The Official Holland aka The Netherlands aka Oranje thread

[RicardoW]

I am SO not afraid of Australia. They might easily be the worst team at the WC.

[buffalo]

I am SO not afraid of Australia. They might easily be the worst team at the WC.

let's talk after the 1st round hey, we'll see then who's the worst team

[buffalo]

Doe effe normaal man

nou nou ... doe jij es effe normaal

[robbert_o154]

I am SO not afraid of Australia. They might easily be the worst team at the WC.

Totally agree. Obviously we're all a bit apprehensive of a Denmark redux, but the Danes were such a better team than Australia are right now.

[buffalo]

well quality of a team or squad and results don't always go hand in hand

[RicardoW]

well quality of a team or squad and results don't always go hand in hand

Nobody says that ffs. Just saying that we do not need to tremble for Australia. If we do that, we can stay at home.

[buffalo]

true ; doubt that'll be the case though. Plus in advance all this speculating doesn't mean anything anyway. Might as well be a 5-0 win.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Van Gaal has said that he already has 20 in his mind. The other three will be judged by the performance of the Netherlands U-something against Scotland.

Who are in this youth team?

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Boetius, Promes, Rekik, Trindade de Vilhena.

[buffalo]

but who of the "older" players would lose out then?

[Ricky Riccardo]

I am SO not afraid of Australia. They might easily be the worst team at the WC.

Really? :/

Worse than costa rica honduras and iran?

[Jeroen Thijssen]

but who of the "older" players would lose out then?

There's 20 players that are "certain" - I assume Van Gaal will be looking at the youth game and consider any of the 4 players to be added to the squad. It could be 0. 1. 2. 3 or 4 players.

[Ricky Riccardo]

Seeing as this is a Dutch thread, what are peoples thought on Kluivert? He was my favourite Dutch player and the day he was benched for that big nosed freak in the world cup, was crushing.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Seeing as this is a Dutch thread, what are peoples thought on Kluivert? He was my favourite Dutch player and the day he was benched for that big nosed freak in the world cup, was crushing.

Absolutely despised him as a player. Horrible horrible attitude. Has been amongst the best forwards we've had though, and is our 2nd all time top goalscorer.

[georginho_juventusygr]

but who of the "older" players would lose out then?

There's 20 players that are "certain" - I assume Van Gaal will be looking at the youth game and consider any of the 4 players to be added to the squad. It could be 0. 1. 2. 3 or 4 players.

Cillessen, Krul, and Vorm are certain. That is 3. I don't think Zoet will go.

Verhaegh and Janmaat are certain. Van Aanholt and Kongolo are certain. That is 4.

Martins Indi, Vlaar, and De Vrij are certain. That is 3. Kongolo can play in the middle; so, I think Van Gaal wants to bring just one other central defender. He can't decide between Rekik and Veltman. That is why the youth game is important to him. Legendary P-Air said yesterday that he thought that Veltman would go home. I think so.

The midfield is trickier in my eyes. De Jong, Blind, Sneijder, and Van der Vaart are certain. That is 4. I'm inclined to say that De Guzman is certain because Van Gaal likes him. That is 5. The last midfield spot is then Vilhena's or Wijnaldum's just because Van Gaal likes Wijnaldum, but is a bit worried about the overwhelming offensive players. I would take Fer, though.

Robben, Van Persie, and Huntelaar are certain. That is 3. Van Gaal likes Depay and Lens. That makes it 5. Kuijt can book a hotel via Booking.com.

Now, we have 20. Including Rekik/Veltman and Vilhena/Wijnaldum, we have 22. The last spot is Boëtius's or Promes's.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Absolutely despised him as a player. Horrible horrible attitude. Has been amongst the best forwards we've had though, and is our 2nd all time top goalscorer.

He was just slow.

[DJ]

Great player but of dubious character when he was young. Didn't become NT top scorer for years for nothing though, he cleaned up his act and has been building on a promising coaching career since retiring. Can see him becoming bondscoach at some point.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Although thinking about my post again, I don't think it makes sense to take so many forwards with his new 3-5-2 system. But Van Gaal certainly won't bring all defenders he has now in the training camp.

[DJ]

Geo's selection

Pretty much spot on, although I would be amazed if Kuijt was left behind after a super solid season in Turkey.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

I can see Van der Vaart going home.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

He was just slow.

SLow? He was of decent speed. Just a terrible character on and off the pitch. Sadly it's more common these days - but the incredibly annoyed look he would get when he wouldn't get the referee's call, or when a player would pass the ball one inch away from where Gluiperd would want it. Absolutely dreadful. He was also incredibly stupid. I think he said "zeker weten" on average 57 times during each interview. He was also prone to say "huh?" during interviews. Very polite.

[georginho_juventusygr]

I can see Van der Vaart going home.

Also suffers from cold according to Tom Egbers. My, that guy is never fit.

[georginho_juventusygr]

SLow? He was of decent speed. Just a terrible character on and off the pitch. Sadly it's more common these days - but the incredibly annoyed look he would get when he wouldn't get the referee's call, or when a player would pass the ball one inch away from where Gluiperd would want it. Absolutely dreadful. He was also incredibly stupid. I think he said "zeker weten" on average 57 times during each interview. He was also prone to say "huh?" during interviews. Very polite.

I think he was slow. Definitely getting much, much slower in his old days. Zeker weten.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

I think he was slow. Definitely getting much, much slower in his old days. Zeker weten.

Well, he was slow when he came back to Holland and played for PSV and afterwards at Lille - and possibly back at Valencia and Newcastle too.

[DJ]

You could argue even his winner against AC back in '95 rolled in slowly, but that didn't make it less of a winner. In fact, maybe his perceived slowness wasn't a hindrance. 40 goals in 79 appearances for Oranje seems to indicate it wasn't. No need to run around like a headless chicken if you're good enough ^^

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Don't really think he was that slow really - maybe towards the end of his career then.

Van Nistelrooij was faster than he seemed too, even RvP is actually quite fast. Although most people recognize he is reasonably fast.

[el sid]

What's a zeker weten?

[Jeroen Thijssen]

What's a zeker weten?

To know for sure. -> for sure / fo sho

Oh yeah, he'd also "what" journalists

[el sid]

Thought it was some swearing

[buffalo]

"zeker" can be considered dialect spelling for "zeiker" or písser but that's stretching things, imagination, etc.

as for players losing out: thought van Gaal was more of a VdV fan than a Sneijder fan? Or will he surprise people that much by going for Wes. Rekik better not in the selection tbh, not up for it yet imho.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Every sensible persons wants Sneijder to be part of the squad really - but there were questions about his fitness.

VdV could still be brought along and replace Sneijder every game after 60-70 minutes..

[buffalo]

maybe on paper, but it seems to me he lacks the explosiveness for that, doesn't seem to be the kind of player you can sub in to add some poison

[georginho_juventusygr]

Van der Vaart's weakness is definitely his fitness. Reddiablo is right to say he can see Van der Vaart going home. He never plays 90 minutes for the national team. How can you expect him to play in humid, hot Tuesday evening? His technical abilities are saving him.

[georginho_juventusygr]

And he has a calf injury. I think he's definitely out. Wijnaldum is then a certainty.

[DJ]

"zeker" can be considered dialect spelling for "zeiker" or písser but that's stretching things, imagination, etc.

Kluivert pronounces it 'sékər', I think that removes that possibility ^^

as for players losing out: thought van Gaal was more of a VdV fan than a Sneijder fan? Or will he surprise people that much by going for Wes. Rekik better not in the selection tbh, not up for it yet imho.

Keep up with the media: van Gaal is reported to be a big Sneijder fan at the moment. Yeah

Guess it's time for positivity stories now. Strootman not being there Sneijder is the surefire number 10 and needs all the support he can get. I would be amazed if came near his 2010 form but then again he has had a great season in Turkey.

[brett.spurs]

Van der Vaart out of the World Cup with a calf injury

[Gorando]

Not a big loss

[buffalo]

he can get together with van beukering and theo jansen for a burger

[DJ]

Guess that's made LvGs choices easier for him. Pity for Rafa, this was surely has last chance at a big tournament.

[RicardoW]

I really liked VdV in his prime, so a shame to see him exit this way. Although, being not selected due to form would be worse.

[Philip Rolfe]

First half hat-trick for Promes for the U21s.

[buffalo]

might be a clean and easy way to not select him as well? do think if he was that unmissable he'd have everything taken out of the cupboard to prepare him for the tournament anyway regardless

[DJ]

Unmissable? I think Strootman and RvP were the only ones considered that, at least until a few days ago (when Sneijder all of a sudden became the new Hope of the Nation, which still makes me giggle. 6 months ago his whole participation was in serious doubt).

vdV has been a glorified reserve player since before 2010 because he always had Sneijder in front of him and after that Strootman. People are trying to turn this into a huge drama, an enormous fall from grace for vdV. For me it is not nearly that. So there is no need at all to invent a sort of conspiracy theory, that vdV is being let off the hook easily by some exaggerated injury that he could easily recover from if he wanted to.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

"De 109-voudig Oranje-international staat zeker een week aan de kant, waardoor bondscoach Louis van Gaal niet meer risico wilde nemen en hem uit de voorlopige WK-selectie schrapte"

He's out for at least a week, which resulted in LvG to not take any risks. Unless if he's out for much longer than a week - heck, 3 weeks... he could still have been selected.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Unmissable? I think Strootman and RvP were the only ones considered that, at least until a few days ago (when Sneijder all of a sudden became the new Hope of the Nation, which still makes me giggle. 6 months ago his whole participation was in serious doubt).

.

Don't think Sneijder was ever in doubt, but we're all lemmings following each other.

By the way Robben is definitely unmissable. So, RvP, Robben and then Strootman.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Van Dijk, too.

[gillsminnow]

Hey DJ, do you mind if I do another Group B thread (in the style of http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/392034-GTTWC-Group-A-Brazil-Cameroon-Croatia-and-Mexico) and then get the mods to merge your existing one into it?

[Jeroen Thijssen]

That's fine, you're cutting all the country threads and creating group threads?

Can I still amend the opening post after that? Updated caps - dropped players and the whole nonsense?

Red by the way

[gillsminnow]

Haha asked DJ as he was the one who started the Group B thread, albeit with ZERO effort.

Well did you want to create the thread then Red and I'll sort out the posts for the other teams in the group?

Was doing opening Group posts then a post for each of the four teams in alphabetical order straight after so:

Group A

Brazil

Cameroon

Croatia

Mexico

Need to add the four posts for each team straight away though (every 15 seconds) so nobody messes it up

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Stuck at work so can't really do anything too drastically - or is it OK that I just create the thread and then amend it late tonight (off to a Tori Amos concert pretty much straight after work)