How will Holland do in Portugal? Do you think we have a genuine chance of winning it? I'm predicting that we'll be made favourites after the first round and then we go out in the quarters. Penalties of course.
Depends who you will facing i guess. Who could it be ? The penalties are not really your thing, that much is true. Still, i don't understand why, dutch players do not practice more. They, after all these years, know better than others that a football match is not always over after 120 mns.
I think it's either France or Italy in the quarters, I'm not sure though. So how do they feel about Holland's chances in France then?
Rarely wrong....my gut feeling told me that AC Milan would fall to Deportivo in the second leg. My gut feeling told me that Brazil would win WC 2002 -lose WC 1998 I am willing to bet my car, that Holland will win it all and in style!
Well, in France, Holland is seen of course as one of the favourites. After a chat with some of my friends, and from what i read in the papers, Holland's name often pops up alongside with Italy, the czech and us. Of course the last match between our two countries seemed to have proved nothing ( didn't see it ), even if Holland was more dangerous fromwhat i heard. My personnal point of view is that Holland can show the best and the not so good aspect of its personnality in a very short period of time. If we ever meet during this euro, well i think a lot of people here won't be that confident as both teams have a tremendous score of talented players. I can't see Holland not considered favourite, anyway.
Wow, impressive !!!! Tell me Jon, When will France win another major trophy ? And please, don't spoil my day. Ps : Is Monaco going to qualify ? ( say yes.........please )
Yes, it's somewhat strange that despite all the incredible players that have been churned out by dutch football, all this quality only comes down to a euro cup in 88. Cruyff and co never won anything with the orange, so did Bergkampf and a lot of his generation. And it's even more amazing to see that Van Basten, gullit and Rijkaard have never been that far away in WC. I can't explain that to myself. Can you ?
Van Nistelrooy will be our (I'm not Dutch but my heart is Oranje ) leading scorer. Don't laugh, I predicted that Ronaldo would win the Golden Boot in 2002!!! Coming out of injury, few expected him to score that many goals. Robben will be fit to play, but I think he will be a sub for the first couple of games, before being put into the starting lineup. My gut feeling also tells me that Wilfred Bouma will prove to be the rock of the Dutch defense this summer.
It's funny how, after Holland go out of a tournament, the international footy media always comment that they really should have won it. I'm not sure that's true, to be honest. Of course we're hopeless at taking penalties, that's had a lot to do with us failing at the last stages of the tournament. But I think we have to face facts: while we always play with three to five world class players in our starting 11, the rest of the squad typically is rather mediocre. With the exception of 1974 when we had the best squad of all time, it's always been that way - I don't think many non-Dutch footy fans remember Berry van Aerle and Adri van Tiggelen, for example, and they were in our 1988 squad. I reckon Holland's key strengths lie on the tactical level, btw, not in individual skills. So all in all, if you look at Holland's track record over the past 15 years or so, we've actually done amazingly well for a small country with few genuinely world class footballers. We can look back on a number of quarter finals and semi-finals, and we mostly went out against the European or World Champion after giving them a tough game. Again I cannot see Holland winning the Euro champs this year, for the same reason stated above: not enough quality in-depth. That said, I do believe Holland deserve another prize for their contribution to football. But so do France.
Yes, but isn't it the fate of all countries ? I don't know how old you are but i challenge you to name at least 4 other players from the french national squad that won euro '84 besides the obvious : Platini, tigana, Giresse and Fernandez.........without looking on the web of course Same goes for Argentina 86 or Germany 96. Besides klinsmann, Bierhoff, Kholler and Sammer those are the only four i seem to remember. But what you say is true. People always espect a lot from any dutch team to do well in every tournament, and to do it well. It is part of the Cruyff legacy if you ask me. Still today a lot of people over here speak about that team that invented total football. Must have been something if people still talk about a team that played 30 years ago and never won a WC. The weight of such a legacy mustn't be easy to carry. What are the other major sport in Holland and in what other sport are you also world beaters ?
Holland finished sixth in the medal table at the Sidney Olympics so they're not doing too badly in the world of sports. We're good at most sports where water is involved, whether in frozen or liquid state. We have a couple of world class swimmers, we dominate speed skating, and our sailors and rowers aren't bad either. We're also pretty good at cycling (esp. the women with Leontien van Moorssel), and field hockey (esp. the men who won three gold medals in a row at the olympics).
umm Eddie? https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/search.php?searchid=37915 you fell right into that one dude
Holland out in the Q-Finals. maybe make it to the semis. But the Oranje will place 1st in sex scandals and general partying!!! My favorites (in order): 1. France 2. Italy 3. Czech Repub. 4. Portugal/Spain/Holland
And we consistently trash our enemies at korfbal and end up playing the Belgians in the final. Every now and then they beat us. But usually we win. Not that anyone cares, in or outside of the NL.