Euro 2008 Holland: Van Basten unveils provisional squad

Good squad but a horrible coach. I can't see them winning the tournament.

Some of the results have been poor. Besides the one against Croatia...how did they manage that?

Good squad, tough group!

Just like we scots did with Croatia


Holland i hope do well and then come to the world cup qualifiers they crumble

I hope to hell Kuyt makes the cut.

Him and Babel are the reasons for me to support the Netherlands!

AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has pulled out of the Netherlands' provisional squad for this summer's Euro 2008 tournament squad after finding it difficult to work under coach Marco van Basten.

Where the hell is Mark De Vries!!!!

Decent squad but a shadow of past Dutch sides.

Van Basten's final 23-man squad will be announced by May 28 at the latest.

Holland, the 1988 European champions, have been drawn alongside Italy, France and Romania in Euro 2008 Group C.

Revised Holland squad: Boschker (FC Twente), Van der Sar (Manchester United), Stekelenburg (Ajax), Timmer (Feyenoord); Bouma (Aston Villa), De Cler (Feyenoord), Boulahrouz (Sevilla), Heitinga (Ajax), Mathijsen (Hamburg), Melchiot (Wigan), Ooijer (Blackburn); Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Engelaar (FC Twente), De Jong (Hamburg), Landzaat (Feyenoord), Sneijder (Real Madrid), Van der Vaart (Hamburg), De Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar); Babel (Liverpool), Huntelaar (Ajax), Kuyt (Liverpool), Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Van Persie (Arsenal), Robben (Real Madrid), Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic).

Netherlands coach Marco van Basten has trimmed goalkeeper Sander Boschker and midfielder Denny Landzaat from his squad for Euro 2008, the Dutch football association (KNVB) said in a statement on Sunday

and.............

Van Basten said the last player to be dropped would be one of three defenders: Andre Ooijer, Khalid Boulahrouz or Mario Melchiot.

Melchiot missed training this week because of injury and will have to show on Monday and Tuesday that he has recovered sufficiently.

'We want to see how Melchiot is doing. Boulahrouz made a good impression and Ooijer is fit,' Van Basten told reporters after Saturday's 3-0 win against Ukraine in a warm-up match for the June 7-29 European championship.


(from espn soccernet)

Well done. Gold star for you

Was going to wait and see who he was going to drop out of them 3 instead of posting that part from ESPN.

Thats the Ooijer that plays for Blackburn right? He had one of the worst debuts for a club ive ever seen, and hasnt seem to have recovered much since. How is he good enough for Holland.

Then again I dont see Boularouz being much better.

Yes, that is Ooijer from Blackburn. Boularouz (the 'animal') is just now coming back from a lengthy injury and Melchiot best days may be behind him as well, not to mention Mathijsen being suspect..... The back line for the Dutch has to be a legitimate concern for Van Basten and it appears that Van der Sar will have to be at his best for them to move forward.........

Melchiot has had a pretty good season for Wigan. He would do a good job

Since I will be supporting the Dutch side, I hope you are correct. He is able to overlap up the flank and get involved in the attacking game which is part of the Oranjes game. My only concern is he may have lost a bit of speed. It will be interesting to see who Marco cuts...........

Im not sure who ill be supporting. Either Holland or Croatia

Holland i fear for there defence.

[quote="G_Man"]Im not sure who ill be supporting. Either Holland or Croatia

Holland i fear for there defence.[/quote]

Right you are. None of the other 15 teams has such a difference between attack (brilliant and well-staffed) and defence (far from just decent).

heitinga is a great defender...

GO HOLLAND!!!

i was just reading that Geoff Hurst is supporting holland.

Oh yea!!!

1 A fantastic team to watch Holland's football is admired all over the world. Their philosophy on the game and how it should be played is one I respect and I think many other football fans would say the same. It's all about technique and playing with imagination. In the last European Championships, Greece managed to grind their way to victory, which was a fantastic achievement in the circumstances, but, idealistically, you want to see tournaments won by great teams and great players.

2 English-based players A lot of Holland's most talented players are based in the Premier League. There will be people like Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Robin van Persie and Edwin Van der Sar on show in Switzerland and Austria as well as others like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben, who have played in the Premier League in the past. We were also very lucky to see Dennis Bergkamp a few years ago -ħa fantastic player and a great role model for the game.

3 Tulips Tulips are synonymous with Holland and they also remind me of a funny story relating to my wife and her best friend, Rosemary, who sadly is no longer with us. About five or six years ago they decided that they wanted to visit Holland to see the tulips - we all know the song Tulips From Amsterdam - so they paid for an overnight trip. Unfortunately, the morning they arrived, almost the length and breadth of the country, the tops were cut off the tulips. So they were left looking at a load of green stalks for two days.

4 Johan Cruyff We talk about Pele and Diego Maradona as the best players ever but, during my time, Johan Cruyff was right up there with the top three or four players we have ever seen. I had the opportunity to play against him once for England and I have also played in a couple of friendlies with him. He was so quick and he had this ability to turn and twist away from players with incredible speed. Holland have been blessed with some really great players over the years and, in my opinion, Cruyff was the best of the best.

5 Nearly team Holland have contributed so much to world football but they've not managed to win the number of tournaments they should have. Their great time was in the 1970s, when Ajax won the European Cup three times. Unfortunately, during that period the national team played World Cup finals in the backyard of two of the great sides, West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. Holland did win the European Championships in 1988 but there should have been far more silverware. It would be nice to see a genuine footballing nation win the European Championships this summer.

· Sir Geoff Hurst MBE is McDonald's director of football and spearheads the company's community football coaching program, which provides children across the UK with more access to qualified coaching. He was talking to Stuart James.

Lovely to read..

Sir Geoff is a living legend.