Oh my goodness. I think I can earn me a doctors title in and Psychology, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Economics with research in the management of the KNVB and the people acting in that organization in the last decade.
We need some football consultants/advisors in KNVB; unfortunately Van Breukelen is not. We need a team, like 3-6 of Van Hanegem, Jansen, Krol, Neeskens, Rijkaard, Gullit, Wouters, Erwin Koeman, Frank De Boer, Seerdorf, Davids....that can guide KNVB in its decisions and KNVB needs to listen (perhaps they only hear, but not listen).
I'm not a big fan of Advocaat either, but I look at him as a temporary coach until the next WC2010 generation arrives
'safe' uninspired choice that won't manage to turn the boat around (even if he might, if you're optimistic, slow the decay) ... classic Premier League/championship choice
I have a feeling that Advocaat's reign will be short. He will step down and Gullit will take over. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing as I feel a lot of uncertainties ahead.
Why Gullit as Assistant? Thought he hates Advocaat after quitting 94 Oranje? Just ridiculous decisions.
^^^ I'm surprised too for the same reason. Perhaps this time Gullit got his clause that he could take over the head coach if Dick leaves (see hist last failed attempt to be assistant) or perhaps time heals old wounds. Flash back: https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/vi-flashback-hoe-gullit-in-1994-advocaat-in-de-steek-liet
Yeah I remember all too well that press conference. How disappointing and uncomfortable. Gullit basically decided against playing because of Advocaat' s planned tactics which Gullit thought was suicidal in the heat of the U.S.
And how Gullit has to be regretting not playing in any case considering he was in tremendous form. World Class player only 1 World Cup. Terrible shame. Same for the crippled Van Basten. Oh the pain.
^^^ That's why they had water break in Brazil (wasn't it the first time in WC?). The heat was also factor to us in Mexico game. I got to side with Gullit in 94 as it was WC with the least memorable games (Brazil vs Netherlands, Romania vs Argentine, Bulgaria vs Germany and perhaps Romania vs Sweden) as many teams did not prepare well to deal with the heat. I don't like Advocaat but considering this a bandage solution considering the circumstances let's see what he can do.
^^^The weather at a number of the US cities where 94 WC games were held was really bad. Brazil were lucky to have played all there group matches at Stanford in California where the conditions were probably the best of all the sites. Dutch were here in Washington (I was at that match against Saudi Arabia) and twice in Orlando Florida where one should only go to Disney World during the summer. They stayed in Orland for the first knockout round and then had to fly to Dallas to face Brazil whose knockout match was in California. I think this had an impact on that match. Also, IIRC the flight to Dallas encountered bad weather and that's when Bergkamp decided he didn't like flying.
I was at the Cotton Bowl for our 3-2 loss against Brazil (I hate you Branco). The weather was hot, but not THAT hot. It was also partly cloudy IIRC so I dont think it was a huge factor like Gullit claims. Also I dont think any of our matches in WC2014 had water breaks. Or do I have that wrong??
As Orange14 said, those Florida matches were brutal and may contribute fitness factor to our squad although it is not the only factor. The Spain game in 2014 was at night so it was not so bad. I don't recall how temperature was for Chile and Autralia matches, but I remembered the Mexico match was brutal for us and it was probably the first official match to have water breaks (2) (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ces-world-cup-organizers-to-give-water-breaks). I'm not sure how reliable but football-oranje reported that the players were surprised (http://www.football-oranje.com/netherlands-players-surprised-advocaat-appointment/) as the walk-out is still fresh in their memories. Hopefully they can put it aside and focus.
I remember when me and my GF at the time showed up at the Cotton Bowl, we thought it might rain so we brought our umbrellas. We show our tickets and a menacing looking cop grabs both our umbrellas and says you cant come in here with these. I ask why, his answer: "BECAUSE SOCCER FANS ARE CRAZY!!!" I still laugh to this day about that one
Holy crap - you were there? Another killer result for us. Fantastic come back from 0-2 down only to lose to that bloody free kick from Branco. '94 was a pretty average world cup for us actually, very much a team in transition with players past their best and a few new ones not really good enough- just think of the team we had out in '94 and then look at the one we had in '98.....'98 team is one of our great teams......streets ahead of the '94 one.
^^^ Also in 74 (Vogts should have been red carded many times in the final), 78 (Argentine-Peru 6-0) and 10 (Robben fouled on his 2nd chance)...
https://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/05/i-cannot-imagine-without-klopp-loving-life-pep-lijnders/ Pep Ljinders is amazing. Too bad I doubt he'll come for the NT, but he could certainly make a big impact there. A very modern, forward thinking coach.
We need a nice 6-0 score against Lux next week, and Sweden needs to lose by a goal or two, and then we still might have a chance
^^^ Win the last 5 games and control our own destiny. Love to see the positive energy/running that some of new faces (Ake, Vilhena, Toornstra) or the positive plays of up front (Memphis, Promes, Janssen). Veltman reminded me of BMI, kept making mistakes. He needs to be dropped for a while until he clears his head (perhaps mentality issue). Let's take care of Luxembourg and build up confidence.