News: 2022 World Cup qualifying draw

Feels like Oranje have been getting friendly draws lately.... so a Group of Death is overdue

Oranje
Switzerland
Russia
Bosnia
Armenia
Malta/who cares

 

It’s not the best but not the worst. Turkey is a fun matchup for a team out of the 2nd pot. I’d rather Turkey than Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, or Poland. Then Norway has some great up and coming talents but again avoided Russia there. Also if Netherlands can’t beat Norway they aren’t a legit contender. Then the rest of the group is pretty weak.

It will come down to the games against Turkey. And I have a feeling Netherlands get more fired up for those games than if they were to play Ukraine, Poland, etc.

 

What is the supporting cast for Haaland in the Norge team? On his own he's not going to do much.

 

Then we might have more than eleven Orange players on the pitch
pick your emoticon:

 

Odegaard from Madrid should be the biggest thread supporting Haaland. Haaland can play as much as he wants, we will have de Ligt Van Dijk and Schuurs for him waiting lol.

 

Looks like this is going to be a fun group to watch!

Both Turkey (Calhanoglu, Demiral, Under, Kokcu) and Norway (Haaland, Odegaard, Berge) are in re-building mode, and have several young exciting talents. Not much difference with Oranje in that respect. That said, Oranje is clearly, at least, 1-2 year ahead in the process, so I'd reckon Oranje experience could be the difference here.

My first reaction is that Oranje will see some bumps on the road but will comfortably win the race in the end... Norway will battle Turkey out, and sneak into a 2nd place.

 

Second place is worth nothing, so the battle will be on for the first place from the start.

 

Wouldn’t there be a playoff for the teams finish second? With FdB at the helmet, Oranje might have to take advantage of any lifeline thrown out there

On a related note, Ruud van Goal is joining the coaching team as an assistant. Hopefully he will sharpen the young forwards.

 

Hup Haaland hup

 

I would say Turkey is above Norway as they pose a mix of both very under rated and established players. Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Milan), Merih Demiral (Juventus),Çağlar Söyüncü (Leicester City),Cenk Tosun (Everton),Ozan Tufan (Fenerbache) and the underrated ones being Cengiz Ünder (Roma/ Leicester), and former talented Man City youth product Enes Ünal who was at FC Twente and now at Getefe. the Lille contingent as well.

turkey should the biggest treat to NT as they also have very good depth in the squad and if everybody is available on the match day.

 

Oranje will start the WC 2020 qualifier campaign with a trip to Turkey in March 2021. That’s pretty ideal... can’t imagine fans will be allowed back to the stadium by then, it would take the sting of an Away game! Will be also a nice warm up for Euro 20/21.

The other critical Away match (vs. Norway) will be in September. I guess this could be one of two scenarios... fatigue post-Euro, or a well-oiled machine.

 

WOW!
Really?
FIFA is filthy indeed but not watch Oranje at the World Cup.

 

Like this?
Given the group, if NT cannot win the group, they don't deserve to go to the WC, and yes, hell will break loose if another WC is missed. Let's focus on doing well on Euro (if there is one) and then see. It is important that all the players are healthy and available for Euro including the captain VVD.

 

Article about how various players of the 'Bronze Ajax' have done so far

Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)
With a transfer fee of 85.5 million euros, it is still the second most expensive defender ever. Much is currently not going well with almighty Juventus since former star player Andrea Pirlo took the helm this season. In the first ten rounds of play, the Old Lady already lost points in her own Serie A five times, where it usually rules with nine consecutive national titles.


De Ligt, on the other hand, is a bright spot for the Italian superpower. Although he was out for more than three months with a shoulder injury, he still lives up to his huge price tag in Turin. De Ligt's defensive impact can be measured. With the 21-year-old center-back on the field, Juventus conceded 33 goals in 33 league matches. Without the ex-Ajax player, that average with 1.2 goals against per game is a lot higher at Juve. A difference of 0.2 seems small, but saves seven to eight goals over a whole season.

Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)
After a season and a half, the same applies to De Jong as to his buddy De Ligt: he himself is performing well, his new top club is below par.

The fact that the 23-year-old technician from Arkel is one of the few successful sample transfers (86 million euros) for the Catalans in recent years is the main problem for Barcelona. Lionel Messi no longer has any lieutenants he trusts in the front since Luis Suárez and Neymar left. Philippe Coutinho (145 million), Ousmane Dembélé (130) and Antoine Griezmann (120) grapple with the attacking legacy and high expectations.

De Jong, on the other hand, is one of the better players every week under trainer Ronald Koeman. With an average of 79 passes per game, he is by far the most involved in Barcelona's position play. In addition, with sixteen successful interventions, De Jong is the Barcelona player with the most successful tackles after ten rounds of play.

Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)
At Chelsea, Ziyech has to do with two things that never bothered him in Amsterdam: injuries and competition. He missed more playing minutes in London due to injuries (720) than he was on the field (612). With his transfer fee of forty million euros, Ziyech was the cheapest attack reinforcement for Chelsea this summer, which also brought Timo Werner (53 million, RB Leipzig) and Kai Havertz (80 million, Bayer Leverkusen) to Stamford Bridge.

In the competitions in which Ziyech can participate, he is present as usual. Chelsea took on average considerably more points in the eight duels with the left leg in the base (2.5 per duel), than in the twelve duels in which Ziyech did not start (1.58).

Donny van de Beek (Manchester United)
From irreplaceable meter eater in Amsterdam to pricey wide purchase in Manchester. Van de Beek still has quite a few steps to climb in the hierarchy at United. He completed the full ninety minutes in just two of his sixteen duels with The Red Devils.

But there is some hope for the beloved ex-Ajax player. Albeit a somewhat bitter kind of hope. Midfield competitor Paul Pogba wants to leave Manchester, and has sent his agent Mino Raiola on the road for a new employer. In addition, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appears to be on the kick seat after United failed to survive the group stage of the Champions League. With technically fine teammates such as Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood, there seems to be room for a labor-intensive all-rounder like Van de Beek in the future Manchester United team. Until then, patient waiting is the motto.

Daley Sinkgraven (Bayer Leverkusen)
Admittedly, Sinkgraven played a marginal role in Ajax's success in 2018/19. Only once was he in the base that year. But where he ended up in the margins in Amsterdam, partly due to persistent injuries, he has become a weekly highlight at his next club.

Peter Bosz, the trainer who already breathed new life into Sinkgraven's Ajax career by turning the playmaker to left back, took his beloved left leg to Bayer Leverkusen, and will not have regretted it for a second. With Sinkgraven as a technically savvy, positionally smart left back, Bosz's team is even the surprising leader in the Bundesliga after eleven rounds of play.

https://www.parool.nl/sport/zo-gaat...it-het-magische-europese-succesteam~b557d830/

 

FIFA has a tremendous hand for pulling candidate countries out of the hat to organize the WC.
Given how this trvmp shit has escalated I wonder if there isnot going to be a huge unsafety concern with WC26.