I hope this thread gets few posts as I've already noted the 3rd place game is a waste of time. I didn't watch the 1998 one and doubt I'll watch this one either. van Gaal got it right in his post-match comments yesterday: "This match should never be played, I've been saying this for 10 years," he said. "We will just have to play a good match, but it's also unfair because we have one less day to recover. Chances are, that you lose twice in a row. And in a tournament in which you've played so marvelously well, you go home a loser. "You shouldn't have players play a third-fourth-place match, because there's only one award that counts and that is becoming World Cup champion."
I don't much care about the medal, but my only hope is to see the new youthful faces we haven't played much... Veltman, Kongolo, Clasie, Fer, Depay. And Kuyt to captain the side for one last time. True legend.
I won't be watching it, unless the restaurant I'll be at forces it upon me. I can't see us winning it either, with many players and the coach already having stated they couldn't care less and Brazil probably wanting to regain any little bit of the home fans' respect they can. If van Gaal gives all the youngsters a go I may record it and watch parts of it later. Depending on the result I guess.
I'm visualizing the scene in a Clockwork Orange where Alex is strapped down, with his eye lids forced open, being forced to watch violence and porn. I have to think it will be the young guys - RvP, Robben, De Jong rested fro sure, probably Sneijder and Vlaar and maybe Blind.
I don't want to see us losing two games in a row and going home feeling defeated. Besides, I think this will be a more open and entertaining game now that there's no more pressure (for us, at least). This is also a nice opportunity to start playing attacking football again. Obviously Van Gaal's tactics were brilliant and we would't have gotten this far without them, but it's not something we can build on for the future. Back to the 4-3-3 it is.
^^FIFA have no control over who van Gaal puts out on the pitch and they have no right to get mad about who plays in a meaningless match. Lots of teams who were eliminated in the pool play started '2nd' string players in the final match.
I don't think we should throw an entire B-team out there. We still have pride, and the last thing we need to do is leave the tournament getting blown out 4-0. This is a winnable game for us as Brazil doesn't have Neymar, so we need to leave the tournament on some sort of high after such a sad ending, and winning the bronze medal (something Holland's never done at the WC) can help. We can put Krul in net, and use the same back line that finished the Argentina game (Kuyt, Blind, Vlaar, De Vrij, Janmaat) with Fer/Sneijder/Clasie in the midfield, and Robben/Huntelaar upfront. Later in the game we can bring on Depay, Kongolo, and Veltman.
Do you guys think this will be Robben's farewell or do you see him sticking around a while longer? He's 30, will be 32 at Euro 2016, 34 at 2018 world cup. I can see Robben sticking around until 2018. I know they play different positions and Robben has had more mileage on his body, but Andrea Pirlo at age 35 played every minute of every game in humid conditions. The next two major tournaments will be in friendly weather conditions. You'd think it'd be a little easier for the older players to stay fit for next round of tourneys. This is most likely Wesley's final tourney right? Wasn't his spot on the team in serious doubt for the world cup?
This game is important for UEFA's multiplier as you can see here: http://www.football-rankings.info/2014/07/confederation-weightings-update-11-july.html You guys did a lot already ... still you'd help UEFA sides if both Holland & Germany win their final matches.
I don't think Fer is match fit because of his injury; he was not in the squad for the last game. I would not be surprised if Vlaar is rested because he had some knee problems. de Jong will probably not play because of his groin issue and van Persie likely will dress and not start. Robben has been pretty outspoken that this match is a waste of time and he might dress and not start as well. I wonder if van Gaal will go to a 4-3-3 for this match and slot in Depay up front or stick with the 3-5-2. Here are my expectations for each formation: 4-3-3 Krul; Janmaat, Veltman, de Vrij, Blind; Clasie, Wijnaldum, Sneijder; Depay, Huntelaar, Kuyt(Captain) 3-5-2 Krul; Janmaat, Veltman, de Vrij, Kongolo, Blind; Clasie, Wijnaldum, Sneijder; Huntelaar, Kuyt (Captain)
Robben and Pirlo play entirely different positions. Pirlo hardly runs at all and Robben's game is based on pace. I would not be surprised at all if Robben leaves international football after this tournament. I really don't think he will be a candidate in 2018 because of all the wear and tear on his body.
Match #63 - 12 July 2014 - 13:00 EDT - Brasilia Referee: Djamel HAIMOUDI (ALG) Assistant Referee 1: Redouane ACHIK (MAR) Assistant Referee 2: Abdelhak ETCHIALI (ALG) Fourth Official: Yuichi NISHIMURA (JPN) Standby Assistant Referee: Toru Sagara (JPN)
Nope, I think Robben is pretty much done after Euro 2016, thats if he doesnt retire before then. Arjen relies on his speed, thats his bread & butter. Pirlo doesnt need speed at all, he's strictly a passer of the ball. Speed is much more fleeting in professional players, you rarely see a player still running like he's 25 when he's 32 years old. vPersie might still be a decent striker in 2016, but even thats debatable. Sneijder has already started to lose it, I expect that will be worse in 2016. Put in a nutshell, Oranje needs an entire new front line by 2016. Heck, we need it even before that if we wanna qualify
Yeah I agree - it's actually amazing that he doesn't seem any slower at 30 than he did at 20. He might be faster actually! Still, I expect there will be slowdown over the next couple of years, 2016 will likely be his last tournament and who knows how he'll be playing then. Wesley might be back in 2016 but I doubt as a starter. In fact I hope not unless he has a serious renaissance. He was better against CR and even Argentina though his free kicks were unusually bad but still pretty mediocre overall.
Ugh. As much as I agree with this statement, I am scared.. frankly because the next generation in the pipeline is not anywhere ready to take over. Assuming Hiddink goes back to 4-3-3, I can see Depay takes one spot. Lens, yes, likely. Boetius, Promes, Castaignos were called up for the preliminary squad leading to the W.C.. but these kids are far from convincing. Some have been tried and they failed to impress: Narsigh, Ola John, Dost, Luuk De Jong, Van Wolfswinkel. Then they're really young talents who just start scratching the surface (Kishna, Zivkovic, Basacikoglu), but I doubt they will be ready in 2016. Who else...? Unless there's a huge revelation, I think one of Robben or RvP will be required in 2016.
^^Robben, van Persie, and Sneijder were all on the 2006 WC team which was 8 years ago. If my math is correct they were 21-22 years old. I don't think we even know which of the young Dutch players will shine by 2016. It could be Kishna, Zivkovic, and many others who are in development make that team. We don't know what Hiddink is going to do regarding his EC team. I refuse to be pessimistic at any stage and would only point out that a lot of people on this forum totally gave up after the 2012 EC; you can go back and look at the archives to see who they are!!
No, you're absolutely right. But like I said before, often our best players seem to come out of nowhere (RvN, Jaap Stam.......etc). We still got 2 years before next Euro, so I'm not terribly worried (yet)
Well, to some extent, Depay kinda came out of nowhere. Nobody talked about him 2 years ago in Euro 12, he made a huge leap just this past year... not only secured a spot in the final 23 but also had good runs (and scored 2 goals in this W.C!) So yeah, hopefully we'll see cases like this!!
Judging by how the Brasil defense played against Germany, it would have been better for them if they selected Douglas. Wait they still can do it!
Well, it looks like vGaal will probably field most his A-team: http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/van-gaal-wil-primeur-ongeslagen-met-oranje-op-wk.htm
Actually van Gaal said that he has no idea who is physically fit to play tomorrow. Only player who is definitely ruled out is Fer who has not recovered from his muscle injury. de Jong did light training but I still doubt he will play.
I dunno how accurate livescore.com is, but these are suppsoedly the starting lineups: Julio Cesar ---------------Jasper Cillessen Maicon ----------- -------Ron Vlaar Thiago Silva ------------- Stefan de Vrij David Luiz -------------- Bruno Martins Indi Marcelo ----------------- Daley Blind Paulinho ----------------- Dirk Kuyt Ramires ------------------ Memphis Depay Oscar -------------------- Georginio Wijnaldum Willian ------------------ Wesley Sneijder Luiz Gustavo ----------- Arjen Robben Jo ------------------------ Robin van Persie