EC2008 - The Dutch are Coming!

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Qualified for EU2008 the Dutch squad yesterday defeated the Croatians by a 0-3 crushing victory. The Croatians took this match very serious as it was a good opportunity to measure its strength. They are considered to be the outsider that has potential to win the EC.

Croatia beat England with a stunning 2-0 victory on Wembly and hadn't been beaten for 18 matches until... the Dutch came to pay Split a visit last Wednesday.



Some of the players:
Edwin van der Sar - Man United
Maarten Stekelenburg - AFC Ajax
Ibrahim Afellay - PSV
Johnny Heitinga - AFC Ajax
Arjen Robben - Real Madrid
Clarence Seedorf - AC Milan (The only man who won 4 Champion League Cups with 3 different teams)
Wesley Sneijder - Real Madrid
Rafael van der Vaart - HSV
Ryan Babel - Liverpool
Ruud van Nistelrooy - Real Madrid
Robin van Persie - Arsenal
Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AFC Ajax

The Dutch are always accompanied by a crazy legion of Orange supporters:




Y'all be warned, the Dutch are coming and will take the 2008's cup

[edit on 8-2-2008 by Mdv2]

Well, I hope my cousin gets what he deserves, a European championship to match with his four Champions League Cups...

Yeah, I might be having a punt on you myself.

Holland are always one of the best teams to watch but I'm afraid it won't be the same for me with England failing to qualify.

[edit on 14-2-2008 by Freeborn]

Been there... WC 2002, we weren't there... what a shocking experience was that.

Last year we were in a group with Ivory Coast, Argentina and Serbia-Montenegro. We won against Ivory Coast and Serbia and played a draw against Argentina... then we played against Portugal, which we lost with 0-1.

Goodness, what a terrible match was that... 16 yellow and 4 red cards.
Then England had to play against Portugal and the entire country supported England, pity they lost as well. I remember that this Ronaldo had his own little fun when Rooney got red... his Manchester team mate...

Hopefully he'll return to Ajax at the end of the season, like Davids did. Especially now Van Basten and Cruijf returned, they could use Seedorf in the new team. I am convinced they will play in the champions league again as of next season.

Well, I don't know.. Perhaps he will. It would be great to see him back in Ajax. Although for some reasons it might not be that easy. And he's also said that he had a wish to play one season in Brazil.

Well, no Seedorf anymore, but yesterday night Holland utterly crushed Italy with a 3-0 defeat!

France, here we come!

Was watching on big LCD screens in the city of Prague, even there it was full of orange coloured people.

Mabye one of out ATS Dutch members can answer a question...


How come like half the Cutch players have 'Van' in front of thier Name...


What does 'Van' mean???

Van is like Von in German. It literally means 'from' and is common in Dutch surnames. Also 'de', which literally means 'the' is commonly used, like De Groot (the great). I dont think Americans of Dutch decent do have it. I normally see that they make one word of it, like 'vanderbilt', which should be in Dutch 'Van der Bilt'.

reply to post by Mdv2

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Ok, so Van is just for show, kinda of...

Do they put it in front of the Last name, or the first name?

With the last name it would mean 'from' that family line? Am i getting this right?

It's in front of the last name. Centuries ago it described the location or origin of the name bearer.

So Van Utrecht would mean "from (the city) of Utrecht".

I feel bad for you guys. When Ruud got that goal I figured the team would overcome the Russians finally, but no luck.

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the dutch will not be going any where but home.

there shaky backline was broken by the russians.

they were lucky against italy and france

scored 3 and 4 goals but should have coped 5 and 6 in each of them

[edit on 25-6-2008 by gate13]

So I'm in the restaurant, minding my own business celebrating my parents' 33 wedding anniversary. And guess who I meet? Wilfred Bouma and Dirk Kuyt. I told Bouma jokingly, "didn't I tell you last year, I didn't want to see your face in Aruba this year?" He said: "Oh yeah I remember you told me that.", I then told him: "You were supposed to be playing this Sunday "

Lol

I tell you these guys love Aruba.