I am now watching Holland Sport, a great edgy kind of sports show on Dutch television, and there's a special on about the Dutch Real madrid players. I have to say Drenthe's attitude of late completely put me off but to see him now, saying that Madrid fans booing him completely destroyed his confidence, and that he asked the manager not to include him in the squad for that reason for the last three games, has won me over again and made me realise that he's just a kid really. Maybe I'm getting all maternal here but what is professional footbal doing to these kids, its quite sad really. Drenthe by the way is going to get psychological help to get him over his fear of failure - again that is quite sad seeing that his fearlessness was one of his great qualities right up until not so very long ago. Dutch youngsters please learn a lesson from Drenthe's story. In the long term you'll be so much better off if you stay put in the eredivisie for a little while longer. This isn't just about footballing ability but also about mental strength and maturity.
That's very sad to hear about Drenthe. That level of anxiety can be crippling for a young professional athlete. I hope he can pull through as he seems like a good kid and has impressed me numerous times earlier in the season.
Leaving too young has 2 major consequences: 1) The player himself stalls his own progress 2) Often overlooked, the club also hurts by him leaving. Think how much better Feyenoord would be if they had Drenthe starting every game this year
I remember having a similar discussion about Collins John. You could also add names like Hedwiges Maduro, Daniel De Ridder and Nigel De Jong to that list. At least De Jong ended up ok. You see it in a lot of sports. What 19-year-old wouldn't get a distorted view of reality when he's suddenly having money and women thrown at him? It's pretty sad. Hopefully he'll move to another club where he won't have the same types of pressure on him.
Collins John was just thrown out of NEC for his attitude problems. Meanwhile his much less talented brother is now a regular starter at Heracles. If Collins had 10% of Kuyt's mentality he'd be the Holland striker right now. He's got more talent than Huntelaar, I'm convinced of it. Unfortunately he thinks talent alone is enough.
He's got tremendous amounts of talent, absolutely. But besides his attitude problems, I question his football IQ. Shame.
Drenthe's situation is a disgrace. He should have stayed put at Feyenoord, and to be honest I have seen him play often for Real Madrid and he has been far from poor. You would think RM would look to loan him out somewhere. The bottom line is his move there was too soon as we all predicted.
vNistelrooij keeps door open for WC2010: http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetbal/3308149/__Van_Nistelrooy_sluit_WK_niet_uit__.html?p=37,3 For those that cant read Dutch, he says if Oranje needs him for WC2010 he will show up. Thats great news!! Now we just need vdSar to unretire
So watching the Hamburg game...Matijsen playing really well. also, ooijer played very well for blackburn... RVP didnt play that well, and Kuyt scored, played really well in the second half with a goal to tie the game and a wicked long range shot late on...he looks good...and for BABEL...well...he didnt look so good...he dribbles and dribbles and loses the ball...hes pretty much arjen robben...without the ability to beat defenders... Huntelaar played pretty well, yea he had 2 goals, but id give him a 7.5, still needs to catch up a little bit, but a good game overall. But id say the best dutchie out there i saw was DE JONG...he had a monster of a game for Man city, he tackled kuyt and babel hard in succession to snuff out dangerous attacks and looked very very sharp. He is going to be the rock of oranje for the next decade...watch,
Agreed especially on de Jong, he singlehandedly stopped the Reds in their tracks in midfield. Huntelaar I give an 8, he scored twice and hit the post
So a few comments i want to make about half of the NT...on real madrid...today they sucked, real madrid, but only dutch guy played, robben, and he didnt do terrible, but not great because liverpool played defensively and won on a set piece...as they always do...but with VDV and Sneijder on the bench...they bring on Guti...and when losing...do nothing... Is this the place for our NT? This almost seems like a scheme to wreck our NT, compete for the same spots, sit them on the bench, or leave them out of the selection altogether! I think people underrate VDV and give him slack. When he is off he is bad, as in anyone. But when he is good, he works hard, great passes/shots...hes def better than Guti...i just think its time for VDV and Drenthe to leave. But the question...wheres should VDV go...ITaly?
Man City would be perfect for Vaart. He's the type of player who's good on a lesser team, not so good on a superstar team
So do you guys think VdV will leave Madrid this summer? Doesn't seem like Ramos favors him at all. I know some of you guys hate the Serie A, but from what I saw in the CL Juventus and especially Inter could use his creativity in the MF. Manchester City as mentioned before wouldn't be a bad fit either.
Man City already have Ireland and Elano. I've heard even Elano wants to leave Man City due to lack of opportunities.
No idea what will happen with van der Vaart. Huntelaar's finally started to play some, but it seems like every Dutchman except Robben and Ruud (though he's hurt now) at Real Madrid should maybe think about leaving.
Slightly off topic from the current debate but does anyone know who the U15 Oranje boys are playing in Rotterdam on Tues?? thanks
See Ollie's Friday quiz at: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=4144 Question 8 asks for the identity of a Oranje NT player who never played in the Eredivisie. I haven't a clue about this one though someone already mentioned Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Anyone here know who some of the others might be?
YEAAAAAAAAA NETHERLANDS BASEBALL TEAM BEATING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC...are u joking me? Unreal...........
vdsar says no to Oranje: http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetbal/3502967/__VAN_DER_SAR___NEE__TEGEN_ORANJE__.html?p=2,1 Although he probably would return in an emergency
A note from Canada to Netherland soccer fans. There are many many fans of the Netherlands National soccer team here in Canada. We are very excited about the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches in June and wish Holland the very best. Your country has produced some great National Teams and players over the years and are awesome to watch. My dad loved Dutch soccer and originally introduced me to the game at a very young age. My father also loved the Dutch because he was a Canadian Veteran who fought in World War II for the liberation of the Netherlands. He returned home to Canada from over seas injured and with a special place in his heart for the people of the Netherlands. Thank you so very much for taking care of our fallen Canadian heroes, the cemetaries throughout Holland are so very well cared for. Canada and the Netherlands have an everlasting bond and we are behind you all the way in your quest to win World Cup 2010. Very Best Regards From Canada!!! GO HOLLAND GO!!!