smeijder showed a lot of heart for me tonight showed he really wanted it up until the end. he is a class payer
Netherlands will advance if they could beat Portugal with 2 goal difference and Denmark lose to Germans at the same time
Yeah, he is a good player. I don't like him very much personally. I guess I wouldn't like Robben either, if he weren't on my club team. I think there is a very good chance that Netherlands will crush Portugal. We will most likely beat Denmark, so...we might meet again. Good position to be in, though - Holland needs our help . I must say, I'm also happy that it was a very fair game, not poisoned - not like in 1988 (when Koeman wiped his ass with Thon's jersey) or 1990 (when Rijkard spat at Voeller and van Breukelen was acting like a psychopath). I was a bit concerned about what de Jong would do, but very glad there were no injuries.
Netherland's defense is just really bad and the team doesn't play with much cohesion. They don't deserve to go through. As for Mario Gomez, he might be a specialist but he's in such clinical touch that he's making the difference for Germany. Sometimes it's good to have a black hole on your team (in a variety of sports), because there's no second guessing in his thought process. Great strikes from him today.
Germany did what was expected. I'm glad they didn't completely kill us. Maybe we don't hate each other anymore after all Some thoughts: 1. It is obvious now that van Bommel can't do it anymore. He doesn't have the legs and with Germany's movement and the heat it was painful. Good call to take him off. 2. Should have had Huntelaar on from the start. Afellay didn't look sharp against Denmark and he didn't again today. 3. van der Vaart did okay, though defensively he was worrying me. He was at fault twice for the German midfield just running through on goal. 4. Difference of this match - van Persie and Gomez. We had a chance and a half in the first fifteen minutes. Gomez would have buried both. van Persie left it too late, though I'm glad he got a goal. We dominated possession at the start, Germany didn't care. 5. Considering the Germans can still go out if they lose against Denmark, I hope they do us a favour and beat them! It's unbelievable that after two losses we might still go through. In any case, I think this generation can't do it anyway. They did more than expected by going to the World Cup Final... 6. Robben has been terrible. Absolutely terrible.
7. Stekelenburg was also terrible. Could have saved the 2nd, IMO, and nearly gave away an easy 3rd to Klose.
Classy move by Muller - went into the Dutch changing room to say the Germans will definitely do their duty against the Danes. As it stands, the Germans will have enough with a draw. They could still go out with a loss though, so it's in their interest to put the result beyond doubt by winning. It's a funny situation as the second place team could end up going through with 3 points. Hopefully that will be us, though I don't have much hope. I actually think it's more likely Germany will win as opposed to us beating Portugal... we're just terrible right now. Feel bad for van Bommel, as I like him (yes, it's incredible, but mostly based on interviews and personality as I know he can be annoying on the pitch), but he obviously can't do it anymore. As van Halst said, it's difficult for a coach to pick the time when to select the next generation... generally, it comes a season or tournament too late.
I like van Bommel a lot. He is a class act. Great manners. Basti and Holger are friends with him. To this day, he is one of very few players who properly introduced themselves to everyone (!) working at Bayern, from the top to the lowest secretary. Difficult for him now - for the coach as well - after all, van Bommel is van Marwijk's son-in-law. Strange as it sounds, I kind of want Holland to proceed to the next round. I don't like Ronaldo and Pepe and that whole Portuguese team very much, and I like Robben and van Bommel. Holland is too good to be kicked out of the tournament already.
haha ronaldo got bailed out by his team today, feel bad for holland sans Robben, that guy is a prick.
I don't watch a lot of soccer, but last time I watched Gomez sucked some serious ass. What the hell happened? Is he like... good now? Anyway, I'm also not too keen of the Portuguese, so I'd be fine with either Denmark or Holland advancing.
You are German, aren't you? Do you live in the US? I forgot. Gomez is still not good at playing with the others, but he is pretty good in front of the goal at times - he usually can't create his own chances, he needs to be put in a position to score, it's about all he can do.
Gomez is traditionally the kind if player I would hate playing for Holland. No technique, doesn't play football. He's basically a guy who can shoot a ball at a goal quite well - I wouldn't exactly call it football. ;-) Of course, this is from the 'traditional' Dutch point of view. This might explain also why people like Huntelaar stay on the bench. Right now, however, Gomez is looking on fire. He's mainly frustrated me when I've supported Bayern in the Champions League (it's not my team but I like them). When he's not playing well, it looks UGLY. Balls coming off his shin, tripping, fumbling it in a weird looking way to the opposition. I think ATW shares that opinion of him! Otherwise, Germany are looking like the real deal. I think they will play a strong team against the Danes as they need to avoid losing. In any case, the bench is strong enough to win. I really wish we had their dynamic midfielders rather than our slow either defensive OR offensive players. It's sad to see how superior they are to us. At least in the past we could say 'at least we played good football, we died in beauty'. We now also have players that the general public don't like: Robben, van Bommel, de Jong. Shame. I think van Bommel is going to be dropped for the next match. The interview post-match hinted as much. Think he would accept it now.
