oRaNjE DrAW WiTh EnGLAnD

2 Draw 2

Two football behemoths versing each other in a friendly. In the pre-season… What to expect?

The English lads are still prepping, our Madrid boys came back from a trip to the USA. Huntelaar and Vaart lack rhythm altogether (with Rafael also focused on something totally different than football).

The game ended in 2-2. Oranje was superior to the English in the first half, but not able to keep the lead in the second half, when Capello made some crucial changes.

The Oranje players all have one year to secure their personal ticket to South Africa. Oranje will go, but the question is: which players will be part of the group?

For most players, these games are ideal to show team manager Van Marwijk that they’re eager to go.

Dirk Kuyt opened the account quickly in the game. The dynamic Liverpool player was poised to bring fireworks to the game from the first ball circulation onwards and saw his work ethos rewarded with a goal after ten minutes of play.

The shrewd mover got the ball by accident from Rio Ferdinand. He took on goalie Green and actually needed to place the ball back from the touchline to the unmarked Van Persie, but the confident Kuyt decided to go for glory. He took the tough option and was lucky Terry wasn’t able to block the ball, otherwise Van Persie would have been asking some tough questions.

With his goal, Dirk enters the Top 25 of Oranje goalscorers.

Robin van Persie was motivated to show his English colleagues how good he is, with some trickery. The Arsenal star wasn’t too luckty with his final pass and his goal attempts. Arjen Robben demonstrated his wonderful form, like he did with Madrid in the past weeks, but his actions didn’t have any effectiveness.

England tried to do it with high crosses into the box, but Ooijer/Heitinga stood firm. In particular David Beckham was remarkable, with his drive and sense of urgency. The superstar isn’t sure of a spot in the England group and demonstrated to Capello he’s really hunger for more.

After 30 minutes of play, Oranje got another good opportunity. A Vaart free-kick - and what a kick it was - ended on Kuyt’s head who hit goalie Green’s feet. Two minutes later, Holland was close to scoring again. Robben fled from the English defense with the ball on his feet but missed the target with his scorching attempt. The winger actually had to try to find Kuyt who was in a better position.

Another howler in the English defense allowed Robben a free road towards goal in the 37th minute. Robben hit Green’s body but the rebound was for skipper Raf van der Vaart. The captain could use this break.

The only real attempts England had, were two Rooney attempts on Stekelenburg. Basically the only real attempts by England in the first 45 minutes.

At half time, Van Marwijk brought Babel for Van Persie and Sneijder for Van der Vaart. Capello brought three new players and that resulted in success pretty quickly.

In the 48th minute, a Green kick found Defoe via Rooney’s chest and Lampard’s feet. The Tottenham striker outran his opponents and pin-pointed the ball into the goal: 2-1.

Defoe and the other sub Wright-Philips made it hard for Oranje in the second half. It took some time for Van Marwijk to respond. Nigel de Jong and Braafheid were instructed to mark the players more tightly, which resulted in more control.

Capello subbed more players and West Ham’s Carlton Cole relegated Mathijsen twice to the role of extra. Cole wasn’t able to find the target and Oranje was lucky in that phase of the game.

With 15 minutes to go, England equalized. Sub Milner benefited from a Heitinga mistake and ran in the left channel to cross the ball in hard into the box. The Dutch defenders were too late and Defoe could score his second: 2-2.

Van Marwijk immediately brought Huntelaar for the tired Kuyt. The AC Milan man couldn’t impress in the short timespan. Sneijder took a chance from a free kick, but a third goal wasn’t in the cards for Oranje.

This game gave Van Marwijk lots of homework. In an attacking sense, Oranje seems to be well endowed, but defensively Oranje offers up some headaches. Whenever the opponents attack via crosses or deep balls into our defense, Ooijer and Heitinga rule. Whenever the opponents use speed and skills, our defenders - bar Braafheid - are vulnerable. We saw it against Russia at the EC and Capella and Co proved it again in the second half.

This statement isn’t new. It’s not rocket science. Van Marwijk knows where the weaknesses are. And he has a year to solve this puzzle.

After the game, team manager Van Marwijk wasn’t too happy with a casual Dutch reporter who grilled the coach with a beer in his hand. “Did you feel the replacements worked out?”. Van Marwijk explained that the subs weren’t made for tactical reasons, but were decided upon before the game to allow different players time. “And how’s your beer?”, Van Marwijk concluded his answer.

Press chief Jansma went on: “Any reporters out there with a question but without a glass in their hands?”.

Van Marwijk: “To me, Kuyt and Van Persie were the most remarkable players today. Our defense didn’t do too well. I didn’t have too many complaints about them in the run up to this game, but today they made two mistakes. Our positioning was lousy with their first goal and with the second we needed to intervene much earlier. Looking at our first goal, we did everything we needed to do: we put pressure on them from the first second and they made their mistake after ten minutes. All in all, we didn’t do too bad against a strong opponent. The idea was to find Van der Vaart inbetween their lines, but our final pass lacked. The execution was mediocre, it’s clear that we miss rhythm.”

Bert was happy about the first 45 minutes. “Defensively, we did well. In particular Johnny Heitinga, but in the second half they outpaced us. Our defense didn’t have an answer. The thing is: under pressure you need to improve your pass and move play. That’s how you get out of that pressure, but we didn’t, hence the problems we faced.”

Van Marwijk also thinks our physical strength lacks. “Physically, we suffered. We weren’t there. Players like Van Persie and Kuyt who play and train in England can manage against this England, but most other players lack that strength at the moment.”

Andre Ooijer was clearly disappointed. “When you lead 2-0 after 45 minutes at home and you give it away in the second half due to defensive problems, you clearly haven’t done well. I’m not happy.”

Stijn Schaars: “I didn’t play well at all. I lost the ball to often. The pace is so much higher with Oranje and particularly against England. I couldn’t adjust quick enough. I’m not happy, I wanted to show myself and I feel I missed an opportunity to do so…”

Deadly Defoe Double Denies Dutch

If you want to know what it feels like to have two birthdays so close together, you could ask the Queen. Or, come to think of it, Bert van Marwijk. Two ridiculously fortunate Dutch goals appeared to gift Holland the win, until supersub Jermain Defoe dug England out of a royal mess in Amsterdam. Pundits and journalists stood in disbelief as Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry, so often reliable, made the kind of errors that schoolchildren would be embarrassed of. Had it not been so easy to take initial control, Holland probably would have lost. A lacklustre performance from the Oranje, as well as an inaudible rendition from the Dutch contingent, left most leaving the Amsterdam ArenA displeased.

Surprisingly, Holland left out key men Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, with the rest of the starting eleven as expected. And, for a while, it showed. Holland were missing a sense of flair, as England started to boss the play. Until the frailness of their defence became apparent, that is. John Terry sprayed the ball out wide to Rio Ferdinand, who tried to lay the ball to Robert Green at a snail’s pace – a clear lapse of concentration. Dirk Kuyt nipped in and rounded Green, before scuffing past a despairing Terry. England were not to be disheartened though, and Frank Lampard almost levelled as Stekelenburg saved with his legs.

Emile Heskey battles to win the ball from Nigel De Jong

But, as England attacked, Holland countered their every move. Van der Vaart’s hanging cross nearly caught out the hesitant Green, who luckily saved Kuyt’s header, before Robben’s stinging drive was tipped over. As the game became disjointed, Holland almost doubled their lead. Robin van Persie fired just wide after indecision from Barry, who breathed a sigh of relief. Soon after, relief became dejection. Another lazy backpass put Robben clean through, and although Green saved neatly, Van der Vaart was on hand to tap home, justifying his selection. It was defending that made a mockery of claims that England could win the World Cup. Teacup, more like!

Rafael Van der Vaart celebrates doubling Holland’s lead as Ashley Cole watches in disbelief

Fabio Capello had spoken about his half-time ‘hairdryer treatment’, in this case it needed to be switched on full-blast. And whatever he said, worked. Half-time substitute Jermain Defoe raced on to a clever ball by Lampard, before brilliantly slotting home, albeit via the post. Game on. England started to show a bit of ‘dutch courage’, and the bravery of James Milner, who had replaced the ineffective Ashley Young, almost saw England equalise, but Carlton Cole’s shot just cleared the crossbar. Then came the break England thoroughly deserved. Indecision from the lethargic John Heitinga saw Milner race clear, before pulling the ball back for Defoe to slide home. And England could, and should, have won it. Further chances fell to Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips, but both were deflected wide. England survived the only hairy second-half moment, after Glen Johnson had brought down club-mate Ryan Babel. Luckily, Sneijder’s free-kick could only find the wall.

Jermain Defoe celebrates his first goal

But the undertone is, England got away with it. There is no need to knock the ball around the back four when under pressure. It leads to conceding. What’s wrong with a traditional hoof, eh?