I didn't realize it? I've become a fanboy._. I don't even like football? :|
But this is different, those who misjudge will be punished as soon as the same starts.
The Netherlands came so close 4 years ago and on top of that after their lose they got a super coach!
They will definitely make it till the end. About Sneijder that part is true. They all became so oooold. Boohoo.
Yeah right!
Just to get some things straight:
And I'm clearly not rooting for The NL just because I'm Dutch, its just that I like the way they play/handle things so easily.
@Caliburn:
Apologies, I just looked it up after reading McRazor's post. Although I'd give it a "meh" I do think they will stand a chance towards Japan maybe. (← dat arrogance, shame on me.)But don't be hasty by putting them on the same line as The Netherlands. You may not know but Louis van Gaal knows what he is up to. While you and lots of other fans are daydreaming about Belgium going through the first round, this coach of ours is already with his head in the finales. ;p
We will see about that. I shouldn't have prejudged Belgium that much.
And yes we have a large amount of young Feyenoords.___. But they won fair and have proven to be worthy players. So they won't let us down, plus; again Louis van Gaal knows what he is doing. He knows.
Our faith is in his hands.
Keep telling yourself that. It makes you stronger as fan. In spirit and mind. c: Keep rooting for your land, but don't expect too much from Belgium. I mean, sure they have good players (I won't judge, I've seen them now), but it only takes some moves from our talented and most experienced players to through their defense.
L ol and you just said things about our young new players, but in fair comparison we are both on the same page. /Cough; of course NL is a little further from that. c:
The difference with our young players is that most of them already have gotten lots of experience in other competitions. Premier League, Primera Division, Bundesliga, Liga A, Ligue One, Euro League, Champion's League and many of them were part of the team that ended 4th on the Olympics in 2008. I know very well who Van Gaal is, but it seems you are not really aware of the Belgian team and what they are capable of as we also have a lot of players who can crack open a defense or two.
We Belgians have always been realistic. We suddenly don't expect we are going to be the world champion, unlike many of the Dutch who always thought they would win and then get a major reality check, but if you are going to ask why many people have such expectations of Belgium and at the same time are going on about The Netherlands, sorry but I find that just low. The Netherlands aren't a bad team, but the past decade we had to see you had a world team while we couldn't qualify for anything. Now we have such a team and then you are going on about The Netherlands. If you don't expect anything of Belgium, then you shouldn't have even less expectations for The Netherlands.
The main factor here is they have quality 'on paper'. Even if all of their players are doing well in the premier league, we can't deny that National stage and pressure is entirely different from playing at league stage, something this talented team clearly lacks. The last time they played European tournament in 2000, returning after 12 years isn’t as easy as it looks on paper.
I doubt if they will be able to qualify for semis because we have four top teams which certainly look equal or stronger on paper than Belgium (Spain, Germany, Argentina and Brazil).
Expensiveness can't be the direct measure of world cup winning chances of a team in opinion, especially looking at the way transfer market works in Premier league. I agree they did good in qualification phase, but this is world cup and unless and until you prove yourself as good as the ‘elites’, chances of having your hand on the world cup are pretty slim in my opinion.
I agree that defense looks solid with Kompany , Van Buyten and Thomas Vermaelen, but I doubt if I can say the same about Lukaku. He was impressive in premier league but 2 goals from 4 appearances on national level isn’t something that makes me enthusiastic about him. Fellaini was failed to impress me throughout the season for United. Benteke is already out due to injuries.
I agree Belgium has better backs than Netherlands but you won’t win the world cup, unless and until you are capable of scoring goals. Someone has to fire them cylinders for you to grab the cup. I don’t think attack is as strong as defense and midfield, as I don’t see any big performer except Eden Hazard. Adnan Janujaz is simply too inexperienced to take that ‘mettle’. Netherlands have Van Persie, who can certainly take that responsibility of goal scorer.
As a Manchester United fan my eyes will be on Chicharito. I will bet my two cents on Mexico for sure.
I never said that Belgium would become champion or even a semi-finalist. This is football and everything is possible in football. Brazil hasn't been able to pass the quarter finals the last two editions and Argentina hasn't reached the semi final either at least since 1994 or even before that. Still they are always considered potential champions. Why? Because in most cases the value of a player is an indication of his skill. The more you are worth, the better you are. It's simple logic. Of course that doesn't give you a guarantee of success, but it can serve up to a certain point. If you have a team that together is ranked as 6th most expensive team, well then you can have expectations of that team.
And Lukaku scored 4 goals in two of the last three test matches in May, including a hattrick and in the last match he only played 5 minutes. Agreeed the hattrick was against Luxembourg, however afterwards that same Luxembourg had a draw against Italy and he also scored a beauty against Sweden. So Lukaku is definitely on fire.
Fellaini didn't had his best season, but fair is fair he was injured quite a lot and he kinda became the victim of the overall bad season of Manchester, which wasn't just his fault. Nonetheless he wins hell of a lot of airborn duels and he recovers a lot of balls on the midfield.
