Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Пятхъдесят Шест
The Netherlands lineup is a total farce! Seedorf not even a reserve?!?!
|
Seedorf sometimes is amazing for AC Milan, but he was never really impressive in the dutch national team. Apart from his notoriously big ego, another problem is that he often gets a free role on midfield in the Milan team (4-4-2), but when playing 4-3-3 like Holland does then it's too risky to have midfielders just doing what they feel like. For the same reason Van Basten didn't select Mark van Bommel for a long time. He was doing well at Barcelona, but in the dutch team he was often neglecting his defensive duties in situations where there were already lots of players upfront.
At least Van Basten has made it clear that he doesn't like big egos... and it wouldn't be the first time big egos ruined a world cup run for Holland. He also doesn't particularly care about big names it seems. Aside from the Seedorf and Van Bommel thing, Roy Makaay is not even on the shortlist of 33 players having a chance of going to the world cup either. Another big name, but more the kind of player for a team playing with two strikers rather than for a team playing with three attackers. Van Basten has got balls though, something which his predecessor Dick Advocaat painfully lacked. There will be lots of inexperienced 22-year olds from the dutch league in this world cup squad. There is talent, but the question is how they will perform on the big stage in a difficult group with teams like Argentina and Ivory Coast. I can't deny the results have been more than good in the preliminaries, but I'd be really surprised if this team made it further than the quarterfinals.
Brazil are the obvious favourites for the title... miles ahead of everyone else. But they have failed at winning it before while being in the position of absolute favourites. The pressure on them will be immense and even losing in the final will be considered a disappointment in Brazil. Also, anyone who's been following AC Milan this season saw Dida make some stupid mistakes. Imagine he'll do that for Brazil in the final minutes of a game... Argentina have a very talented side too. From the European teams I rate Italy the highest at the moment, just by the quality of their players. They finally seem to be able to attack every now and then too... which can only be good.
edit: that post was way too long... there's still a month before the start!