Orange meets Red….
This coming Saturday, Basel (Switzerland) will be coloured orange when the Dutch soccer machine will play its first quarter final game against the Russians.
It will be interesting to see how the creative Dutch players such as Sneyder, van Nistelrooy and Robben (all currently playing for Real Madrid) and van Persie (playing with Arsenal, UK) will battle with the collective game of the Russian game. The Russians have lately been coached by one of the most famous strategists of modern football – Guus Hiddink. Guus gained international fame through his work with clubs such as PSV, and the national teams of the Netherlands, Korea and Australia leading each one in turn to unexpected successes.
Guus, being from the Netherlands himself, knows the Dutch players inside and out. On the other hand, Marco van Basten, the Dutch team coach was schooled in Italy and has the reputation of being one of the greatest players in his time and was in fact the former assistant to Guus Hiddink.
It will be a clash between Creatitivy on the one hand and strictly adhering to Teamwork on the other. It would not be surprising if this intriguing set up of this quarter final will lead to overtime and penalty kicks.