ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009: Netherlands Squad

It has been more than a decade Netherlands has come into international arena through the 1996 ICC World Cup. However, Dutch side could not make any giant leap in world cricket yet, but they remained as one of the striking force outside top ten test playing nations. Netherlands was one of the finalists of the qualifying tournament of ICC twenty20 world cup alongside Ireland, but the main did not take place due to rain, but both teams got the tickets of ICC Twenty20 world cup 2009 which will start from 5 June 2009 in England.

Netherlands announced their 15-member twenty20 squad for the tournament on 4 May. The squad includes a number of players who plays in county cricket in England. There are a number of quality players like left arm pacer Dirk Nannes, who currently plays for Victoria and Delhi Daredevils of IPL. Opener Darron Reekers is a hard hitting batsman, while all rounder Mudassar Bukhari is another batsman who can hit the ball hard among the Netherlands cricketers.

Ryan ten Doeschate is perhaps the most important batsman who plays for Essex. No doubt, he has to play a big role if the Dutch wants to show some impressive performance in the upcoming tournament. The squad features some other batsmen including Captain Jeroen Smits, Eric Szwarczynski, Alexie Kervezee, who is the youngest member of the squad, Bas Zuiderent and Tom de Grooth.

Netherlands pace attack includes Nannes, Edgar Schiferli, Maurits Jonkman, Ruud Nijman and Peter Borren, while their spin attack features leg spinner Daan van Bunge and left arm spinner Pieter Seelaar. Jeroen Smits will keep the wicket, but there is a reserve keeper in Zuiderent.

Netherlands is in Group B alongside England and Pakistan. Their twenty20 world cup mission starts on 5 June with the match against England. The Dutch will face Pakistan on 9 June.

Netherlands Squad for ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009

Jeroen Smits (c), Ryan ten Doeschate, Darron Reekers, Eric Szwarczynski, Alexie Kervezee, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Dirk Nannes, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Maurits Jonkman, Ruud Nijman, Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari and Daan van Bunge

Euro 2008: Robin van Persie out of Holland’s Opening Match against Italy

It is really very bad news for Holland fans as Coach Marco van Basten has decided not to consider striker Robin van Persie for their opening match against Italy in Euro 2008. The Arsenal striker is recovering from his thigh injury and coach admits that van Persie does not have any physical problem at this moment, but he needs to be back at his prime in order to make himself countable for the starting line up. However, Arsenal striker is still upbeat regarding his chances of making it to the starting line up against Italy.

Netherlands has been drawn into Group C alongside world champion Italy, France and in form Romania. Specialists have already termed it as a ‘group of death’. Moreover, Holland is going to start its Euro 2008 campaign against world champions Italy. So, losing a player of van Persie’s class is a big blow for Holland.

Robin van Persie missed a large part of the last season being out with various injuries at Arsenal. Though he came back to action later on but could not make any significant impression in Arsenal’s performance last season. So, it is clear that he lacks enough match practice as well. However, Robin van Persie is still young and full of talent. So, it is very possible for him to come back in action with his prime form in Euro 2008 tournament. This is what; Dutch fans are eagerly waiting for at this moment.

Related article:

BBC

Euro 2008: Netherlands Squad

Netherlands is one of the big powers of world football. Though they never won any world cup title, Netherlands is famous in the world football because of their invention of ‘Total Football’, one of the most fanciful styles of football ever created in the football world. However, Netherlands has success in European championship and their triumph in Euro 1988 has become the only major success in the history of Netherlands football.

In 1970s, Netherlands impressed the football world with their classic style of total football in which all the players went up while attacking, and came back in the own half while defending. Thanks to the playmaker Johan Cruijff and some other players, and coach Rinus Michel, Netherlands reached the final of World Cup in two consecutive tournaments in 1974 and 1978, on both occasions Netherlands failed to win the title, being defeated to West Germany and Argentina in 1974 and 1978 respectively. However, their performance did not excel in European Championship during that period, except winning the third place in Euro 1976. Actually, it was in 1988 when Holland clinched their first and only major football title in European championship. Current coach Marco van Basten was one of the stars of that tournament and scored one of the finest goals ever seen in European Championships in the final against Soviet Union. Now, Marco van Basten is back to Euro once again, but this time as a coach. Though Netherlands did not play very well in 2006 World Cup under Basten, the team impressed a lot under the coaching of Marco van Basten since he took over the Holland coach after Euro 2004. Netherlands has been pretty much consistent in terms of performance.

For the last few Euro tournaments, Netherlands has been playing consistently well with reaching the semi final in the previous two tournaments. Now, this time Marco van Basten will definitely try to replicate their Euro 1988 success in Austria and Switzerland, the two joint organizers of Euro 2008 competition. Euro 2008 kicks off from 7 June 2008. Holland finished second in Group G of qualifying round behind Romania. So, you can see that qualifying round performance might not have impressed the fans, because they failed to become group champion in the group. Now, in the final tournament of Euro 2008, Netherlands has been drawn into Group C, which has been termed as a ‘group of death’, in the presence of Italy, Romania and France. Italy is the current world cup champion, while France became runner up in the last world cup. Romania may not be a big power in world football, but taking their recent form in evidence, they have a good chance to cause upset in Group C. So, Marco van Basten has got to cope up with a critical situation from the beginning of the tournament. Netherlands begins their campaign with the match against Italy on 9 June, followed by matches against France and Romania on the 13^th and 17^th of June.

Date	Competing Teams	Venue
9June 2008 Monday	Netherlands vs Italy	Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne
13June 2008 Friday	Netherlands vs France	Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne
17 June 2008 Tuesday	Netherlands vs Romania	Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne

Marco van Basten recently named its final 23-mans quad. However, there is a bad news for the Netherlands football fans ahead of the tournament. Winger Ryan Babel has been ruled out of the tournament with an injury. Coach Marco van Basten is now looking for his replacement. Here, I am giving the full Netherlands squad for Euro 2008 from uk.eurosport:

Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord), Martin Stekelenburg (Ajax);

Defenders: Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Johnny Heitinga (Ajax), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Khalid Boulahrouz (Sevilla);

Midfielders: Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar), Orlando Engelaar (Twente); Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Nigel de Jong (Hamburg);

Forwards: Arjen Robben (Real Madrid); Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic)

After talking to the key players last December, Coach Marco van Bastens switched to 4-2-3-1 format from their traditional 4-3-3 format. Goal keeper Edwin van der Sar will lead Netherlands in the tournament and after helping Manchester United to win the Champions League just about two weeks ago, Marco van Basten may not find someone better to give the goal keeping gloves at this moment.

Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart are like to be in the midfield to assist Ruud van Nistelrooy in the up front. For the back four, Marco van Basten could chose from Joris Mathijsen, André Ooijer, John Heitinga, Mario Melchiot, Wilfred Bouma,Tim de Cler and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. I think, Holland has a balanceds squad with the combination of experience and youth. So, they have a balanced squad for Euro 2008 competition and the other teams of Group C would found it very difficult to stave off the challenge of Netherlands in the group stage.

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Euro 2008

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