:
Dat ene artikel is gewoon in het Nederlands.

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Glanzloser Sieg von Holland

Der dänische Unglücksrabe war Simon Poulsen, der mit einem Missgeschick die Niederlage einleitete. Gerade einmal 32 Sekunden waren in der zweiten Hälfte gespielt, als der Aussenverteidiger eine Hereingabe von Robin van Persie via Rücken von Teamkollege Daniel Agger und Innenpfosten ins eigene Tor köpfelte.

Elia, das belebende Element

Die Niederländer schonten den angeschlagenen Arjen Robben. An seiner Stelle spielte Rafael van der Vaart auf der Seite. Für richtig Schwung sorgte allerdings erst Hamburgs Eljero Elia, der van der Vaart nach 67 Minuten ersetzte. Er kreierte zahlreiche gefährliche Aktionen. In der 85. Minute traf er nur den Pfosten – Dirk Kuyt staubte zum 2:0 ab.

Bei Dänemark lief Stürmer Nicklas Bendtner von Beginn an auf. Der Arsenal-Star blieb jedoch wie seine Teamkollegen wirkungslos und wurde nach einer Stunde ausgewechselt.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:50 schreef Saekerhett het volgende:

[..]

Er is nog een land tussen Nederland en Frankrijk waar ze ook Nederlands spreken. Welk land was dat toch ook alweer? Iets met B.... B....?

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:37 schreef Naj_Geetsrev het volgende:
"Overwinning zonder glans"

Terechte omschrijving. Nederland heeft niet gewonnen, maar Denemarken heeft verloren.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:37 schreef Naj_Geetsrev het volgende:
"Overwinning zonder glans"

Terechte omschrijving. Nederland heeft niet gewonnen, maar Denemarken heeft verloren.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 16:37 schreef Naj_Geetsrev het volgende:
"Overwinning zonder glans"

Terechte omschrijving. Nederland heeft niet gewonnen, maar Denemarken heeft verloren.

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Op maandag 14 juni 2010 17:00 schreef Michielos het volgende:
Ik word nu al uitgelachen door heel MSN , AOL en Yahoo

Nederland