World Cup Qualifier - Dutch getting humped

Hattrick for Burak Yilmaz. Useful striker. 1 in 2 for Lille this season

I must say I look down that team of Holland’s and it doesn’t exactly get the heart racing. De Roon and Wijnaldum in midfield.
 
I suppose it all depends on how Norway perform, they've got the best young player in the world in their side but the rest of the side isn't at the same level.

It's a 6 team group, and I don't think there's a hope in hell that Gibraltar, Estonia or Montenegro can beat the Dutch.
 
They’ll just keep expanding the finals of the tournament so the big nations don’t ever miss out.

what perplexes me is the fact that FIFA, despite running the World Cup, don’t seem to realise that the qualifiers are part of the tournament and if you don’t get through them you don’t qualify for the next phase, in exactly the same way as if you don’t get through the group phase you don’t get into the knockout phase. Or is it just some modern deferred failure thing where everyone gets a badge and no-one comes last...?
 
I look at that Dutch line up and it’s a strange mix. Tim Krul in goal with a 38 year old Stekelenberg on the bench, not much quality there.
De Ligt and De Jong after massive transfers have so far yet to live up to their potential. Without Van Dijk that’s a lightweight defence.
Turkey are no mugs either.
 
I played quite a bit of golf with someone who knows a lot about football in the Netherlands and various other parts of the world. From personal experience playing and in management.

He explained that no manager of the Netherlands national team has had the guts and power to manage the national team properly. That is why they have never lived up to the standards of the individuals. They never form as a team. They are just a bunch of guys that play together.
 
TeaCider said:
I suppose it all depends on how Norway perform, they've got the best young player in the world in their side but the rest of the side isn't at the same level.

It's a 6 team group, and I don't think there's a hope in hell that Gibraltar, Estonia or Montenegro can beat the Dutch.
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Haaland failed to score against Gibraltar tonight, bet he was odds on to have scored at least one.
 
spanishman said:
I played quite a bit of golf with someone who knows a lot about football in the Netherlands and various other parts of the world. From personal experience playing and in management.

He explained that no manager of the Netherlands national team has had the guts and power to manage the national team properly. That is why they have never lived up to the standards of the individuals. They never form as a team. They are just a bunch of guys that play together.
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That's interesting because it could be an accusation leveled at many an England manager over the years. GS drops TAA and quite a few people go berserk despite his obvious bad form and the many options we have in his position. I think GS has been doing well not trying to shoe-horn in every player who has 2 decent games in the PL.

I think with the Dutch, they've obviously got some talented players but they seem padded out with mediocre players. I don't think De Roon would get anywhere near the England set-up for example.
 
There were a few surprise scores last night, France only drawing with Ukraine, Portugal just beating Azerbeijan 1-0 with an own goal.

Anyone know how the groups are working with these qualifiers? On the Sky Sports app they aren't actually grouped like they normally are.
 
TheYorkshireTerrier said:
There were a few surprise scores last night, France only drawing with Ukraine, Portugal just beating Azerbeijan 1-0 with an own goal.

Anyone know how the groups are working with these qualifiers? On the Sky Sports app they aren't actually grouped like they normally are.
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Normal stuff.

Groups of 5 or 6, the team that finishes 1st qualifies and the team that finishes 2nd goes to a play-off.

England are in a group of 6 with Andorra, San Marino, Albania, Poland and Hungary.
 
Looks like they're grouping games together more this year as well (we play three games in this two week break). Could potentially see a few more odd results with fatigue/injuries.

As for the Dutch I didn't see the match but they're definitely a side in flux, and have been for some time. Those great Dutch sides of the 70s - presumably a few played together at club level as well?

Arguably more difficult to form a cohesive unit these days, where despite the relative strength of Ajax (and the fact these players play together in youth setups) they get cherry picked by bigger teams at a young age, going on to play in different styles/systems.
 
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