Last Monday Holland played the semi-final of the world cup. Uruguay was the last obstacle on the way to the final. I want to talk about the important role of the midfield when playing a 4-3-3 formation.
Holland started with the same formation as they every match did this WC. Only the line-up was slighty different because of two suspensions. Boularhouz played instead of van der Wiel and de Zeeuw played instead of de Jong. This way the defensive block of 6 players was complete again. Up front were the three attacking midfielders and the striker.
When you put 2 central defensive midfielders right in front of the defense, it's hard to keep possession and play attacking football. It's hard because when they recieve the ball, there are no option's ahead, they only see the way back. This caused problems in the first half. Holland could not create any chances, the 1-0 was a rather lucky strike from van Bronkhorst. Uruguay are the lesser team and also had trouble creating chances. Forlan did the same as van Bronkhorst and put the ball in the back of the net with a shot from distance.
The second half became very interesting. De Zeeuw went off having an injury and van der Vaart came in. With van der Vaart there were now 2 players in the midfield who can distribute passes anywhere on the pitch. After a couple of minutes the block of 2 defensive midfielders was gone. Van Bommel played behind van der Vaart and Sneijder. This way they played with 3 central midfielders against 2 from Uruguay. Holland took possession of the ball and scored twice, game over. Uruguay did a little something back in injury time but it wasn't enough, Holland through to the final!
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Showing posts with label Holland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holland. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The nature of football
As I watch every single match of the world cup, yesterday I was watching Holland vs Brazil. As almost every country nowadays does, both teams where trying to keep a clean sheet, rather than scoring goals. Brazil handled the pressure better in the first half and should have scored at least two goals. They only scored one, giving Holland the opportunity to get things right during half time and ultimatly get the 2-1 win.
Interesting enough, both teams played more or less in the same formation. Four defenders, two defensive midfielders (melo, silva - v. bommel, de jong), three attacking midfielders (kaka, robinho, alves - robben, sneijder, kuyt) and one target man (fabiano - v. persie). This resulted in a rather dull game.
This is much seen this WC. Only Chili and Spain choose to have an attacking style. The matches of these two teams are the only ones worth while. The rest is thrilling for the people of that specific country, but well played combinations or great goals are very, very rare.
Holland used to be the country who tried to play open and attacking football. That era is gone and since I'm dutch, I'm ashamed of the way Holland plays. Holland got this far, mostly because of luck. The goals of Sneijder yesterday were a good excample of that luck. But luck won't last forever. My hopes for the kind of football that brings real excitement are up for Spain and also for Argentina.
Interesting enough, both teams played more or less in the same formation. Four defenders, two defensive midfielders (melo, silva - v. bommel, de jong), three attacking midfielders (kaka, robinho, alves - robben, sneijder, kuyt) and one target man (fabiano - v. persie). This resulted in a rather dull game.
This is much seen this WC. Only Chili and Spain choose to have an attacking style. The matches of these two teams are the only ones worth while. The rest is thrilling for the people of that specific country, but well played combinations or great goals are very, very rare.
Holland used to be the country who tried to play open and attacking football. That era is gone and since I'm dutch, I'm ashamed of the way Holland plays. Holland got this far, mostly because of luck. The goals of Sneijder yesterday were a good excample of that luck. But luck won't last forever. My hopes for the kind of football that brings real excitement are up for Spain and also for Argentina.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Holland vs Slowakia review
Today I was very excited to see the match between Holland and Slowakia. I've seen Slowakia play some good attacking football against Italy so I thought the match against Holland would be a nice one, since Holland tries to play attacking football as well.
Well, at 6 o'clock I was left dumbfounded. Holland controlled the match by not give away any spaces in the back and Slowakia was unable to put some pressure at Holland's defence. Two counters led to a 2-0 victory for Holland.
Slowakia tried their best but couldn't do any better. Holland played a very negative match. They couldn't get the ball foward and keep it there. The main reason for this is the poor position play of the midfielders. Holland plays with two defensive midfielders, three attacking midfielders and one striker. Sneijder is supposed to be the playmaker and plays as the central attacking midfielder. Robben en Kuyt were the two wingers behind Robin van Persie.
Each time a pass went to van Persie he had to deal with two defenders, because there was no one in midfield to support him. De jong and van Bommel are always too far off because they are given the task to defend. Sneijder lacks creativity and fails to see how and when to step forward. Van Persie lost almost all his battles versus Srktel and so Holland couldn't keep possession.
Sneijder is the main reason why holland can't keep the ball, although he has his qualities. The first goal is a perfect example. Mathijssen reaches Sneijder with a great tackle, Sneijder turns and immediately gives a great long ball behind the defence of Slowakia. Arjen Robben takes the ball, makes a run towards the centre and scores with his left foot.
Holland played very defensive after this and gave Slowakia even the chance to get back in the game. Unfortunatly for Slowakia fans their striker missed two great chances.
Well, at 6 o'clock I was left dumbfounded. Holland controlled the match by not give away any spaces in the back and Slowakia was unable to put some pressure at Holland's defence. Two counters led to a 2-0 victory for Holland.
Slowakia tried their best but couldn't do any better. Holland played a very negative match. They couldn't get the ball foward and keep it there. The main reason for this is the poor position play of the midfielders. Holland plays with two defensive midfielders, three attacking midfielders and one striker. Sneijder is supposed to be the playmaker and plays as the central attacking midfielder. Robben en Kuyt were the two wingers behind Robin van Persie.
Each time a pass went to van Persie he had to deal with two defenders, because there was no one in midfield to support him. De jong and van Bommel are always too far off because they are given the task to defend. Sneijder lacks creativity and fails to see how and when to step forward. Van Persie lost almost all his battles versus Srktel and so Holland couldn't keep possession.
Sneijder is the main reason why holland can't keep the ball, although he has his qualities. The first goal is a perfect example. Mathijssen reaches Sneijder with a great tackle, Sneijder turns and immediately gives a great long ball behind the defence of Slowakia. Arjen Robben takes the ball, makes a run towards the centre and scores with his left foot.
Holland played very defensive after this and gave Slowakia even the chance to get back in the game. Unfortunatly for Slowakia fans their striker missed two great chances.
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