First game on 03-09-2015 against Iceland in the Amsterdam Arena. The second game will be on 06-09-2015 against Turkey in the Torku Arena. Head to head vs Iceland: Head to head vs Turkey:
2-0 against Iceland at home. It will take some adjustment with the new coach (and maybe new system)... sketchy match throughout, with both goals come late. Away to Turkey will be really tough, but I think this team is good enough to avoid defeat. 1-1. This will be an interesting closing... 4 "final" matches. 12 points will be obviously the ultimate goal/dream, but with the above scenario, it will be 10 points (3 wins and 1 draw). This will get Netherlands to 20 points total. Still may not be good enough to guarantee qualification. The Czechs currently have 13 points with matches against Kazakhstan (H), Latvia (A), Turkey (H), and the Netherlands (A). The Dutch will be hoping to beat Czechs at home, and that the Czechs slip vs. Latvia and Turkey. Ugh, pretty ugly.
I agree with your prediction. But as to the scenario with the Czechs, if we beat them at home by more than one goal (or if we win 1-0) then we beat them head-to-head. So then even if we drop 2 points in Turkey, the Czechs only need to drop points to either Latvia or Turkey, not both.
First I hope we win 2-0 (2 goals as a safety to avoid tie) but now I think it will be a hard fought battle that we win narrowly 1-0. Let's hope we get it rolling and open a positive chapter after Hiddink.
De Vrij had an horrible week, his club has been humiliated twice and his soft defending caused two goals against Leverkusen. The defence will be under pressure for those two games
De Vrij on the first goal Not the first time I see those things with him, he is always raising his hand on others instead of playing the ball himself, look at the 3rd goal, he loses his aerial challenge, and once the goal is scored he raises his hands again. Such a loser attitude doesn't really match his elegant football qualities.
The past 2 weeks have not been pleasant for many Dutch players in their clubs. I hope they will be hungry to prove themselves again this week for NT.
apparently the midfield is going to be Klaassen - Sneijder - Anita. And attack will be Robben - Hunter - Memphis.
That's fine. It will give Klaassen licence to go forward. A bit surprised that Wijnaldum is not getting his starting since he makes those really nice runs into the box as another scoring option, but we'll see how that goes. Glad to see RVP is not getting selected, if that's the case.
I don't understand why Huntelaar is never criticized and scrutinized as much as Van Persie is. Nobody seems to point out that the guy has scored only 3 goals in his last 19 officials matches. I think this has a lot to do because of an Ajax vs Feyenoord thing or Rotterdam vs Amsterdam
Huh? He has 6 goals in his last 14 official matches for Schalke (which includes a really nice brace against Real Madrid), and 7 goals in his last 11 matches for Oranje (with 2 assists also). That's despite only playing 90 mins in 4 of those matches. RVP's club record is not better (actually I think it's worse) and he only has 3 goals in his last 11 matches for Oranje. Plus his work rate is worse, and he is not as good on set pieces. I don't think that Huntelaar has been devoid of criticism, but we know what he is and what he can bring. To me RVP just has never had the passion or the bottle for the NT, and he's weak mentally. He also insists on being captain at the same time and has caused trouble with other team members who have contributed much more than him in the past. I think as a personality it is better not to have him on the team, especially since he doesn't bring more than Huntelaar to the NT, and Huntelaar is happy to play more of a supporting role.
The whole world outside Netherlands knows than Van Persie is way better. You could have your opinion and I respect it, but Arsene Wenger also had an opinion, Van Gaal had the same opinion, Fergusson the same. Why did they sign Van Persie and not Huntelaar?. VP performed at at the top for more than 10 years in England, while for Huntelarr was soon enough obvious that the top was too much to handle for him. Schalke it's a good team in a good league but they mean nothing at the top level (Champions League). Here in Chicago, my friends know who Van Persie is and in many occasions I have come across people wearing jerseys with his name on it. I couldn't say the same of Huntelaar. The fact that only in Netherlands Huntelaar is more appreciated than Van Persie, tells me it is all about his past as ajacied and the fact that Ajax is by far the most popular club in the Netherlands. I'm not saying you live in Netherlands nor you 're an Ajax fan btw, I'm only trying to surmise why Huntelaar is so hyped within Dutch people in opposition with the world football community.
I don't think it's a question of hyping one player or another. The blunt fact is that van Persie is really on the downward trail and I think it was all the beating he took in the EPL over the years, not to mention the nasty ankle injury he suffered when Chielini brought him down in the 2010 Italy friendly. He's a mere shadow of his former self. This stuff happens. If one objectively looks at the last WC, he had one good half of football against Spain and was pretty much absent the rest of the tournament. His form after his first year with ManU was bad. Wenger has a hard policy of not extending players contracts when they turn 30 or get close to it and he was able to off load RvP at that time. Maybe he has a couple of decent years in Turkey but he's never going to be the player he once was. At this point Huntelaar is a better, albeit not great, choice for striker.
I don't think anyone thinks that Huntelaar is more talented than RVP, but when it comes to national team play RVP has never been as good as he has been at club level. RVP is a choker of the highest degree and has never done anything in big games for Oranje...even in his best ever seasons at club level with Arsenal and United he disappeared in the knockout stages of the CL and did nothing in their domestic cup competitions. It's a team game for sure, but RVP always seems to turn into a ghost when the moments are big. This wouldn't be a huge problem if he didn't demand so much responsibility and didn't ask to be captain and take free kick responsibility etc. but because he's viewed as an elite player he also needs to step up when it's a big moment and he doesn't -- not like guys like Robben and Sneijder who raise their level of play when the team needs it. Huntelaar has lower expectations and that's why he gets less criticism (even though he is not a bad player by any means). He is a good scorer but he is also ok to not be a 'main man' on the team. He is less talented than RVP but a team is more than the sum of its parts and I don't think RVP is a good fit for Oranje. On top of this Huntelaar actually has a better scoring record for the Netherlands especially when you consider that he is a sub more often than not. Let Robben and Sneijder run the team. As mentioned RVP is a shadow of his former self, and even in his prime he was not a great performer for the NT.
Disagree, RVP was never a top performer ever in club level for a large strech too. He had 1-1.5 years of top form at Arsenal and only 1 years of Top Form for United. That is too low, he was mostly injured and even when he played he was never that great a goal-scorer. If anyone in the outside world knows RVP is definitely better, etc it is because he is ignorant. Both bring different sensibilities, RVP is better technically but in no world is he anywhere near a good goal scorer as Huntelaar. I'm not even that big of an Ajax fan and neither do I reside in The Netherlands. I considered RVP to be more of a disease for the NT given his attitude and how many games and tournaments he has failed. BTW Schalke actually beat Arsenal more than once in CHL & Arsenal were never a top CHL or European Level team. They compete for the 3rd or 4th place trophy and have not won a league in 10 years or so I guess. RVP only played 1 year in United which could be called a League Winning or European Contender. You could argue with EPL money and Arsenal having a lot of resources, etc but they were never in the top league European wise. I can see why people in Chicago or otherwise can think RVP is better. EPL is the most watched, loved, promoted league in the world. English is the global language of communication for many countries. It is natural that EPL players will get hyped. The clubs pay the highest wages, why would RVP not go to MU when not even Barca or Real will give him those 17-18M Euro yearly wages which is more than double what Robben makes. Hunterlaar has always been a goal-scorer since i can remember. His link-up, play, technique, etc can be questioned, but to say RVP is definitely a much better goal-scorer than Huntelaar is preposterous. BTW most football fans I know are also very casual fans who have no idea and only get influenced by the hype, media coverage, their peer, etc. You would be well advised to ignore ridiculous opinions when forming your judgements.
-----------------------Cillessen-------------------- Wiel---------de Vij-------------BMI--------Blind -----------------------Anita------------------------ -----------------------------------Klaassen--------- -----------------Sneijder---------------------------- Robben-------------Huntelaar-----------Memphis I think I saw that this was suggested.