I predicted that we would win seven straight and I'm standing behind it! Wish I would have put some $$s on this.
First Strootman and now De Jong. This is getting ridiculous. Imagine how much stronger the Dutch midfield would be if Strootman and De Jong were healthy
I keep seeing Kuyt spelled that way (or maybe it's just you). Is that an alternative way of spelling the name in Dutch?
Holland’s Dirk Kuyt: An unsung hero who simply refuses to stop running He started his 100th international at left-wing-back and moved to right-back. When Holland needed to score, he moved to centre-forward. Towards the end, he was right-back again
Great article, this. Remember when BMI was concussioned in the AUS match, Kuyt ran out from the players bench to BMI as he was stretched away, and gave him a pat on the leg, for encouragement. Classy guy
I see others have answered for me, but both spellings are acceptable and mean the same. It just makes it easier for English people to pronounce the "IJ" as "Y". DeVrij is really pronounced DeVry
All his subs have been crazy spot on!! The fact we're getting goals from unlikely sources proves this (Depay, Fer, Huntelaar)
This game vs Mexico has a "we won the battle but lost the war"-feel to it. No Nigel no party and it looks like Nigel will not come to the remaining 3 party's.
Yes, but other teams are losing players as well at this stage. It's going to be survival of the fittest.
I still think Kuijt could possibly be AN EVEN BETTER defensive midfielder than Nigel. There, I said it. But just for this world cup though, not for club play. Question is however, will vGaal start him there
Beating Chile and Spain 5-1 in a WC should send us up nicely in FIFA ranking (which comes out next July 17)
Elo ranking right now: This is actually the most remarkable stat about the Dutch NT. The all time Elo ranking (past 50 years):
^^^ oh wow, thats awesome!! Too bad it doesnt mean much. And all that talk before the WC about us winding up in a tough group unseeded amounted to nothing, because it worked out perfect for us in group stage, as well as the side of knockout round we're in now
what's the odds the Huntelaar starts the match against France? I'm surprised this was his first appearance in the Cup so far.
I hope he does start against France because that would mean we're in the final. Otoh it would probably mean somebody better was hurt or suspended ;-) Seriously, I doubt he starts at any point going forward barring injury or suspension. He's a good option on the bench if we need to go route 1 late in games like against Mexico
Interesting. My American relatives are Meyer and the ones in Holland are Meijer. I thought the name was changed at Ellis Island to make it easier to spell. I guess in the old days, it was very common to change or shorten names.