11 October 2017, Amsterdam, Johan Cruyff Arena.
This is the final round of the European qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia, with the Netherlands hosting Sweden, which had to outperform Sweden by more than six goals to qualify for a play-off place due to a poor record. The game ended with a two-goal victory in the Netherlands, but it was the Swedes who cheered at the end, and Robben said the words that touched countless orange fans in an interview after the game: It was the glass man who persevered to the end.
Once the Netherlands was full of talent, not to mention the era of the Three Musketeers thirty years ago, only the four talents of Orange, Robben, Van Persie, van der Vaart and Sneijder in the new century carried an era that belonged to the uncrowned king, and in the 06 World Cup in Germany, the fledgling few people only stopped in the first round of the knockout round. But four years later, the Orange Legion rose to prominence in South Africa, knocking out Brazil, passing Uruguay, and facing the mighty Matador Legion in the final, and the tulips could not wait for them to bloom.
The World Cup in Brazil was the last glory of the Dutch team, but unfortunately, the best Sneijder remained on South African soil forever, although Robben was in good form and Van Persie was steadily output, but behind him there was a captain who could continue to deliver shells, they failed to cross Argentina and fell on the familiar penalty shootout, the scene after Sneijder missed the penalty was destined to become a classic, and the first person who came to mind at that moment was Robert Baggio.
Since Brazil, the withering of the tulips has become a foregone conclusion, Sneijder has been physically blessed in Turkey, Van Persie has also been purged out of the five major leagues, Van der Vaart has not been able to reach the national team early, only Robben, still carrying orange clothes forward. But when Janssen, Dost, Babel and the like can become the main players of the Dutch team, only Robben is far from enough, losing to Iceland, losing to Sweden, the last fig leaf of the Orange Army was torn off, and Tulips also missed two consecutive competitions of the European Championship and the World Cup.
When Koeman took over the Dutch coach, not many people actually expected much from him, after all, a downtrodden giant, a frustrated person who was swept out by the Premier League, the two hugged each other to warm each other, but did not expect that the revival of tulips came so quietly and so intensely. Although the UEFA ended up at the feet of the Portuguese, the Netherlands announced its revival with the rise of a new generation.
However, the good times did not last long, due to well-known reasons, the 20-year European Championship was postponed to 21, and in the face of the ultimatum given by Barca, Koeman chose to fight for his dream, preferring to pay his own liquidated damages to go to Catalonia. At that time, only a year before the opening of the European Championship, the Netherlands was already a mess, Ten Hag did not want to mix with the national team, Van Gaal was enjoying retirement, Edvocat's 17-year record had blocked his way to the palace, Hiddink was still making money comfortably in China, no one wanted to take over to blame Koeman, and in the end, only De Boer stepped up.
It is true that De Boer is incompetent and stubborn, but at the critical moment, he alone stood up and made it clear that he was willing to take over, and the Dutch Football Association had no choice but to choose him to lead the team to play in the European Championship. In fact, from my personal point of view, I admire De Boer very much, dare to bear the bloodiness aside, the European Championship the year before the year to overturn and rebuild the 4-3-3 system that Coman had been coaching for many years, considering the composition of the squad to play three central defenders, this courage is not ordinary people can have.
It turns out that the three-centre-back system is indeed the best choice for the current Dutch team. Due to the lack of strikers and having to give up full-backs in order to enhance offensive firepower, Dumfries switched to the wings to greatly liberate his attacking attributes, and the right-back Timberer behind him could also help him fill in the position. In terms of midfield, because there is only De Jong, a stable point of play, in order to enhance the ability to conduct the ball at the back, Blind's role is irreplaceable, and Ake behind him can also use his excellent stealing ability to help him defend, from the construction of the defensive end, three central defenders are indeed the best choice that the current Dutch team can make.
In the first game against Senegal, Van Gaal made a whole job, De Ligt replaced Timbell to start almost no one can imagine, after all, his speed is not worse than Timber, coverage and recovery ability is even worse, so Senegal's several threatening attacks in the first half were almost launched from his side. Midfielder Boguis's start was also obviously unreasonable, only De Jong could handle the ball in midfield, and in the case of a single back, the tulip midfield was completely out of control, and De Jong looked a little rash in several advances, but this was not a helpless move.
Up front, Berwin was poor and didn't play a flashpoint at all. And the starting center Janssen, although the evaluation of netizens is not high, but I am qualified here, he is an offensive fulcrum, several retreats in the first half to get the ball, forward to score the ball, back handling are above the passing line, but unfortunately the midfield is out of control, so that the forward has few opportunities, but in a limited number of times to get the ball, his task is well completed, and Gakpo's two cross threats come from Janssen's ball.
In the second game against Ecuador, if nothing else, De Ligt will be put on the bench again, Timberer will return to the starting lineup, and the midfielder should also withdraw another back to replace Boguis, liberating De Jong, and in terms of forwards, Depay's form looks good, this game is likely to replace Janssen, it can be said that the tulips of this game are currently the strongest Dutch team.
The director gave a further positioning at the initial stage, and the subsequent positioning was not adjusted, but the figures fluctuated greatly, and the Netherlands was not as optimistic as ever, but somewhat bearish. This is also normal, in terms of the performance of the first round of the group stage, Ecuador easily pinched the host, and the Netherlands did not score two goals until the last moment, but in fact, considering the strength of the opponents of the two teams, the gold content of the African Cup of Nations champion is far above the Asian Cup champion, the gold content of the Netherlands is naturally higher, the pullback of this number is unreasonable, but it has played a role in cooling the Netherlands, and the Netherlands is not a stable winning option in the eyes of the public.
In addition, there is another point, every tournament of the Dutch team, the group stage is always out very early, three consecutive wins are standard, so comprehensive consideration of many factors, personal this game is still more optimistic about the tulips, but after all, this World Cup schedule is extremely tight, considering the physical impact, coupled with the old coach Van Gaal's current stability-oriented policy, whether the Netherlands can successfully achieve a big victory also needs to be considered, later will give specific suggestions, together with the paper plan to put Ah Jian and you in the walk, interested friends, Guan Gong.