Netherlands vs Italy - Monday 9th June [r]

[dor02]

It's remarkable because Italy is known for great defences but CB is the Azzurri's weakest position. Guys like Materazzi (despite his 2006 heroics), Barzagli and Gamberini don't give me confidence like Baresi, Maldini, Cannavaro and Nesta.

Italy's midfield is actually really good unless you start with the all-Milan trio. Pirlo and Gattuso are still world-class midfielders even though their form isn't too great, De Rossi and Aquilani are very talented (the latter would be better if he wasn't injury-prone) and Perrotta is a hard-worker (knows how to run into spaces) but he did have a poor season. Ambrosini can be threat at set-pieces but he is usually poor offensively. It's a shame Montolivo didn't get called up. Awesome young midfielder and has great skills on the ball.

Donadoni brought too many support strikers. Pippo left his form until late but he is still more worthy than Cassano. Borriello had a great season but he should't have been the solitary back-up out-and-out striker.

[johan neeskens]

Here's a jinx ........

Outside the World Cup hangover of early qualifying ....The Azzurri have been a stable strong team that finished first in the Qualifying group of death.

Netherlands barely finished 2nd in a weak group G.

The ball is round and anything could happen ....BUT it is The Dutch and their fans who will be losing sleep prior to this game ...NOT the World Champs !!!:cool:

Then again, with the exception ironically of Euro 2000, the Dutch over the past 20 years have done quite a bit better than the Italians at the Euros. Italy crashed out in the first round in 1996 and 2004. And while we harp on about England failing to qualify, let's not forget Italy failed to qualify in 1992.

So Italy - Holland's performance at the Euros:
year: Italy - Holland
1988: semifinals - win
1992: did not qualify - semifinals
1996: first round - quarter finals
2000: win - semifinals
2004: first round - semifinals

The Euros are a different kettle of fish than the world cup. Anything can happen.

[SparkleZ]

Then again, with the exception ironically of Euro 2000, the Dutch over the past 20 years have done quite a bit better than the Italians at the Euros. Italy crashed out in the first round in 1996 and 2004. And while we harp on about England failing to qualify, let's not forget Italy failed to qualify in 1992.

So Italy - Holland's performance at the Euros:
year: Italy - Holland
1988: semifinals - win
1992: did not qualify - semifinals
1996: first round - quarter finals
2000: win - semifinals
2004: first round - semifinals

The Euros are a different kettle of fish than the world cup. Anything can happen.

France won in 2000, not Italy.

[johan neeskens]

France won in 2000, not Italy.

Whoops! That should've said final.

[Nickless]

Yeah but what bearing does historical nostalgia have on transfers these days?

Its not like he went to Werder, Shalke, or Bayern which would be more credible employment in relation to the supposed value of Van der Vaart; but it didn't happen.

I can only speculate as to the reason but my guess would be that VDV is severely behind in his development and is not worth the investment. Granted he's being courted by big clubs right now but I refuse to believe VDV would fetch anything more than 8 - 10 million Euro's.

Well, in a way, you are right in saying that he hasn't reached his potential, as many saw him as the 'new cruijff'. However, stating that he is severely behind in his development and not worth the investment, is definately not right. Probably you haven't seen him play, or noticed him, in Germany yet. But if you don't rate van der Vaart, then you'd obviously are not rating Toni, Diego, and Ribery either? Van der Vaart managed to deliver, 12 goals and 10 assists in the Bundesliga this season, as an attacking midfielder. In all the competitions he managed to score 22 times and 17 assists. These stats are at the same level as that of Diego and Ribery. Toni managed to score more goals, but that's not a surprise since he's a striker.

[Tribalsun]

You need to live in Toronto or the surrounding area to understand.

Let's just leave it at that :D

forza is right, you do have to live in the Toronto area to understand it. and Regency is also right, it's pretty stupid. I'm 35 years old, married to an italian, have played soccer since the age of 7 with many italian friends and a number of my best friends are italian, yet every two years Euro and World Cup, it gets crazy. but again it's pretty stupid.

good luck to the Azzurri. i'll be cheering you on for family reasons....:D

forza azzurri as my wife says...:)

[Amsteldam]

Panucci might be injured: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jANzoVPzepmCBFKhagPXc-zMTOkg

[AFCA]

http://ek.nusport.nl/wp-content/uploads/Kantlijn/Aanvallah/aanv460.jpg

aanvallah'u akbar! Death to the non-believers! Bassie for the win, w'allah! :D

weird... The line on her shirt says "aanvallah", a play on "aanvalluh", a very old Dutch NT 'battlecry' so to speak.

[canzano55]

I think one thing that may kill you is the lack of Inzaghi. There are only maybe 3 or 4 players in the world, where given the ball in the box, you know 100% without any doubt in your mind, that that ball is in the back of the net. We have one of those players and now you dont.I rate Nistelrooy very highly and I believe he will make or break the Dutch in this tournament, however although Toni doesn't have the same technical masterclass as Ruud, he's still the most in form target man on the face of the earth this very moment. The odds makers gave Toni 11/1 for top scorer and as a betting man I'd have to say thats a very intriguing proposal.

Can I ask how often you've seen Van der Vaart play for his club over the past couple of years? Perhaps you can ask a random German how they rate him.Best case scenario VDV might have a similar career path as Riquelme where he is the focal point of a mid division club that becomes successful domestically and abroad.

If he were to be traded now I can't see him as a starter in any of the top ten European clubs at the moment.

With that said if I was the president of ManCity, Fiorentina or Villareal I might make a call about the availability of VDV.

[DutchCane]

I think the word is Aanvallen

[AFCA]

I rate Nistelrooy very highly and I believe he will make or break the Dutch in this tournament, however although Toni doesn't have the same technical masterclass as Ruud, he's still the most in form target man on the face of the earth this very moment. The odds makers gave Toni 11/1 for top scorer and as a betting man I'd have to say thats a very intriguing proposal.

Best case scenario VDV might have a similar career path as Riquelme where he is the focal point of a mid division club that becomes successful domestically and abroad.

If he were to be traded now I can't see him as a starter in any of the top ten European clubs at the moment.

With that said if I was the president of ManCity, Fiorentina or Villareal I might make a call about the availability of VDV.

Luca Toni is the man of the hour atm. V Nistelrooy is lethal, but personally I don't really see him as the killer he's made out to be. OTOH, for Oranje, he seems to be better than ever at this moment.

But Luca Toni is definitely a feared name in the Netherlands right now. Great story to his rise as well.

VDV has great passing abilities, and, if in the right position, is a pretty strong goalgetter as well. But he is definitely lacking in some areas. But in the friendlies we had, he was especially the man who was available when we went forward. In that sense, he had a role not so glorious, but tactically quite important.

Still, I feel that we can sacrifice him

For our game against Italy, I would sacrifice him for Kuijt:

Melchiot----Bouma----Boulahrouz----Bronckhorst
----------Heitinga--------De Jong-----------
------Kuijt------Sneijder-------Robben
----------Van Nistelrooy----------

Keep the Italians off bay with a strong defensive center. Both Heitinga and De Jong are excellent defensively in front of the backline, and pretty decent going forward (which they both learned at Ajax btw :P) with Heitinga having one hell of a long pass every now and then.

Kuijt, I have hated the guy with a passion, and I still do. But I have to give credit where credit's due... he may be a typical ugly, graceless and technically inferior player... He fights for every centimeter. This trait is underrated by many I believe. He is always a concern for the opponents defense, and will definitely hinder any backs who are important for the opponents build up.

For the games against France and Romania, I would pick a more offensive line-up. I believe the Italians are the biggest danger to us. France is a great team, but I feel less secured against our attacking power and less lethal than Italy.

So this line-up is purely based on the Italy game.

[AFCA]

I think the word is Aanvallen

aanvalluh is a phonetic way of writing aanvallen ;)

Pretty much everything ending at -en can be replaced with -uh. Even tenuh.

Am I right Johan? of course I am :D

Johan and I are a front this summer. Shocktroops if you will. She's in Switzerland, meanwhile I take care of her sister :)

[Amsteldam]

Johan and I are a front this summer. Shocktroops if you will. She's in Switzerland, meanwhile I take care of her sister :)
Knocks AFCA out of the way, she's mine dammit I saw her first.
And I have the pics to prove it!!!!!!!!


*stars feverishly photoshopping* :cool:

[AFCA]

Neh, just kidding. Johan has long tried to conquer my boyhood, but it was already taken.

Besides, I have a hot gf of my own. Almost as hot as me :)

[arthur d]

Neh, just kidding. Johan has long tried to conquer my boyhood, but it was already taken.

Besides, I have a hot gf of my own. Almost as hot as me :)

Are you saying Johan likes young boys? That makes me see her keen interest in jong oranje in new light. :D

I liked your line up against Italy btw. Still, a few goals on both sides might be on the cards here.

[AFCA]

I'm getting more knowledgeable by the day in that sense. My line-up rocks.

I dunno if Johan likes Young Boys, but it's their stadium we're playing in. Coincidence? I dunno :D

[Awareness]

I rate Nistelrooy very highly and I believe he will make or break the Dutch in this tournament, however although Toni doesn't have the same technical masterclass as Ruud, he's still the most in form target man on the face of the earth this very moment. The odds makers gave Toni 11/1 for top scorer and as a betting man I'd have to say thats a very intriguing proposal.

Best case scenario VDV might have a similar career path as Riquelme where he is the focal point of a mid division club that becomes successful domestically and abroad.

If he were to be traded now I can't see him as a starter in any of the top ten European clubs at the moment.

With that said if I was the president of ManCity, Fiorentina or Villareal I might make a call about the availability of VDV.

And down the drain goes your credibility

[feyenoord_for_life]

Melchiot----Bouma----Boulahrouz----Bronckhorst
----------Heitinga--------De Jong-----------
------Kuijt------Sneijder-------Robben
----------Van Nistelrooy----------

i dont think we'll see this, but i know where you're going with this and I like it. As far as im concerned Italy's playing 2 DMF's, so to penetrate their defences, creativity and sharp/ quick passing at the highest level is needed. If we line-up; robben----vdv-----sneijder, behind van nistelrooijI think we have 2 DM's more than capable of holding the back-line.

If the tactic hasnt worked by half-time i would definately say bring on kuijt he is a different type of player.

I actaully prefer De Cler at LB to Gio, but Melchiot is best for RB. Im not crazy about Bouma as a right-sided CB. Thats a little too far from where hes accustomed to playing, considering he's our last line of defence.

[rat2k5]

You need to live in Toronto or the surrounding area to understand.

Let's just leave it at that :D

Not really. It stretches to other parts of Canada where it is also very intense!!!!

[nve2k]

Why is everyone being friendly in this thread?

Part of me wants to see RVN score early so that Italy comes out and we can score on the quick counter. However, I still have the last competitive game with Italy in mind, so I wouldn't mind if Italy hits the post 5 times during the game, misses 5 penalties, get denied 5 legit penalty calls and get, unjustly, 5 goals turned down for offside only for Ruud or Robben to score in the final minute of extra time on a bad offside call by the ref! I will take any variation of that scenario with so much joy I will watch that game again 30 times. Most probably, the headlines on the next day would read " van der Saar: "Italy wouldn't have scored if the game went on for 24 hours!". :D