“Even if the weather is boring, let Americans run wild”

"Even if the weather is boring, let Americans run wild"

Reuters

NOS Football

Sjors Ultee, d Brand new coach of SC Kampur, was NOS’s football analyst during the World Cup. On match days of the Dutch national team, he watches the opposition closely on NOS.nl and the NOS app so that we can be well prepared.

Thanks to a tough fight, the Netherlands national team will meet the USA team at 4 p.m 1-0 win against Iran Finished second behind England in Group B.

What can we expect from America? And what can oranges do? Sjors Ultee has an idea.

The American team advanced to the group stage by scoring just two goals. What did you notice?

“It’s a completely different team to the opposition they’ve been in. A very new team with a lot of energy. Lots of movement, good teamwork, very dynamic. An attractive team that wants to play on all sides. Attack.”

AP

Sjors Ultee

“It’s not easy to just score. That’s because they don’t have a real striker. But up to sixteen it’s a good team, with that American spirit, so much hard work. It’s a team that’s seen it as top. The performance for the eighth final will be there.”

“It’s a big difference to how the Netherlands have experienced the World Cup so far. Here we go to the next round in a kind of mournful mood. There was a big party, you even saw the excitement in the president’s speech. The win against Iran.”

“They spread that energy and that good feeling to all sides. That means the Orange team meets a team with more confidence. It’s true they said they want to cheat the Netherlands. Now Ecuador and Senegal by the same, very small and collapsing margins, but America wants to do it in a dynamic way. “

What are America’s strengths?

“The Americans are very solid and reliable defensively. They’ve only given up one goal in this World Cup, which was a penalty. They don’t dig in. They always have a lot of people around the ball and put a lot of pressure on the ball. A very aggressive way of defending.”

Check out a recap of the US team matches:

“It’s also a close team. You can see that the right central defender and striker have only been changed once in the starting line-up. And it’s a young team, but high level every week with the guys playing. They’re AC Milan, Celtic, Fulham, Juventus, Leeds, Valencia, Lille, Coming from Norwich, Chelsea, Arsenal. The key to the World Cup is having experienced players in big games.”

Weak points, what chances do the Orange have?

“Like I said, they don’t score easily because they don’t have a real striker. And they rely on their star player, Christian Pulisic.”

“They also have a young, enthusiastic team, but so far in this World Cup you see very little of all that at the end of a match. Then they get tired. Of course it accumulates during a match, and it is already the fourth game. So how long can they last with that power, The question is when it will break.”

Then who to look out for, should it be Tiger?

“That’s right. Pulisic’s goal against Iran, how he ran into the box to finish it, he got injured too.

Pulisic puts USA ahead against Iran: 1-0

“Apart from that goal, he assisted Timothy Wee in the game against Wales, he’s been involved in almost everything. He’s got depth and gets on the ball a lot.”

Finally, the key question: how should Orange handle it later?

“Everybody complains about the game already, but it’s a shame to say it, but the trick is to make it wonderfully boring. For the Americans to get angry. To get their backs out, make sure they cover our backs. There’s room up front against two central defenders.”

“But you have to be patient and decide the pace yourself. So it’s not their energy that makes the difference, but the quality of our attackers. Will it be boring again? Boring can be a negative word, patient sounds. Whatever word you use, that’s work.”

“Then who should play? It’s important to have people up front who can work in those big gaps. Whether you play ‘ten ten’ with Kakpo or Klaassen, and Bergwijn or Kakpo next to Depay in rush hour, it does. Not that much. They’re all mobile players who can hurt the Americans in those spots.”

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