Group E (28 Viewers)

[Salvatore]

Luckily, you've been overlooked for the win with all the media fawning over Spain. Possibly suspect defense though?

 

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[Ken]

Definitely our Achilles-heel, though I have high hopes.

Van der Wiel has really improved, turned into one fine player. Heitinga is simply a much better player in the centre of defense than as RB, and that means we won't play Ooijer, which can only be a good thing. Mathijsen is pretty slow, but a decent defender.

LB is a different story, as vBronckhorst is our captain, but he's not fully fit. He quits football after this WC, so if fit, we'll probably play him. He's getting too old...

His injury might be a blessing in disguise though, as Anita, a young LB from Ajax who was called up for this training camp, apparently left an amazing impression on our coach and looks to make the cut into the final 23. It's risky, but Van Bronckhorst really isn't the same player he used to be.

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Yes, I'm a bit biased and optimistic, especially about the fullbacks, but I think we could be alright. It looks quite a bit stronger than the defense we've been fielding for the last few years though.

 

[Salvatore]

Definitely our Achilles-heel, though I have high hopes.

Van der Wiel has really improved, turned into one fine player. Heitinga is simply a much better player in the centre of defense than as RB, and that means we won't play Ooijer, which can only be a good thing. Mathijsen is pretty slow, but a decent defender.

LB is a different story, as vBronckhorst is our captain, but he's not fully fit. He quits football after this WC, so if fit, we'll probably play him. He's getting too old...

His injury might be a blessing in disguise though, as Anita, a young LB from Ajax who was called up for this training camp, apparently left an amazing impression on our coach and looks to make the cut into the final 23. It's risky, but Van Bronckhorst really isn't the same player he used to be.

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Yes, I'm a bit biased and optimistic, especially about the fullbacks, but I think we could be alright. It looks quite a bit stronger than the defense we've been fielding for the last few years though.

Ah, thanks for summing it up. Was wondering how Gio was still playing for so long.

vdV just scored a sick goal.

 

[Ken]

No problem man. In a way it's good to give him his goodbyes at a big tournament, but not at all cost. If one of these youngsters outperforms him, I'm sorry, but there shouldn't be room for sentiment.

Anita is strong, fast and likes to play and defend forward. It's somewhat of a risk though, but van Marwijk has said he was very impressed with him.

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I missed the goal, damn.

 

[Salvatore]

I understand you. I feel the same way as you do with Gio, as I do with Grosso, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Pirlo and Gattuso.

Anita, I need to see this one if he's impressed so much.

 

[Trezegol17]

No way Gio will be used a sub, he is the captain, Anita is not the left back we want at our team Ken. Same goes for Gio but at least he got some experience. This video you posted gave me goosebumps and realize what a sick team we have! 2 better defenders a la Stam and we can perform with the worlds best , if we dont belong there allrdy, can't w8 for the World Cup now!

 

[Ken]

Thing is, Gio isn't fit, he has some knee injury doesn't he? I'd rather play a youngster than a semi-fit oldie. Make van Bommel captain, I reckon he's more capable anyway.

 

[Trezegol17]

Yeah he does, but no threat for him to miss the first match, i prefer urby there cause he can provide the extra attacking power too. I agree vBommel is Bayerns captain too, so he should be second captain and not because he is the son in law of vMarwijk

 

[Ken]

I forgot about Urby, but he wasn't even called up was he?

Van Marwijk seemed very impressed with Anita..

 

[Trezegol17]

He is also overimpressed by the bench sitter Huntelaar instead of RvN:S
Yeah urby wasnt called up, well if Anita makes it ,he should suprise us because he had a decent season at Ajax. Nothing more,nothing less

 

[Trezegol17]

Vlaar,Engelaar,Braafheid and babel will get my pick to drop, We will know in about 2hours who will not be going.
Engelaar could not even give a pass to another player yesterday :S

 

[Ken]

Vlaar, Anita, Engelaar and Lens will be dropped.

So Babel, Ooijer and Braafheid stay.

 

[Trezegol17]

Babel,the guy played 3 teams below me lol, great speed tho,still a fan of his. I agree with Vlaar(add's nothing) and Engelaar,but why the hell would he keep Braafheid,he made mistake after mistake yesterday. Btw did you saw Ibi yesterday Ken?He was awesome Anita i can understand too. Ooijer will cost us alot of goals......

 

[Buck Fuddy]

Ken or Trezegol, who are the attackers / strikers you guys are bringing to the WC?

 

[Trezegol17]

Huntelaar,Kuijt,van Persie. for the striker position i guess.

 

[Buck Fuddy]

That's all?

But that explains it. I was talking to a friend the other day about the WC & we ended up talking about the Dutch side.
And we both, for the life of us, couldn't think of which strikers would be going. The only ones we could think of were Huntelaar & Van Persie (for some reason we forgot about Kuyt), but we figured there'd be at least an extra 2 or 3 forwards.

Ruud Horseface should have been there. Killer in front of goal.

 

[Ken]

Those would be the strikers.

All attackers: Robben, Elia, Kuyt, Huntelaar, Babel, van Persie.

 

[The Curr]

There's really no way you're going to win the World Cup.

 

[Ken]

That's all?

But that explains it. I was talking to a friend the other day about the WC & we ended up talking about the Dutch side.
And we both, for the life of us, couldn't think of which strikers would be going. The only ones we could think of were Huntelaar & Van Persie (for some reason we forgot about Kuyt), but we figured there'd be at least an extra 2 or 3 forwards.

Ruud Horseface should have been there. Killer in front of goal.

Couldn't agree more, we should've taken RVN, even if only as a supersub.

Luckily we have plenty of players capable of scoring goals, so we're not relying solely on van Persie, who does an excellent job anyway. Next to the attackers there's always Sneijder, vdVaart, Afellay... plenty of players who have a killer shot and are dangerous infront of goal.

In any case, it's not the amount of goals we score I'm worried about.

 

[Ken]

There's really no way you're going to win the World Cup.

Our defence concedes too many goals for us to win the thing, but on our day...

You never know, but it's a long shot. We'll go out swinging though.