World Cup 2014

[Orange14]

Well the Dutch run is over, just the silly third place match on Saturday. Both Cillessen and Blind did well in the tournament. Tough to go out on penalties

[rjf1]

Once it got to penalties, the end was inevitable. Given the long history of past form, they should have thrown caution to the wind and done everything they could to win during playing time. Better to go out fighting 1-0, then torture themselves with the shootout. And why have Ron Vlaar take the first kick? Granted, he had a terrific game on defense, but really? Once I saw it was him taking the kick I turned off the tv and went to bed. I already knew what the outcome would be.

[saddlerian]

What a tactically inept performance!!! There was no flare, no passion....and why the hell did van Persie play? All he did throughout the game was his usual...be offside as often as possible!! de Jong....why was he playing if he was not fully fit?
I'm sure that Bobby Charlton and the rest of Man U directors will have been shaking their heads....the whole thing was tactically inept! Yes, Messi was kept as a pure spectator for most of the game...but what was at the other end?
N O T H I N G !!!!!
I'm sorry, Mr vG....you selcted the wrong team...now, walk into your 7 figure salary and forget this World Cup...you've let a lot of people down!!!

[SPL]

Agree with Ian . No shots ,V Persie a passenger for the 2nd game in a row.They just played to contain and made no efforts to try and score, zero flair but then again this team is mainly Feyenoord players and I am not sure flair and Feyenoord go together.

When the pens started and Vlaar walked up I knew he would fail and that was it. Huntelaar is our best pen taker and as my lad says you always have your best penalty taker take the first one.

Looking back I enjoyed the Spain win and also ice cool Klaas-Jan scoring that pen v Mexico but the rest of the football with 3-5-2 and 6 defenders was not enjoyable. V Gaal got a moderate bunch of players to the semis .

[Orange14]

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on WC discussion here as it's only incidental to Ajax (and I've already commented in depth over at Big Soccer and if you are interested the weblink is: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/net ... -13#post-3 ). I disagree with Ian and SPL, van Gaal did a superb job given the talent and unknowns he had to deal with. Managing in a knock out tournament is far different than in the league. He designed a defense first system to win one goal matches,get the team deep into the tournament, and that's exactly what the club did. They clearly ran out of steam yesterday because of the overtime match against Costa Rica. van Persie was out of sorts after the first two matches and maybe Huntelaar does better, we will never know.

Blind and Cillessen played well (though Cillessen is very weak on penalties and if he expects to keep his NT #1 shirt he really needs to do better). Our three NT players will have three weeks off and will not report until August 4. FdB indicated they will miss the Cruyff Cup and the first league match against Vitesse.

[Orange14]

Well the Oranje went out on a high note with a 3-0 win over Brazil. Cillessen kept another clean sheet though I think he only had a save or two and certainly no hard shots to deal with. He faces better strikers in the Eredivisie which is a sign of how low Brazil football has sunk. Blind played very well and had a nice shot with his off foot for the second goal. He was stretchered off in the 2nd half but I guess he's OK as he was on the bench at the end of the match. Veltman came on in the final four minutes or so but I don't think he had a touch.

[rjf1]

For me, Van Persie and Sneijder were the biggest disappointments of the entire tournament for Holland. Van Persie was totally useless. When he wasn't offside (which he was most of the time) his passing was terrible and his shots were weak. Why Huntelaar wasn't picked for the semi final vs. Argentina leaves me totally bewildered. Maybe it has to do with vG wanting to keep him happy for the coming season at Manchester -- at least that's the only reason I can come up with.

As for Sneijder, he had that one crucial goal, otherwise he was non-existent. His passing was terrible, likewise his ball handling and free kicks. I am sorry he got hurt in the Brazil game warmup, but I was glad to see someone besides him on the field for the final game.

The big surprise for me, was how well Vlaar played. Originally, I thought he would be way out of his depth, but he did extremely well throughout, and got better and better as the games went on. Considering how generally weak the central defenders have been this tournament, imo he deserves to be on the all-tournament team.

[saddlerian]

I disagree with Ian and SPL, van Gaal did a superb job given the talent and unknowns he had to deal with.

Haha...I think that last night proved both me and SPL right....it was van Gaal's tactics that lost the Argentina game...when you set yourself to win, you attack! Look at last night's game!
Tremendous POSITIVE spirit throughout the team....even Daley, when having the opportunity to pass backwards, was looking forwards on most occasions.....very pleasing as SO positive.
Now, van Gaal can take his "tactics" to Man U....and heaven help them if he encourages VP to be offside as much!!

[Cedric]

I disagree with Ian and SPL, van Gaal did a superb job given the talent and unknowns he had to deal with.

Haha...I think that last night proved both me and SPL right....it was van Gaal's tactics that lost the Argentina game...when you set yourself to win, you attack! Look at last night's game!

Last night proved nothing on the Dutch side. I wonder how you can seriously compare those 2 games. It was not Van Gaal's tactics who allowed Blind to do what he did last night for example, but a totally clueless and lost Brazilian team. In two minutes against Brazil Robben already had more space than in 120 against Argentina...

[afcajax73]

Brazil were so bad that even that blind fella scored....

[afcajax73]

coincidently, did anyone notice that blind got into Goal.com's team of the tournament?

Shocking?!

[saddlerian]

I disagree with Ian and SPL, van Gaal did a superb job given the talent and unknowns he had to deal with.

Haha...I think that last night proved both me and SPL right....it was van Gaal's tactics that lost the Argentina game...when you set yourself to win, you attack! Look at last night's game!

Last night proved nothing on the Dutch side. I wonder how you can seriously compare those 2 games. It was not Van Gaal's tactics who allowed Blind to do what he did last night for example, but a totally clueless and lost Brazilian team. In two minutes against Brazil Robben already had more space than in 120 against Argentina...

Good God, Cedric!!! You must be BLIND!!!! How can you say that the attitude of the team was the same? They went out with a POSITIVE attitude against Brazil....attacking to win, whereas they were very NEGATIVE against Argentina...rarely looking to attack!!!
I really must get some of these glasses that people seem to be wearing...they'll make me a fortune on Ebay!!!
It's about time that people realised that if you attack, you go forwards MORE often than sideways and backwards; if you "try not to lose, then you go side to side and backwards more often than forwards!

Neither team "seemed" to want to attack last night....quite an ordinary final....Tournaments are there to win, not to try not to lose!!! Why is so much soccer becoming so negative??

[saddlerian]

Just a quick one Cedric....I criticised van Gaal's tactics.....you seem to support them....a Man Utd fan in disguise?????

[Orange14]

coincidently, did anyone notice that blind got into Goal.com's team of the tournament?

Shocking?!

Not at all, he had a great tournament except for the point in the Mexico match where he didn't close down dos Santos who then got off the shot for the goal. Other than that he was very solid. I thought Cillessen was OK but lots of criticism about his inability to stop penalties. Apparently he has never stopped one in his senior club career at NEC & Ajax. Veltman only got short duty in two matches and I'm not sure he had a touch at all.

[afcajax73]

coincidently, did anyone notice that blind got into Goal.com's team of the tournament?

Shocking?!

Not at all, he had a great tournament except for the point in the Mexico match where he didn't close down dos Santos who then got off the shot for the goal. Other than that he was very solid. I thought Cillessen was OK but lots of criticism about his inability to stop penalties. Apparently he has never stopped one in his senior club career at NEC & Ajax. Veltman only got short duty in two matches and I'm not sure he had a touch at all.

sorry, i didnt make it very clear but, i was refering more towards how amazing it is at how good his season has been in comparison to the few years before. I completely agree he had a good tournament, and more to the point deserved to be in there.

Cillessen played alright, but in all honesty he didnt have much to do really.

[SPL]

No surprise with Germany's win and the goal was superb. Orange did well in the end finishing 3rd with a fairly limited squad.Still think like Ian they should have attacked the Argies but lets not stir that up again.

Cillessen did ok but Blind had a good tournament. Don't see Cillessen or Veltman leaving but Blind must arouse some interest. Still cannot see him taking the money to be a bench sitter at Man U.

[Cedric]

Good God, Cedric!!! You must be BLIND!!!! How can you say that the attitude of the team was the same?

I might be blind, my English might be crap as I was obviously not understood and in the end I might be a retard, but I did not say the attitude of the team was the same. I only pointed out that the opposition was VERY different, which I find a more relevant explanation of the respective results than any tactics in this particular case.

I could continue further, but as it seems I'm now listed in your book as a blind Van Gaal groupie and Manchester United fan, I have less credit in your eyes than a cockroach so I will stop here.

[Orange14]

@Cedrick - I agree with you!!!! I'm also not a ManU groupie.