Pre-match: 2022 World Cup Oranje qualifying matches

Sure. But the Netherlands didn’t get a medal in canoeing. Also, that really is beside the point I was making. Interesting info though don’t get me wrong.

 

That link shows Netherlands indeed does quite well, but not necessarily better as other highly developed countries. That said, what our state invests in sports is relatively modest.

 

I understood that, and while it’s an interesting point of discussion it’s not the point I was making. The point is that in a diversity of sports the Netherlands is well-represented at the top levels for a country so small. This means that the talent pool that “remains” for football is all the more shallow.

Only a (small) country who’s very well organized in terms of sports and it’s infrastructure and federations etc. can manage this.

 

Looks like Flekken will be between the posts today… I don’t know anything at all about him. I hope he’s surprising everybody with a stellar performance Bergwijn and De Ligt are also poised to start. Rest of the starting XI is the same.

LVG will not be on the sideline He will be in the sky box.

 

I saw the same information elsewhere.
My hope is that Danny Blind is not making ANY decisions whatsoever.
I’m pissed off with VG Part 3, but Oranje better take care of business.

 

What a moment for him to make his debut. Such a big game. Let's hope he can keep his nerves in check under this much pressure. Fingers crossed. With that being said, why not start Cillessen? He's been called up right?

I'm good with de Ligt starting as IMO there's no drop-off from quality there. Bergwijn will have to surprise me as he's not really been impressing at Spurs. He has yet to have a true break-out season in the EPL. Let's hope he can have the game of his life vs Norway.

I wonder how Blind will go today. Kinda worried about that side.

 

Be that as it may, it's still the biggest game he's ever played. And for that game to be your debut isn't to be underestimated. I'm not saying he will falter, I'm just highlighting the fact of the magnitude of this game as a debut match and the inevitable nerves that come with it.

 

Cillessen has indeed been called up and now Krul was as well replacing Bijlow.
I’m a bit surprised he’s not getting the nod but Flekken has gotten excellent reviews in the Bundesliga.
Bergwijn has not done much at Spurs, and has been injured a lot, but has quality. Hope he has a great match tonight obviously.
Personally I would play Lang, and I’m just tired of the ridiculous thought process of the Manager who has to play guys in one position. Left on right, right on left is just stupid.

 

Same. It's a really tiresome notion. He stands in the way of himself too, because of this draconian player position philosophy he limits what he can do formation-wise as he's often highlighting the lack of ("true") RW's and how that may affect the formation we play in. Sigh.

 

I don't expect much offensive output (goal or assist) from Bergwijn. But all things considered I don't mind him at all... he has speed for counter-attacks, and he is disciplined enough to track opposing player. Also he has a deep understanding with Dumfries from their playing days at PSV. Clearly a better fit than the rusty Malen. I thought LVG deployed Lang as RW at some point.... it didn't recall it was a successful experiment.

I guess Flekken it is!! He is a 28-year old dude, and plays in a tough German league... so hopefully he has nerves of steel.

First 20 minutes will be crucial... Norway will go gung-ho, Oranje need to weather the storm and frustrate the Norwegians. No comical mistake (hinting at De Ligt ).

 

Wait… news that Cillessen will start!

 

He got the nod. Falls more in line with expectations though. I think van Gaal was thinking about the magnitude of the situation and “throwing” Flekken into the proverbial “Lion’s den”.

Not that Cilessen cannot make a mistake, but people will be less tolerant if we lost out on direct qualification due to a mistake of a debutant while Cillessen has like 60 NT games to his name.

Quite a logical train of thought. Let’s hope it pans out.

 

Ugggh. So much about this feels wrong. I have such a bad feeling about this evening.

Agreed. This was the right move (hopefully!) debuts can be real tough for sure, just ask Matthijs.

 

Same.... i'm honestly expecting a loss. Part of me doesn't want to watch this, but I probably will. But if you held a gun to my head and made me bet on it, I think i'd bet on a Oranje choke job. I hope i'm wrong, but history shows we fail on these moments majorly. If Norway is smart they'll just play like Czech Republic, defend hard, use their physicality to break up the game, and try to hit on counters. That always works versus us.

 

Right on... Keep the faith! This is a Norway team, who couldn't muster a single goal, on their home turf, against the mighty Latvia. No way they will break down a defense anchored by one of today's best central defenders in Captain Virgil!

Under normal circumstances, that is...

Let's really hope for cool head and no silliness. Recall Bruno Martins Indi red-carded vs. Iceland, De Ligt hand-ball vs. Czech, etc.

 

I like it. Hup, Holland, Hup!!

 

Is it weird that we have arguably the best defensive pairing in world football (vanDijk-deVrij) and arguably the best CB talent as well (deLigt) and yet I am a nervous wreck every time a team starts an attack against us? Maybe it's cause our fullbacks don't match up to the CB's?

I want to feel what Manchester United fans felt when they had the Ferdinand-Vidic tandem. God I miss van der Sar. He brought such calmness to the defense, and he had to work with much less talented CB's in front of him in the NT.

 

Blind rather than Ake is a bad choice.

 

For real. It is kind of ridiculous how little defensive stability we have with options like Van Dijk, De Vrij and De Ligt. We should be defensive monsters, but we are far from that. It just isn't in the DNA of our country...

 

Turkey trailed inside the first four minutes… good sign!

 

Nope, neither Portugal or Croatia are for 50 years in the top of national team football. They pop up for a couple of years adn then ...
In contrast we go awol, which means we're absent while nobody expects it.
That's the difference with wannabe big soccer powers. They only cause a blib in a void.

 

When the second goal fell, his foot slipped on that shit pitch atm he wanted to make the jump and it overstretched his groin.