World Cup Preview: Netherlands
The FIFA 2010 World Cup kicks off in less than three weeks and today I will take a look at one the teams that could win the tournament in South Africa.
My first pick will be the Netherlands. There are many expectations around the Netherlands national team, especially when they are seen as one of the strongest candidates to win this championship. Here are some aspects to consider before make your World Cup picks.
Without any doubt, Netherlands didn’t have a complicated road in the qualifying campaign, keeping the first place in Group 9 with eight wins in eight matches played against Norway, Scotland, Macedonia and Iceland.
Among the strengths of the Orange are Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, men that any coach in the world would like to have in their selected list.
The Netherlands offense is known for its strength and relies on the brilliant technique of Van Persie; Holland could be crowned as a great team and could make of South Africa 2010 World Cup their biggest achievement, if they forget about their fears.
On the other hand, the quality of Sneijder’s game and Robben's ability will be the key in the development for the Oranges in this World Cup; keep in mind these three players together could become very dangerous weapons.
As in any team we are always going to find strengths and weaknesses and I think the easy qualifying process of Netherlands cannot be taken as a reference point of what we might see in South Africa.
Also, the Orange defense has always been discussed, especially when players like Joris Mathijsen, Johnny Heitinga and Andre Ooijer are compared with the legends Frank de Boer and Jaap Stam, comparison that shows the drop suffered by Netherlands in quality of their defense compared to the previous decade.
This will be a great challenge for Netherlands and they could think in South Africa as their great opportunity to become world champions for the first time; however I think that if they reach the quarter-finals would be a good tournament and everything beyond that stage would be a big surprise for many.
The TipsChallenge 2010 World Cup tipping competition is already in full swing and should be as exciting as ever and other sites to keep check will be the BBC World Cup site and also Soccernet.
All I can hope for is a Netherlands final. I think this year given the field that exist that they have one of the best chances to a) make it b) win the whole thing.
Go Holland
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Yes Greg, I think the Netherlands are on the right track at the moment. I think they should be able to beat Slovakia and from therefore I think its anybody's game.
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