'We missed some sharpness tonight and performing against such conservative opponents didn't inspire us,' said Dutch coach Dick Advocaat. 'We were supposed to meet the Germans tonight and then we'd have had a match with enthusiasm and prestige.' What in the world is this guy trying to say? Had a penalty been called for Beasley in the box and had Beasley not missed a 1 on 1, same could be said for Conveys squandered opportunity he gets his arse handed to him.
Are you serious? Did you watch the game? Do you ever have any clue what you're talking about? I know you think I pick on you, but I just see a stupid post and need to comment on it.
I think the fact that RVD was stuck with offside calls and having to score his lone goal with his hand speaks volumes about our team.
Hey Track... He's right! Step out of the box for a second, and think about it. I'm a die-hard American fan, but you have to understand that the Dutch were playing a friendly (offensive-minded), while the U.S. thought it was playing World Cup semi-finals, hoping to play for an 0-0 penalty kicks. Why were we so conservative? Especially in a friendly with the #4 ranked country?? This should have been an opportunity for US to learn so MANY new things about us AND what we can against a strong team. Its the same thing that happened with Denmark... BORING. We'll be lucky if Poland, the next Euros we face, doesn't decide to cancel out on us for our next game due to the dullness of the American team in a friendly. We need to ATTACK, explore, and make the game worthwhile for not only our development BUT ALSO the development of our opponents. Do you think the Dutch signed the contract to face a strictly defensive-minded team in a friendly? Thats a waste of everyone's time.
We did play a defensive minded game, but I don't think it's fair to say that the US is horrible team. This is a great team with a future full of potiential. I don't agree with the Dutch coach at all. We wouldn't have made the WC's top 8 if we were so bad. I guess Portugal, France and all of the other countries didn't advance because of their boring competition?
So you would rather lose 6-1 instead of 1-0? I am not by any means saying the U.S. should play for a tie or a close loss. What I am saying is when playing a team with the offensive punch of Holland, and with defensive holes like the U.S. had (Hejduk), you have to play the style Arena had them play. Play back, then counterattack. If you can stifle their offense and FINISH (definitely not the case today) on one or two of your few chances, you can pull off the 1-0 or 2-1 win or manage a respectable draw. The Dutch coach is an idiot to think the U.S. is going to press the attack so his world class forwards can do to us what they did to the Scots-- score 6 goals.
Whats the matter, does Advocaat not think he will face some "defensive minded" teams in Euro 2004 ? He should be worried about his vaunted offenses inability to break us down for more than one goal.
Absolutely Dr. Jay. This would be a great game for any potential Dutch opponent to watch to learn how to frustrate and possibly beat the Oranje. Besides - isn't getting proper motivation exactly the weakness (the only weakness) of the Dutch sides historically?
What does he expect. I don't mean to disregard our offensive ability, but it doesn't aspire to the Dutch team, so it is our best interest in a friendly or otherwise to play a dangerous team with our strength, which would be defense. The Italians, who do have playmakers and strikers in league with the Dutch, would play a much similiar game. Its just a style. And the only reason Germany would have been a better matchup for them in a friendly is due to the rivalry. Oh, well. We played a pretty darn good team tough on the road without our best keeper and only using our hottest player for a half. Not a bad result to prepare for WCC.
What it means is he expected to blow us out like Scotland and wanted to see the same type of performance from his side. I thought we were patiently waiting for our chance, but we were giving too many balls away besides just bad passes. We didn't look even close to being sharp so I understand why we were conservative. I think their coach would make a great Nats fan. One blowout and he thinks they rule the world. Except for the left side the patchword d was ok.
Advocaat's a jerk..instead of admitting they had difficulty getting thru the defense, and he comes up with this lame excuse...that friendly was switched several weeks ago... This is part of Dutch problem...take the responsiblity for your poor play or at least give credit to your opponent...
Advocaat's been an arrogant ass his entire career, no surprise he's making such comments now. Oh, BTW, no (R) in the subject line of this thread?
i think the better team one, but neither side showed what it could do and i think it will be a while before we play th netherlands again
I agree 100%. It seemed like the US just wasn't playing good soccer until minute 80 or so. We couldn't connect on any passes in the offensive end of the field. We also had too many bad first touches.
look at it this way holland was dominating posession, but in the end, besides the one goal, how many truly great chances did they get on the field? whereas at the end of the game, we had several oppurtunities to tie it up.
the whole time i was watching the game, i kept thinking "If I were a Dutch fan, I'd be pissed." They just didn't play well at all, and even though they dominated the play, they were somewhat fortunate to come out with the victory. They must have the very best stuff in Amsterdam if Advocaat thinks that the Germans would have runned & gunned with them. If he wants to blame someone for the pace of the game, he should look at his midfield.
Maybe I'm a little naive, but I think this European attitude of defense first and conservative play holds the entire sport back. When you have as much talent as Advocaat has at his disposal, and play conservative -- it's simply a losers attitude and I'm reasonably sure when I say this that Holland will never win anything with Advocaat as coach. Same with Trappatoni in Italy. Holland deserved to be booed because their tactics sucked. Give Arena any one of of Holland's top strikers and he would turn him loose and attack. When I say European, I'm not slamming the whole continent, just those who buy into the "defense first" philosophy. I think it's safe to say that few teams in the world can match Holland's skill level, at least as far as the attack is concerned. Not pushing that advantage -- especially against a team you should easily handle -- is a diservice to your squad. Advocaat = Loser.
Excuses and egos--the reasons to give when someone wonders aloud why the Dutch haven't won more in international soccer.
I hate to be bursting any bubbles here.... but apart from the home match against the Scots, RvN hasn't played a decent game in orange yet! He's always unreachable for the rest of the team and easily frustrated. The guy's an ass who should have been kicked out earlier. His behaviour yesterday was typical. Maybe the germans want him.
You sure taught Dickie Now back to reality... this was a very poor match all round. Like most Dutch friendlies are.
both sides were basically crap tonight - the first two meetings looked nothing like this clunker - i swore i was at a reggina-bologna match or something