if people need a PbP, best let me know in this thread and i'll do one i predict goals tonight, a reverse of the euro2000 meeting... france wins 3-2 i hope i'm wrong players i most want to see work tonight: de jong, heitenga (inside please moronocaat!), makaay, sneijder - i will add that van der vaart bears watching closely - he clearly has not had a good season for him, but that little magic seems to have returned during the last several weeks so i think its important that he have a big night... and frankly there is no one i would rather see groomed for the 'hop off the bench late to score' role at euro2004 than jimmy floyd - some may scoff, but that dude just makes goals plain and simple - when we're down 2-1 with 13 minutes to play this summer (as always invariably happens at a major tournament, let's not kid ourselves), i would feel much better knowing sir hasselbaink was warmed up and ready to go at the midfield stripe frankly, i wish another new defender was around to get a look at (schuurman?) - i havent seen much of vrede, but i've heard some good things
when is the game? i am going to watch the korean webcast. personally i hope they dutch play well but lose, a win over france may not be the best thing for their mentality right before 04.
Asta Good point but I'd like to see te Oranje win against France as a confidence builder for the young players, then lose 1 (to bring them back to earth) then win the last 1 or 2 before Portugal to get them in the right frame of mind.
ORANJE Edwin Van der Sar Johnny Heitinga Mario Melchiot Boudewijn Zenden Philip Cocu Edgar Davids Mark van Bommel Rafael van der Vaart Roy Makaay Marc Overmars Andy van der Meyde Ronald Waterreus Nigel de Jong Michael Reiziger Paul Bosvelt Wesley Sneijder Pierre van Hooijdonk FRANCE Fabien Barthez Marcel Desailly Bixente Lizarazu Willy Sagnol Lilian Thuram Olivier Dacourt Ludovic Giuly Claude Makelele Johan Micoud Sydney Govou David Trezeguet Gregory Coupet Jean-Alain Boumsong William Gallas Mikael Silvestre Bruno Cheyrou Steed Malbranque Benoit Pedretti Thierry Henry Peguy Luyindula
i'll do PbP 3' makaay well offside poor VDM pass leads t france break, but they play the ball out with dacourt done like a baby
6' giuly through too far and VDS claims easily 7' this match is started off as static as the US match VDV limps after taking some studs from makelele, lucky to avoid a yellow
8' cocu, in a strange central position, starts up slowly then finds overmars long his flick is too far for makaay and frane clear 9' van bommel turnover and france work their way upfield davids strips dacourt, finds overmars who slips VDV through alone with a pinpoint ball.... but the flag is up - very very close but i think he got it right
VDV wins a FK, which is crossed over the end line 11' great turn by overmars along the touch, but his dribble gets away from him 12' france throw at MFmicoud steals and deals right for giuly, whose cross is nicely turned out for throw by cocu 13' overmars splits two but makelele makes a sweet ball tackle 14' VDM lob for makaay too short VDV grabs hold of makelele near the france area, FK
you still there asta? 16' davids picks micoud's pocket at MF, eventually van bommel bounces through a little beyond VDV's reach VDV dumps dacourt good 18'
18 and a half minutes in and this one is like a cop at a car accident... nothin' to see here folks 20' CK france as zenden knocks away from giuly... VDM nods away easily 21' blah blah blah so far this is actually more boring than the US match 23' finally the ORANJE exert some pressure; VDM has two cross partially blocked, van bommel a shot blocked and VDV a weak header saved
zenden and overmars make fast progress down the left, but VDV overruns a decent set up 25' lizerazu fouls VDM... kinda VDV takes... cocu heads well over
this may be completely in vain - tall he US people are probably in a "business meeting" of some sort with wings and espn2
pointless ballby VDM scooped by barthez 27' lizerazu bursts toward the area and is closed down just as he shoots, VDS collects 30' henry has some ears on 'im, don't he?
32' sagnol shoulder charge stops overmars govou shoots over after getting sprung by dacourt - nice little touch from the #17 33' van bommel heads out for a corner, but the ref sees it off sagnol somehow - GK ORANJE france backpass on a free kick in the ORANJE half
CK ORANJE overmars takes... headed away 36' barthez is down holding his side after a rough challenge in the air
had to depart for a minute 44' still 0-0 nice thuram long ball finds govou, but france slow it down 45+ 2 minutes coming... and how exactly?!?