Pre-match: US V Netherlands Pre match (R's)

There's no way our young guns are going to be intimidated by the Dutch U23. Not after outplaying Brazil U20 last summer, and went up against Spain, England, and Argentina a month ago.

If anything, they should be full of confidence going into into this match.

I hope to see Altidore up top, with Adu behind him. Danny and Mickey behind Adu in the mid and rogers/hoden on the wings.

--------Altidore-----
-------Adu--------
Rogers----Mickey-Danny---Holden
----Same Back Four----------

There's no doubt that the Dutch will attack, and I am sure they will put a goal or two into our net. But I do hope that Nowak will come out with an attacking mentality and take the game to the Dutch. We do have the talents to play an attacking game, and please keep the ball on the ground.

As they say, the best defense is offense. So if we come out and attack, it will surely help slow down the Dutch's attack, give our denfenders some relief, and keep their players on their own half.

This match has the makings to be a great game, and I am sure Adu/Jozy will have the space and freedom to be creative and put on an excellent show.

My Prediction. USA 3-2 Dutch

 

The Dutch coach seems unconcerned with the match against the U.S. Didn't Portugal think that in 2002? And don't the Mexicans consistently think that when they play in the U.S. in WCQ?

http://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/newsid=842214.html#usa+stake+claim

We have the personnel to counter the hell out of these guys. Though the Holland coach sounds relaxed, if we hold fast for the first 20-30 minutes, they will start pressing. That means we should get some decent breakout opportunities. Definitely start Altidore over McBride. And we need guys in midfield that can translate defense to offense very quickly; this is not Bradley's game, so I am praying for a Benny-Szetela CM pairing that can hopefully spring Adu, Rogers, Holden, and Wynne. Also, don't discount Edu playing some really good long passes from his CB/ Sweeper role; he has done that from deep lying MF position for the Senior team, and I hope he can do it as a defender.

 

Somehow, I doubt it. I'm fairly sure the US can score against the Dutch, but at this point in time, I think the Dutch will score more. My prediction would be 2 - 1 to the Dutch. I can see Babel having a big game on Sunday.

All this bravado and "we have the personnel to..." talk is really rather amusing. I think some of you border on underrating the Dutch.

 

Don't know if this has been mentioned but the Dutch will not have Makaay due to injury, and will probably be replaced by Sibon (who's ok).

Will be interesting to see how Wynne does against Drenthe, it'll be Beast vs. Beast.

I also think, after watching US-Japan, that the Dutch put Babel on the left and have him run at Orozco all day. While a scary thought, if Sibon is lone striker in the middle, I sort of rate Edu and Parkhurst over him (while I think Makaay would have a field day).

I'm looking forward to this one.

 

As a fan, I can not predict a loss. I must remain optimistic.

 

I am really looking forward to this match up. With his speed/strength, Wynne should be able to match Drenthe pace for pace and stayed on his tail.

Who knows, if he shut down Drenthe, Barca might give him a call.

 

during the opening ceremonies

 

That's a pretty special moment ... for the President.

 

"Bush had no idea that there were black people in China."

 

I think this might be a game where our best defense is a good offense, but seeing how we have struggled at that, this may not be an option. If we don't threaten them in the final third they'll be constantly coming at us hard. Adu is gonna have to play a hell of a lot better than he did against Japan, I say no to starting Kljestan because he'll slow down our counters. I'd like to see Danny and Rogers on the pitch at the same time. An in form Benny would be great to start, but we dont' have that option either.

 

Classic. Bush has the look of "are you sure we have a soccer team?"

 

I agree. I think we just pin our ears back and go with 3-5-2. cut the boys loose.

especially with the latest comments from the Dutch coach

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/08/dutch-olympic-t.html#more

 

I have to say I've been dissapointed with the dutch. They were terrible against CIV in the Toulon tournament, I thought they were just saving it for the big occasion, but against Nigeria they were very dissapointing as well. I don't even remember one chance they created other than a few long range freekicks, and they were going up against a side that only played warmups against amateur Korean university teams. THe dutch had much better preparation than Nigeria yet it did not show at all. Having said that, I cannot see the dutch missing sitters like Japan did against the US. US is somewhat lucky to have three points at the moment, but they did play well in the 2nd half and seem to be improving each game since ING cup. I think the US is definately capable of a result in this match, but the defence must be better. I am sure the dutch will come out more against you guys than they did against Nigeria, so it will probably be a more open game.

 

anyone know of any streams online for those of us outside the states? i had to go through hell and high water to watch the japan match, which i was finally able to do by getting on the army base in seoul. thats not going to be an option for me this sunday, so the internet is my only hope. help please.

 

Won't he be redfaced if the Dutch get destroyed!

 

Can someone send this to Adu/Jozy's PDAs?

"...Nigeria is confident on the ball," he said. "They have two very good strikers. The Americans are more of a team on the same level. They don't have anybody extremely good.

"They're totally different than Nigeria, in my opinion."

That surely will fire them up. Perhaps Nowak will finally let his boys roam free.

 

Don't worry, many fans had the same bravado prior to the Czech game in 2006. The Old Czechs were just like Portugal in 2002, and look how that... um, er, well...

We also had the same bravado prior to the recent England friendly in Wembley. Euro2008 failure England was ripe for the taking and the US boys really... um, OK, whatever.

Go USA!!!





Joking aside, I'll take the 2007 example of how the US responded from a soft effort vs. Korea to then stun Poland and Brazil at the U20 Cup. I like how that worked out much better. The US has enough talent to pull off a good result against Holland, even if the odds are against it. Adu and Altidore will need to have a match like they did against Brazil last summer, the mids will have to play an outstanding match, and Guzan will probably need to come up big a couple of times.

Fearless prediction: US 2 -- Netherlands 1

 

Here's how I would start:

------------Guzan-------------
Wynne--Parkhurst---Edu---Orozco
Holden------Bradley-------Rogers
----------------Adu-------------
--------Altidore-----McBride-----

In the back, we obviously keep the same back four. However, I would switch sides for Edu and Parkhurst so they better compliment the outside backs.

In midfield, take Kljestan out and drop Adu as an attacking midfielder. I think Bradley is capable of playing defensive mid alone. Keeping Rogers and Holden is a no-brainer, IMHO.

On top, we need to have both Altidore and McBride play together. The best defense against the Dutch will be to force them to keep their outside backs home to help covering Altidore and McBride. If we play with 1 lone striker and Adu like we did against the Japanese, the Dutch outside backs will eat us alive with their overlapping runs, especially down our left side.

 

Can we pull a Poland U20 on this team?

 

I don't think there's much overlap between the Dutch squad at the Toulon Tournament and the Dutch Olympic squad. Also, I will repeat it again for emphasis, these guys have won 2 U21 European championships in a row, and not in Dutch fashion either (especially the not choking part)... they've persevered over more talented squads and won without ever being favorites (of course, it helped that both Italy and Portugal ended up choking in a major way in 2007).

They were definitely disappointing against Nigeria, but, as you said, the game will be much more open against the US. Should be a good one.

 

Only if we get Szetela on the field.

 

The Dutch public networks broadcasts the matches on this site live on kanaal 6 http://os2008.nos.nl/wedstrijdschema/index/datum/10-08-08. But you probably have to go through a Dutch proxyserver to avoid being recognized as a non-Dutch.


The probable Dutch line up will be:

--------------------------------Sibon--------------------------------
-----Drenthe------------------- Babel------------------de Guzman----
-----------------Emanuelson-----------------Maduro------------------
Jon A Pin-----------Marcellis-----------------Jaliens-----------Zuiverloon
--------------------------------Vermeer--------------------------------

But donot look surprised if in the second half Makaay pops up for the last 20-30 minutes.

 

W says "I love people from Palm Beach County......."

 

Foppe de Haan opens his yap and the YNT board gets fired up - gotta love it.

It will be fun to watch our guys give the Dutch a goal-scoring clinic on Sunday.
{Goals in our favor, I mean.}

 

I can see Bradley, Holden, and Szetela breaking legs in the midfield. Adu/Jozy putting balls behind the net up top. And Guzan sipping Henessy and smoking a joint in the back. It will be a night to remember for the young yanks.