“Even if the weather is boring, we have to let the Americans get away”

Sjors Ultee, the new coach of SC Cambuur, is a football analyst for NOS during the World Cup. On the days of the Dutch national team matches, take a good look at the opponent on NOS.nl and in the NOS app, so that we look well prepared.

The Dutch national team will meet the United States national team at exactly 16:00, who finished second in Group B behind England thanks to their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Iran.

What can we expect from the United States? And what could Orange do better? Sjors Ultee has an idea.

“It’s a completely different team than the competitors we’ve had so far. A very fresh team with a lot of energy. A lot of people on the move, good at team play, very dynamic. An attractive team that wants to play from all sides to attack.”

“Scorching alone isn’t easy. It’s because they don’t have a real striker. But up to 16 is a nice team, with that American spirit in it, and hard work. A team that I also consider the best Finals Eight to get.”

“It’s a big contrast to how the Netherlands have gone through the World Cup so far. Here we went into the next round in an atmosphere of mourning. There was one big party and I saw the president in his speech getting excited about Iran.”

“They radiate that energy and that good feeling from all sides. It means the Orange meets a team with a lot of self-confidence. It’s true that they said they wanted to frustrate the Netherlands. Now Ecuador and Senegal have done the same, with very little spaces and collapse, but it is likely That the United States would like to do this in an active way.

“The Americans are very stable and reliable defensively. They only conceded one goal in the World Cup and that was a penalty. And while they don’t dig in the field. They always have a lot of people around the ball and put a lot of pressure on the ball. Aggressive defense Extremely “.

Watch the summaries of the American group matches:

“It’s also a tight-knit team. You can see that in the starting line-up, with the right-midfielder and striker only replaced once. It’s a young team, but with players who play at the highest level every week. They come from AC Milan, Celtic, Fulham, Juventus, Leeds, Valencia, Lille, Norwich, Chelsea, Arsenal. It’s an important aspect of the World Cup to have players with experience in the big matches.”

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

“They also have a young and passionate team, but so far you see in this World Cup everything becomes a lot less at the end of the game. Then they get tired. And of course it builds up through the tournament, it’s already the fourth game. So the question is how long will they keep up with all that energy, when They will break.”

“That’s right. The goal Pulisic scored against Iran, how he sprinted into the penalty area to finish it off, and where he was also injured… Speed ​​and action, that’s a typical goal for America and Pulisic.”

“Aside from that goal and his assists for Timothy Weah in the match against Wales, he’s involved in almost everything. He’s got depth and gets into the ball a lot.”

“It’s a shame I say that because everyone’s already complaining about the game, but the trick would be to make it wonderfully boring. To let the Americans go crazy. To pull their backs, make sure they roll up our backs, so there’s room up front against a couple of quarterbacks.”

“But then you have to be patient and set the pace yourself. So that it is not their energy that makes the difference, but the quality of our attackers. Whether it becomes too boring again? Maybe bored is the negative word, patient sounds a little more positive. Whatever word you use That’s pretty much the job.”

Who should play then? It’s important to have people up front who can handle those big spaces. Whether you’re playing ‘in the ten’ with Gakpo or Klaassen, and in rush hour with Bergwijn or Gakpo next to Depay, it doesn’t make that much. They all move players who can hurt Americans in those places.”