Knock out game 4 - France vs Netherlands

[ursus arctos]

No, but the Japanese men's team was long the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) before recently switching to

[Fussbudget]

Haha that's a quality nickname, 'Brave Blossom' sounds like a shade of lipstick

[Various Artist]

Perhaps the England men's team could match that by rebranding as something like the Rugged Roses.

[Patrick Thistle]

The Dog Roses.

(Not actually roses)

I love that the Japan team are the Brave Blossoms.

[Janik]

Classic Dutch tournament. Media spent the whole time bitching about how the best player is underperforming, making said player publicly confess on need to play better. Team members continually overstate how amazing the team is, and how the best is yet to come, thereby being dismissive of teams they've already beaten. Team goes out in flurry of violence against a Romance language country.

You missed the bit publicly bitching how the team would be even better if only the idiot coach would pick the best player, i.e. me, in their/my best position. And preferably tell the rest of the squad to pass to look to pass to me at all times.

[Janik]

Haha that's a quality nickname, 'Brave Blossom' sounds like a shade of lipstick

Male Rugby players can wear lipstick too...

[San Bernardhinault]

Brave Blossom sounds like they should be one of the My Little Ponies

[Gangster Octopus]

Male Rugby players can wear lipstick too...

Well, they do drink perfume...

[Ray de Galles]

I mean, the national team badge (male or female) is a red rose. It's not like Yorkshire-born players would boycott the England men's team because of it.


To be fair, the Welsh national team could by the same token be called the White Feathers... which would have some pretty odd and mostly negative connotations of its own.

Very few things could be as problematic as the primary connotations of the Welsh national rugby teams' badge.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

It's a real pity that both men and women's Dutch sides have been notably cynical of late. Were they this attritional when they won it last time?

Erm, I've been watching a load of extended highlights of old european championships, and the dutch teams of euro 88 and 92 were absurdly cynical and violent. (And also way more about pumping in crosses to the big lad at the back stick than you'd believe or than I remembered) Indeed this seems broadly true of the team of the seventies. Their euro 92 semi-final against Denmark is almost funny in places. I was surprised to see Marco Van Basten just kick at the back of a dane's legs as he shepherded a ball out of play. That was a straight red card in 1992. Ronald Koeman was a defender who resorted to violence first. and he loved a coward's challenge. Why challenge for a header, when you can barge into the player with your elbow up, when he is in the air and concentrating on the ball.

So basically, cynical violence is in practice every bit as much a part of the core values of Dutch football, as passing triangles.

[scratchmonkey]

That's a fair point, it's really just lamenting the lack of the triangles!

[Logan Mountstuart]

Brazil went full on violent against Holland in their phase 2 group match in 74 and got it right back in their face. Neeskens and van Hanegem were no shrinking violets. Neeskens was generally bloody amazing in that match.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Inspired by this thread I voyaged into the heart of darkness, The Singularity of cynicism. I watched West Germany 2-1 netherlands from Italia 90. Bloody hell. Rijkaard should have been sent off after 30 seconds for going right through lothar's achilles. The referee seemed more exercised by rijkaard having his shirt not tucked into his shorts. Watching the whole incident between Rijkaard and Voller, I found myself wondering has anyone been as spectacularly wronged by a referee as much as Rudi Voller was in that game? I have no idea what he was supposed to have done wrong at any point. Klinnsman looked amazing in that game, and it was funny to see a shot from 20 yards rebound 40 yards down the pitch. (By contrast Van basten looked like one of those poor nameless lads sent out to partner robbie Keane under Trap) Also that goal by brehme was pure filth, but if aron winter had his shooting boots on that game would have been over by the half hour mark. But the dutch were so mindlessly cynical at times in that game. Wouters got away with an awful foul when on a booking. Koeman was a great man for the bodycheck with a raised elbow. He did one to guido buchwald just before the penalty, and if you were to do that today you would absolutely be sent off. He did the same thing to Paul Ince, long before he dragged down platt in that game that did for Graham taylor.

Dutch football, it's always involved a hell of a lot of brutality.

[anton pulisov]

Postmortem by some of the Dutch players suggesting that its the coach Parson's fault for making them play too defensively. Of course, that must be it.

[anton pulisov]

Inspired by this thread I voyaged into the heart of darkness, The Singularity of cynicism. I watched West Germany 2-1 netherlands from Italia 90. Bloody hell. Rijkaard should have been sent off after 30 seconds for going right through lothar's achilles. The referee seemed more exercised by rijkaard having his shirt not tucked into his shorts. Watching the whole incident between Rijkaard and Voller, I found myself wondering has anyone been as spectacularly wronged by a referee as much as Rudi Voller was in that game? I have no idea what he was supposed to have done wrong at any point. Klinnsman looked amazing in that game, and it was funny to see a shot from 20 yards rebound 40 yards down the pitch. (By contrast Van basten looked like one of those poor nameless lads sent out to partner robbie Keane under Trap) Also that goal by brehme was pure filth, but if aron winter had his shooting boots on that game would have been over by the half hour mark. But the dutch were so mindlessly cynical at times in that game. Wouters got away with an awful foul when on a booking. Koeman was a great man for the bodycheck with a raised elbow. He did one to guido buchwald just before the penalty, and if you were to do that today you would absolutely be sent off. He did the same thing to Paul Ince, long before he dragged down platt in that game that did for Graham taylor.

Dutch football, it's always involved a hell of a lot of brutality.

Another thing I've always been told by Dutch people was how amazing they were in 1974, but the cynical and efficient Germans undeservedly beat them in the final. Yet when I sat down and watched that match one Christmas, it became clear that the Dutch were lucky to not lose that match by at least three goals.

The 1978 team was better, but the Cruijff-controlled sports media would never let that fact be known.

[Janik]

Postmortem by some of the Dutch players suggesting that its the coach Parson's fault for making them play too defensively. Of course, that must be it.

Roord had already gone public with this criticism before the match, so no surprise there. The BBC had a recently ex-Dutch player as a pundit (I've forgotten who) and before the first Dutch group game she said the players were expecting a big name to replace Weigman, names like Jill Ellis and Louis van Gaal were bandied about, and were totally underwhelmed at Parsons appointment. Someone who many of the Dutch players supposedly had never heard of... which is bizarre as it implies they don't pay any attention to the NWSL, still (just about) the biggest Women's Football league on the planet.

[ursus arctos]

But not one known for having Dutch players.

Neither does MLS, which is interesting to me as they were absolutely essential to the success of the original NASL.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

But not one known for having Dutch players

Even I know that Miedema plays for arsenal.

[ursus arctos]

But evidently not that Arsenal are not in the NWSL

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

there is that!

[ursus arctos]

The travel would be crushing