Holland would hopefully win this crucial game. Here's the 23 man squad I would select. Keepers: Edwin van der Sar(if he makes it back from injury on time) Maarten Stekelenburg. Defenders: Nigel de Jong Johnny Heitinga Wilfred Bouma Pascal Bosschaart Theo Lucius Khalid Boulahrous Philip Cocu Giovanni van Bronckhorst Midfield: Edgar Davids Mark van Bommel Robin van Persie Wesley Sneijder Denny Landzaat Rafael van der Vaart Attack: Ruud van Nistelrooy Arjen Robben Dirk Kuyt Roy Makaay Quincy Owusu-Abeyie Daniel de Ridder Collins John The list was in order of my personal preference in the given positions. I left out Kluivert this time cause it seems injury set his return to complete fitness back a little bit. Castelen is injured at the moment I heard and he didn't perform well at all against Finland anyways. Hofland is getting better again but hes still not National Team caliber as of yet. Melchiot and Seedorf would almost never make my list of squad players, let alone starting eleven. Seedorf had a lot of chances to prove himself in the National Team and very rarely did he make the best of them(last being the fact that he started in all the Euro2004 games but one.) Melchiot never convinced me defensively. To me he was never a solid defender, period. Dirk Kuyt is not the classiest of players but he seemed to be a smart player with a high work ethic in Feynoord and the Dutch NT. I included van Persie and Quincy because both have been impressive with the Arsenal Reserves and First teams(in VP's case.) Bosschaart would make a good leftback in my opinion. Someone needs to give "Gio" some competition and it certainly wouldn't be Bouma; he hasn't played there in a long time. Robben would be an obvious starter on the left. What do you guys think?
Daniel de Ridder and your two Arsenal players don't get any first team football, it would be absurd for Van Basten to include them especially because there's plenty of attacking talent around.
Pretty unrealistic list, not seeing my preferences but to be realistic and to see it from van Basten's perspective, i think this would be the 23-man squad. Keepers: 1. Edwin van der Sar 2. Edwin Zoetebier Defenders: 3. Joris Mathijsen(Has been the DEFENDING STAR of AZ who's playing magical on both European and National scene) 4. Wilfred Bouma 5. Jan Kromkamp 6. Giovanni van Bronckhorst 7. Khalid Boulahrouz 8. Kevin Hofland(He has his first place in the team, Wolfsburg is playing well with Hofland in the Bundesliga, they are first if i am correct?) 9. Nigel de Jong Midfielders: 10. Rafael van der Vaart 11. Wesley Sneijder 12. Philip Cocu 13. Mark van Bommel 14. Clarence Seedorf(Why noy Seedorf? He is one of the engines on the midfield on one of the best teams in the world, he played a great EURO 2004 with Holland, his form is also great) 15. Edgar Davids 16. Denny Landzaat Attackers: 17. Arjen Robben 18. Andy van der Meyde(has a good season with Inter, played good matches, give him another chance, he clearly has become better and wiser) 19. Romeo Castelen 20. Dirk Kuyt 21. Pierre van Hooijdonk 22. Roy Makaay 23. Ruud van Nistelrooy Not Included: Maarten Stekelenburg(van Basten has also seen Stekelenburg made mistake after mistake, he has lost his starting place to Hans Vonk) John Heitinga(same situation as Stekelenburg. Played REALLY BAD the last 6 games, also lost his starting place) Theo Lucius(he is selected as defender, but he RARELY plays on that position...OK the last few matches he did play as defender but more as emergency solution because there were some injuries. He is a midfielder but he is not good enough to be selected on the midfield of 'Oranje') Patrick Kluivert(He is the victim of the new situation, he isn't playing that bad with Newcastle, not he doesn't get selected...don't forget he's the ALL-TIME Topscorer of Oranje)
Well, with all due respect to your opinion I have to point out a few things: I've always been a big supporter of Kluivert and when he returns to form I wouldn't mind having him instead of Ruud up front. I always saw more potential in Stekelenburg than Zoetebier regarding goalkeeping qualities despite him having a bad run lately. I haven't included Mathijsen cause I only saw AZ play once this season. Seems a lot of people think he's doing great. It maybe right to drop Heitinga for him. Both Lucius and Bosschaart don't regularly play as defenders but I thought they would give better competition to de Jong and Gio on the right and left-back positions. Well I don't think Hofland would make it to the team just because his team is first on the table. He is getting back to form but Bouma is showing better form currently and Boulahrouz was one of the best players for Orange against Macedonia. About Seedorf, I know there has been a huge thread about this. Lets say I am not one of his supporters. IMO, his best qualities lie in his passing and shot power(not accuracy) but he slows down the pace of the team and doesn't contribute on the defensive. I think Euro2004 was a prime example of what he has to offer Holland. As for Quincy and van Persie I would like to have them both on the bench for the great form they are currently showing in Arsenal. I would drop Castelen (who was horrible in the Finland game) and van Hooijdonk whose inclusion in the team is only to lift the players morales I suppose. I have watched almost every Inter game this season. Andy van der Meyde is still far from the form he showed in Ajax 2 years ago. I don't know if it's only me, but he put on a lot of weight in Italy too.
heitinga dropped, mathijsen gets first call (let's remember i asked for it a year ago ) http://www.vi.nl/vi/show/id=62802/contentid=64733/sc=0ffb7a
My Line-up van der Sar de Jong - - - Cocu - - - van Bronckhorst Van Bommel Sneijder - - - Davids - - - van der Vaart Kuyt - - - RVN - - - Robben
It is now, from the KNVB site... Goal: Edwin van der Sar, Maarten Stekelenburg. Defence: Khalid Boulahrouz, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Phillip Cocu, Nigel de Jong, Joris Mathijsen, Mario Melchiot. Midfield: Mark van Bommel, Edgar Davids, Denny Landzaat, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart. Attack: Romeo Castelen, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Dirk Kuyt, Roy Makaay, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben. I'm glad to see Heitinga off the list.
I can't wait to see Robben back in Oranje. I think Ruud is also very excited to have someone who can cross him the ball Now, if only some right-winger would show up and play well, then we'd be set.
I hope Andy will get in a nice shape soon. I think he is still way better when he plays like he played for Ajax then Castelen. But then again I can't be objective here.
Andy VdM is looking a hell of a lot better this season than last, he's doing quite well under Mancini & i think he should be in the Oranje squad even if he doesn't play.
Barry Van Galen (AZ) & André Ooijer (PSV) have been added to the squad in place of Nigel de Jong & Edgar Davids who are both injured, though Davids will join the team at training camp.
He's the best we've got for that position. He plays well for Feyenoord virtually every week and deserves to be in the squad for that reason. I don't suppose you'd prefer a right winger who never gets any first team football, like Daniel de Ridder.
Well I, and he neither I think, meant that Castelen wasn't good, but he hasn't been that great in Oranje (yet). I think Andy is better, when he get's in the right shape.
Now that Robben's back the right winger will have much more space. But I think Van Basten might play Kuijt on the right actually.
True Kuijt is doing great, but he isn't really a winger like Castelen and vs Meyde. Ahh the old Dutch problem, the offence
I think Kuyt will get the nod on wednesday, just because of the goal he scored with Marco in the stands. Yes, Castelen is the best at the moment, which is depressing... he's a good young player, but I don't think he's ready to start for Oranje. My hope is that Van Persie, since we have no real right winger coming up, eventually gets good enough so that he can play winger. Can you imagine him and Robben constantly switching sides, using both wings, tearing apart defenses with speed and skill? Intriguing thought no?