Look past the Netherlands coach’s truculence and you see someone of integrity who cares for football and how it’s playedThe 70-year-old walks over to the 24-year-old and peers at what he is watching. His hands flick out in a shrug of incomprehension. “Are these cars racing now?” he asks, bewildered. “Do you really enjoy watching this? I don’t like it. It’s just, ‘Mieeeeuv, Mieeeuuv’ [the sound is majestically Dutch] all the time.” And so Frenkie de Jong’s love of Formula One is dismissed.The 70-year-old shakes hands with the 20-year-old. “I’m vaccinated. You?” “Yeah, me too,” Jurriën Timber replies. “Thank goodness. Not a wappie.” Wappie is a Dutch word roughly equivalent to “nutjob” that tends to be used for conspiracy theorists....
Down to 10 men after Matthijs de Ligt’s red card, Frank de Boer’s side panicked and unravelled against zesty foesFarewell then, the Netherlands 2021. Never mind total football: this was a total collapse. And not just a simple collapse, but an abject, jaw-dropping collapse, the kind of collapse you can see happening in front of you in real time, like a slow-motion car crash.Thrown by the second half dismissal of Matthijs de Ligt, a Dutch team that came romping out of the blocks in Budapest, all regal vim and pep, was transformed at a stroke into a sagging orange soufflé. Related: Czechs bounce into last eight after Matthijs de Ligt sparks Dutch implosion Continue reading...
A handful of the best emerging talents to seek out as they look to make waves around Europe this summerThe latest talent to emerge from the famed “Bromma Boys” production line in Stockholm after Bojan Djordic and John Guidetti. Kulusevski has made steady progress in his first full season at Juventus and was the hero of their Coppa Italia victory over his former club Atalanta. Having moved to Italy three months after his 16th birthday, the forward spent two spells at Parma and joined Juve for more than £30m last year. Kulusevki, whose father is from North Macedonia, was born in Sweden but represented Macedonia at under 16 and 17 level before making the switch and is often compared to...
Germany v Netherlands should be another belter, Chad make their return and will Brighton’s Mac Allister play for Argentina?Before October 2018, the Netherlands had not kicked a ball in anger against Germany for six years. When the teams walk out for the Group C qualifier in Hamburg, it will be the fourth time the fierce rivals have faced each other in 11 months. Not that neutrals should be complaining. There have been 12 goals in the two Nations League matches and one Euro 2020 qualifier that have been played since – and some scintillating football. Nico Schulz’s 90th-minute strike for Germany sealed a 3-2 victory in a pulsating qualifier at the Johan Cruyff Arena in March that left the Dutch...
Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side offer up a rousing performance but Stones fluffs his lines in Nations League semi-finalThere was a moment of double-take deep into the second half of a steamy, slightly wild Nations League semi-final at the Estádio Afonso Henriques. Frenkie De Jong took the ball in his own penalty area facing the Dutch goal and straight away heard the thundering hooves of Fabian Delph at his back, the white shirts sensing a turnover.De Jong did something surprising. He slowed to a walk, floated left, half-turned, then flipped back the other way. Without looking up, but sure in his movements, he fizzed a hard, flat pass out 40 yards to a free orange shirt, the weight of the day,...