World Cup Blog - Euro 2008 Championships

Team Cruyff celebrates victory!

Jan — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Johan Cruijff and Ajax' youth coaches feel they are winners after the court's decision that the appoitment of Van Gaal and Sturkenboom were unlawful. "The court has been quite clear: the behavior of the board was wrong," says the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, which representend Cruyff, Jonk, Bergkamp, [read more]

Ruud van Nistelrooy: I decide when I quit!

Jan — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Ruud van Gol is the autumn of his career. He has found his final destination, lowered his ambitions and lives in realism. "I'm nearing the point where football is costing me more than it yields, in energy terms. If that is the case, I call it quits. I do look [read more]

The Next Big Thing

elaine — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Well we all survived another weekend of Serie A, even if mother nature tried to screw that up for us. Oh, and there was that little spectacle called the "Super Bowl," in which some sort of beings of human form but superhuman size hailing from New York claimed the title of World Football Champions. Only they were playing some strange form of football, where they in fact used their hands instead of their feet. And the contest featured only teams from one country, not the entire world as implied. And some pretty lady in the middle of all of it made a bunch of sounds and wiggled a lot and then audaciously declared World Peace in pretty little lights. It sounds like a strange dream, I know, but it was real. Millions of dollars in advertising don't lie. But now, it's on to the next big thing. [read more]

Bas Dost: from promise to nightmare to all time high

Jan — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Well, you know the traditional start of these articles by now. "Every couple of seasons a new striker emerges on the horizon, blablabla...". We had Geels, Cruyff, Koolhof, Kist, Kieft, van Basten, Bosman, Gilhaus, Van Loen, Mols, Houtman, Van Nistel, Kluivert, Haisselbaink, Makaay, Huntelaar, Van Persie, Luuk de Jong, [read more]

2012 here we come!

aron — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

And we are back…

Since the last post, I have found a new job and gotten twins so there has been a lot to do. In between changing diapers and walking a baby-carriage, I have found a moment to update the dear readers of this blog.

Lets start with the national team. Since beating the Netherlands to make it to the Euro 2012 endgame, we have been absolutely piss awful. We have played like amateurs and not shown all that much drive. Sure it could be the fact that we have just been playing friendlies, but I don´t think that is such a great excuse. For the last two friendlies of 2011 we met Denmark and England (both away games) and we lost 2-0 and 1-0 respectively. [read more]

The Italian Job

elaine — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Wanted: One good National Team to coach to Brazil 2014.

Experience: Won World Cup in 2006, Also coached in 2010 [read more]

Where are they now: Joop Hiele

Jan — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Interesting to have a goalie here in the week inwhich Tim Krul saves points for Newcastle again and Stekelenburg plays anonymously in Italy...

He was one in a long line of great Dutch goal keepers. And he was one of those that hardly played the number of international games his talent [read more]

Greek Transfer Window Winter 2011-12

nick — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Hello to all Greek fans. The Greek transfer window was pretty quiet this time but a couple of major transfers did take place in the last few of days earlier this week. It looks like several players in the national team are transferring to clubs in order to maintain fitness [read more]

So..that was interesting.

samcalcio — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The dust has settled. We wake up on a bleary February morning, looking around at the aftermath of the January transfer window like a hungover student attempting to piece together the previous nights escapades. Did we really buy him? Are you sure he's not lost? If we act quickly, none [read more]

Following Giuseppe Rossi’s Euro Dreams

elaine — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

With our next fixture coming up February 29th in Genoa against the United States, I realized what a shame it is that Giuseppe Rossi is injured right now. Certainly, he likes to score against his native country, he scored a brace when we met in 2009 in the Confederations Cup. But more important than delightfully watching him punish the American team in a friendly, I wonder whether or not he’ll be able to make it back to full fitness in time for the Euros this summer? I couldn’t find an answer for sure, but I think he’d be the first American to play in the Euros, too, which would be cool. And after being tragically left behind for South Africa by Lippi, I’d really like to see him play in a major tournament. [read more]