Not sure if there are, but I see finally someone has made the bold move and, four months into 2018, has opened a new thread. Hopefully with Northern Ireland-Netherlands and Netherlands-Slovakia scheduled at the beginning of June, this thread is going to draw some posts and some discussions soon.
Actually this league isnot very good at all, so watching it might certain people think the Orange team will be a walk over opponent
here's a saved full game from just a few days ago between league leaders, Ajax vs PSV. Remember, most of the starting lineup of the NT play in foreign leagues
Thanks for posting game. I had found this game and was able to watch. My understanding is that Ajax has quite a few NT members in line-up?
@Got Jukes?, I am amazed by your new avatar! So are you serious about starting this new thread? Are you about to swap your allegiance from Florida Seminole to Dutch league? Anyway, about your question, I am not really up-to-date with latest Netherlands NT line-ups, but I can tell you that at least a few of current Ajax players were rostered for Euro 2017 last year (Van der Most, Zeeman, Van der Gragt, Van Lunteren, maybe young Folkerstma too), but if I remember well only Van der Gragt and Van Lunteren were starters at that tournament. As @hotjam2 mentioned, most of Netherlands NT stars play abroad: Barcelona (Martens), Arsenal (Van Veenendaal, Miedema,Van de Donk, Janssen), Olympique Lyon (Van de Sanden), Vålerenga (Spitse), 1.FFC Frankfurt (Groenen) and so on...
Miedema is an interesting player. I was watching the FA Cup Final with her Arsenal team playing Chelsea, and the announcers were giving her a little flak for not working hard enough to help Arsenal get the ball out of their own half. That is one of her weaknesses, apparently. I have not seen her play much at all since the Euro championships, but certainly in the Chelsea game she didn't track back much and when she did she wasn't very committed or very effective at holding the ball until some of her teammates could get up the field. That's just not her game: She is tallish and not very strong and is simply not very effective at winning balls. She is a classic target forward who has good/very good finishing skills--she scored Arsenal's lone goal in the 3-1 loss to Chelsea--but she needs service, and she gets good service when she plays for the Dutch NT. She seems to have decent ball skills but is not a player to drop deep and run at people like a lot of forwards can do but rather needs the ball around the box, and can be quite effective at putting it in the net if she gets it with a bit of space. It's easy to forget that she's still only 21 years old, so her best years are ahead of her.
Miedema played really well at Bayern Munich, was the 2nd leading scorer in the Bundesliga with 14/ She's had a hard time this year adjusting to a different style of Arsenal. which seems to be that more classic English system, of booting the ball up to the lone center/fwd. She only managed 4 regular season goals despite being the main target(for her team mates).She will definitely need to pick up her speed & intensity come next season if she wants to have a bigger impact. Wiegmann)Dutch NT coach) usually made the two wides(Marten & van de Sanden) the more focal point of the quick counters, so it was easier for Miedema to blend in & score on rebounds(rather than the main target defenders)/ But I think Miedema was most comfortable was at Bayern where they played a more deliberate,passing, total football concept, which slowed down the game to bring more team maters into the attack(rather than quick individual 1v1 counters) or at least Miedema could high light her nice, deft touch & accurate shots. here's a vid that shows all of Miedema's game touches(in just one match)
here's highlights of yesterday's Dutch vs Northern Ireland qualifier. Once again Miedema's not playing(injury?), but her replacement, Beerensteyn, plays well. Looks like van de Sanden steals the show, much like she did in the Champions League final The dutch lead their qualifying group, but they would most likely need t least a tie in their away game vs Norway, to win the group --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- here's highlights of the Dutch Cup final, Ajax wins a double(league title s well), but very few big names(from the NT) from either side
I watched the entire match and no, she actually played quite badly. She was better than during her Bayern season, but that is hardly surprising. Why didn't they play with Roord (or Lewerissa)? They are way more clinical.
just going with the high lights, Beerensteyn, got a goal, an assist & a take down(for the successful PK). Don't know why Wiegmann don't start Roord(who obviously had the way better season at Munich than Beerensteyn) But Jill's only 20 years old & currently/most likely used as a much needed super sub. Again, didn't see the game, but 3 of the goals came after Roord got subbed in for Martens at the 69th minute ,
Where is Miedema? She has not played in these latest qualifying matches--not on the roster. Is she resting? Injured? I notice that Van de Dong is not playing today, either, not on the bench, either, though she played against Northern Ireland.
Whew: The Dutch narrowly avoided a disaster today against Slovakia when L. Martens scored in stoppage time to pull out a 1-0 victory. The win gives The Netherlands a 4-point lead over Norway as World Cup group-stage qualifying nears its end. However, the lead will probably have shrunk to a mere one point when The Netherlands and Norway meet on Sept. 4 in their last qualifying match, as Norway will play Slovakia three days earlier and certainly be favored to win. This means The Netherlands can win its group with either a tie or a win against Norway, which is certainly a lot better than having to beat Norway, which would probably would have been the case had The Netherlands got only the 1 point today. I did not see the match but the stats suggest that the Dutch were thoroughly dominant (75 percent possession, big edge in shots on goal and corners) but failed, until the last minute, to put the ball in the net. The Dutch had 13 corner kicks and, unless Martens scored on a corner, which I don't think happened, failed to convert any of them--not good. Certainly, they would have missed the tall Miedema, who did not play in either of these last two qualifying matches--I'm not sure why. In any case, a sigh of relief was heard from Dutch fans!
Their goalie had an extraordinary performance against our women. If it wasnot for her the scoresheet would have been more relaxing sooner.
Nagging little injuries, and drained by a long season that made her not fit enough to play. The coach sent her on holiday to recover.
Your other question about van de Donk not playing, was because of hamstring problems during warming up for the match.
here's highlights of the game, Martens 92 minute goal seems almost looks anti climatic after all those near misses, lol. Do admit this time Bereensteyn didn't look good in this one. The Dutch actually should be more on their comfort zone when they play Norway away(they beat Slovakia, 6-0, in their away game) where they can lay back & counter attack more effectively. The Dutch still have the best fans in the world' what I read last month. that 10,000 tickets were sold in the first hour they went on sale
Many thanks for the highlights--a good, if late, win. You get games like this when the opponent is sitting back and you are not doing well enough with your corners/crosses/headers. I haven't seen Bereensteyn play but I do like the fact that, in contrast to Miedema, she's seems somewhat strong and athletic. And she's getting some valuable experience. Both she and Miedema are young. Miedema is talented but light and, seemingly, a bit fragile--I'm sure she takes more knocks than she gives out. I can't see her being very effective against a strong defensive team like the U.S., except perhaps with her head. I'd love to see this team with a physical, talented center forward like Sam Kerr--but then everybody would like to have a center forward like her.
don't look like FIFA has much respect for the Dutch; despite winning the Euros, despite winning the Algarve Cup, despite staying unbeaten in the strongest WC qualifiers group in Europe, despite the biggest, most enthusiastic woso fans in the world, they drop to #9 https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/women/index.html please, FIFA trolls, stay out of this threat & keep it for Dutch fans only!
Maybe we are overestimating the Dutch. I love the way they play, and they've played well lately, winning the Euro Championship, but on the whole they've not been playing the better teams in the world over the last year. I thought the Dutch had beaten Japan in a recent friendly but apparently the opposite is the case: The teams played a year ago (June of 2017) and Japan won 1-0, unless I've missed a more recent game. The last time The Netherlands played Germany, in October of 2016, they lost 4-2. So these results may explain their no. 9 ranking when one might think, based on beating England 3-0 on the way to winning the Euro title last year, that they should be ranked higher. The Dutch might do well to schedule a friendly or two against Australia or Canada or even the USA in the months ahead--teams that are a bit bigger and more physical and better than some of the teams the Dutch have played most recently--as these are the teams that will probably be contenders for the World Cup--not Denmark or Norway.
OK, I didn't actually lose my mind: The Dutch did play Japan earlier this year, in the Algarve Cup, and thumped them 6-2. So that certainly reflects their very good play over the last 12 months--but they might be smart to set up some friendlies with some of the best teams over the months ahead. Does anyone know the Dutch women's friendly schedule?