Willempie, 

It's not often I get to gloat, but Guus Hiddink's side lost today to England (remember that sorry lot?) 3-0.  A scouser, Michael Owen, scored a brace to bring home the victory!  All we need to do is keep our heads about us and stay on pace.


Maybe the Dutch and English will have another classic match next year!

I had forgotten the name but not the goal.

Sunderland 1 Leeds 0 1973 FA Cup Final.

The goal scorer, 




passed away at the age of 61.  

Thanks for the memory of a great FA Cup run and a fantastic goal!

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 09/10/07 at 22:57:50:


I know and even if you would I wouldn't mind. It is just that you gave me the chance to digress on yet another favourite subject of mine ...

Hup Holland Hup!
Laat de leeuw niet in zijn hempie staan
Hup Holland hup
Trek het beessie geen pantoffels aan


Go Holland go!
don't make the lion look foolish
Go Holland go
don't put the animal slippers on

or something like that.  
I sincerely hope to hear this song again the next time Oranje meets/beats England.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 09/10/07 at 12:32:59:


Frankly when things are not going well I prefer boring but controlling and winning matches to pathetic tries to reach the impossible. A small country like The Netherlands only can produce brilliant football once in a while. I hope Van Basten continues the path of realism and will focus on the defensive problems in the near future. Suddenly, when nobody expects it anymore, the spark of inspiration might strike. For this to happen a solid fundament is mandatory and that is still lacking.
Calling Oranje or The Netherlands Holland is understandable but a bit similar to equalling England and The United Kingdom. This confusion of thought stems from the Dutch Golden Age, when the district Holland was a world power indeed. That age only lasted 25 years though (from 1648 to 1672).

I only got to see the highlights of the game.  The highligts included Seedorf, Ruud, and some other classic names making inroads against a Bulgarian side that seemed to be in a shell.  The game itself may have been boring, but at least Holland (as it's called in most English language presses) seemed to control the game.

By all accounts, the England-Israel game was also rather boring unless you were an England fan.  3-0 with no real pressure from the visitors sounds boring.  I'd like England to win a few more such boring games!

MNb, 

Your questions seems to have been answered with a definitive "JA!"


2-0 against Bulgaria.

Here in the US, England and the Italy-France game were on pay-per-view so I didn't get to see them.  Instead I was treated to the Iceland-Spain game.  That was almost the most newsworthy result of the week, but Iceland played the second half a man up as if they were two men down and the 1-1 result was justified.

England wins 3-0 vs Israel.  Shaun Wright-Phillips seems to be an excellent replacement for Beckham as long as we also have Gerrard. Cole (whom I really don't like) and Owen on the field.

Of course, the big game of the Euro group play today is Italy-France.  Wow.