Romanian coach tells Dutch: it is in your interest to lose

[quantumleap]

This is a match that has me watching closely. Here's another wrinkle in the situation:

BERNE (AFP) - Romania coach Victor Piturca believes it will be in Holland's interest to lose to his side on Tuesday and ensure that France and Italy are both eliminated from Euro 2008 before the knockout phase.

With the Dutch having already clinched top spot in group C, Marco van Basten can afford to field a weakened side against the Romanians, who have been made favourites to take the three points by most bookmakers.

Asked if he thought the bookies had called the match right, Piturca responded: "I don't know what they think but maybe they think that the Netherlands don't want to play France and Italy (again).

"They are quite logical. That is how the Dutch should also think. For their own good they should not play against France and Italy in the semi-finals."

 

[MonsterBuck]

I like Romania in this one...a tough team, Holland struggled against them in Quali. The Dutch are resting their key players, and Romania will give 110%. Romania all day tomorrow!

 

[-Chase-]

Romania really should win this game. The Dutch will rest their stars and Romania already beat them in qualifying, so no reason they can't do it again when Holland doesn't give a shit about the game. Bye bye Italy and France...won't miss ya a bit.

 

[fhmesq44]

IMO has less to do with resting "stars" and more to do with desire and effort. You saw yesterday in Swiss/Port what happens. Port still outclassed the Swiss in terms of talent but didn't give a shit. Players don't tackle or put forth much effort, don't want to get hurt. Dutch offensive 6 backups are still better IMO than Romanians and there is plenty of talent.

Romanians should win, but they haven't exactly lit up the scoreboard (only goal was on a gift from Zambrotta). Dutch mentality is attack and you will likely see Robben, RVP and Huntelaar who have plenty of ability to pump in a goal or two. Will be VERY interesting.

 

[MrCleo]

yup, what concerns me is dutch on the counter tomorrow. more than capable of scoring. i just hope Romania takes advantage of the chances they get

 

[kcameron95]

Dutch are going to play better for the simple fact its the backups. They want to earn a place in the quarter-finals. If it where starters, you could see where they would back off.

And to top it off the backups aren't really the backups. Van Persie/Robben would be starting if not for injuries. Plus Huntelaar is VERY capable replacement for Ruud.

Romania offensively is challenged. THey can't sit back. They are going to go for it, and the Dutch were able to open up the two BEST defensive teams in the world.

If Dutch where defensive juggernut, I could see where they could lose. But players always give 100% on offense and I think this is another 3-0. At worst Dutch will draw.

 

[fhmesq44]

Dutch are going to play better for the simple fact its the backups. They want to earn a place in the quarter-finals. If it where starters, you could see where they would back off.

And to top it off the backups aren't really the backups. Van Persie/Robben would be starting if not for injuries. Plus Huntelaar is VERY capable replacement for Ruud.

Romania offensively is challenged. THey can't sit back. They are going to go for it, and the Dutch were able to open up the two BEST defensive teams in the world.

If Dutch where defensive juggernut, I could see where they could lose. But players always give 100% on offense and I think this is another 3-0. At worst Dutch will draw.

From your fingers to god's ears. I really don't know what to think of this game, may just play the over.

 

[punz34]

agree, romania isnt a good team, italy should have won that game 2-0(bad call from ref, and gift by zambrotta)
Die hard italy fan here, but for some reason i can see Italy getting out of this group stage

 

[Betting4Fun]

Dutch are going to play better for the simple fact its the backups. They want to earn a place in the quarter-finals. If it where starters, you could see where they would back off.

And to top it off the backups aren't really the backups. Van Persie/Robben would be starting if not for injuries. Plus Huntelaar is VERY capable replacement for Ruud.

Romania offensively is challenged. THey can't sit back. They are going to go for it, and the Dutch were able to open up the two BEST defensive teams in the world.

If Dutch where defensive juggernut, I could see where they could lose. But players always give 100% on offense and I think this is another 3-0. At worst Dutch will draw.

I tend to agree with you and think that line on Romania as favorite is a suckers bet regardless of who start for Holland.There is no way Romania beats the dutch tomrorrow dominating the field and when it comes to counter attacks we saw how deadly dutch been so far.as far as speculations about who they would rather see later..everyone mention Romania's victory in the qualification stage,while on other hand France and Italy fell into the dutch trap letting them hold the ball more.i find it contradictory that the Dutch would rather see Romania at later stage possibly again,i believe that Italy or France at that point is better opponent for them since they won't be sitting in their 16th sending 2 players forward as the Romanians do.personally i am happy picking the dutch here as dogs with the spread offered @ even+.quite attractive for me.

 

[Mobdeeper7239]

Maybe, its in Holland's best interest for Romania to get in, but they handled both Italy and France, i see no reason they cant do it again.

I feel the dutch are playing out of there minds, and with robben, RVP, and huntelar playing, they shouldn't have a problem with an attack.

This is not the Portugal back ups. Robben is a monster, the half he had against France, if he plays half as good, he can create or score one goal at least.

Romania has to score, and if they want to win, at least twice, cuz the dutch will get one

Something says over 2 1/2 for me

 

[fhmesq44]

Maybe, its in Holland's best interest for Romania to get in, but they handled both Italy and France, i see no reason they cant do it again.

I feel the dutch are playing out of there minds, and with robben, RVP, and huntelar playing, they shouldn't have a problem with an attack.

This is not the Portugal back ups. Robben is a monster, the half he had against France, if he plays half as good, he can create or score one goal at least.

Romania has to score, and if they want to win, at least twice, cuz the dutch will get one

Something says over 2 1/2 for me

I am thinking the same thing. Especially if Dutch get the first goal. Also keep in mind Van Der Sar probably won't play. I know nothing about his backup.

 

[quantumleap]

Maybe, its in Holland's best interest for Romania to get in, but they handled both Italy and France, i see no reason they cant do it again.

I feel the dutch are playing out of there minds, and with robben, RVP, and huntelar playing, they shouldn't have a problem with an attack.

This is not the Portugal back ups. Robben is a monster, the half he had against France, if he plays half as good, he can create or score one goal at least.

Romania has to score, and if they want to win, at least twice, cuz the dutch will get one

Something says over 2 1/2 for me

That's what I've been looking at as well.

 

[EricTheMidget]

1-0 and 0-0 in qualifying between these two teams. Don't throw the bank at the over 2 1/2. Netherlands will be uninspired. Italy and France's fate are in their hands.. they don't want to see those teams again, especially with a potential birth to the Finals on the line.

I'm shocked at all this Netherlands is now amazing talk and Romania is somehow rubbish.

 

[themadactuarian]

Big mistake for Portugal resting "their incredibly gifted starts". Fact of the matter is Scolari is an ignorant dickhead. Losing to Swiss means you have limited depth, or are somewhat overated as a team. YOUR SUBS SHOULD BE AS GOOD AS YOUR STARTERS, THEY ARE THERE BECAUSE THEY DESERVE TO BE THERE, at least I like to believe so.

 

[-Chase-]

I really think people here are underestimating the talent on Romania. It's not like this is some shit team that needs Holland to play bad to win. They've already beat Holland when the game meant something. They finished ahead of the Dutch in qualifying. Romania is arguably one of the best 10 teams in the world, so no one should be surprised if they win.

I'm not even sure it's in Hollands best interest to lose this game on purpose either. Neither France or Italy looked good in either one of their games so far, so I don't see why Holland wouldn't want them to advance. By saying that you are going off of name value and not on the product that has been on the field.

 

[themadactuarian]

Big mistake for Portugal resting "their incredibly gifted starts". Fact of the matter is Scolari is an ignorant dickhead. Losing to Swiss means you have limited depth, or are somewhat overated as a team. YOUR SUBS SHOULD BE AS GOOD AS YOUR STARTERS, THEY ARE THERE BECAUSE THEY DESERVE TO BE THERE, at least I like to believe so.

Holland should continue on the path of destruction. As for Italy vs France, it's going to be a blood bath.

 

[jambolaya1]

I really think people here are underestimating the talent on Romania. It's not like this is some shit team that needs Holland to play bad to win. They've already beat Holland when the game meant something. They finished ahead of the Dutch in qualifying. Romania is arguably one of the best 10 teams in the world, so no one should be surprised if they win.

I'm not even sure it's in Hollands best interest to lose this game on purpose either. Neither France or Italy looked good in either one of their games so far, so I don't see why Holland wouldn't want them to advance. By saying that you are going off of name value and not on the product that has been on the field.

when it doubt go with the history!!! I am not saying the Romanians are guaranteed a win..But they did dominate the dutch people!!! Soccer is kinda like basketball. some times its just a personnel issue where people simply matchup up better against another team. Even if that team just defeated both italy and France by more than 2 goals each.

This is a matchup issue. Now the dutch coach is apparently unpredictable. But i dont think he is stupid. As he wakes up this morning, he will have spent the night tossing and turning with nightmares of his star players injured while playing a meaningless game.

He will rest his guys and hope that Romania gets knocked out by another team..(Romania will be facing the winner of some other group..) Rather than risk his men, he will let that group winner do his dirty work for him and eliminate the scrappy romanians on the next level.

Very simple math this happens to be...(until the starting whistle blows that is)

 

[Jack Herer]

agree, romania isnt a good team, italy should have won that game 2-0(bad call from ref, and gift by zambrotta)
Die hard italy fan here, but for some reason i can see Italy getting out of this group stage

WTF are you talking about? Romania won their qualifying group for this Euro. 8 months ago they beat the Netherlands in a qualifying match. A Netherlands team that beat Italy 3-0. Let me drop a couple of names for you... Cristian Chivu (Internazionale), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), top class players. If you don't take these guys seriously you obviously don't know shit about soccer. Italy has more superstars than any other team in this group, yet they have played two games, haven't won a single match and haven't showed much in either, coming up with 1 point out of 6 possible. Romania plays good soccer as a team, not as individuals, that's the difference with Italy right now, a team clearly on the decline. Yes Romania may not make it to the next round but the fact that you say Romania isn't a good team is a very stupid comment. They are there for a reason. I don't know what game you saw, but Romania played a darn good game against Italy.

You say Italy should've won that game, guess what, should've doesn't count. Well I might add that Buffon saved your ass on that penalty kick or Italy would've been out of this tournament. I have friends in this booking business and most of them will tell you that in the Italy vs. Romania game, most of the "smart money", the wiseguys-the guys that bet sports for a living-the good soccer handicappers- they were all on Romania +1 on that game, and yes, they were right.

Get your facts straight and show some respect. Romania has talent and they play good as a team. And if they advance to the next round, guess what, they made it out of the toughest group in this Euro. No one gave Romania any chances in this group, and look at where they are, they don't depend on anyone else not winning to make it to the next round, unlike France and Italy.

And yes, Italy might make it to the next round, I agree with you there. But that doesn't make Romania a bad team.

 

[Jack Herer]

agree, romania isnt a good team, italy should have won that game 2-0(bad call from ref, and gift by zambrotta)
Die hard italy fan here, but for some reason i can see Italy getting out of this group stage

WTF are you talking about? Romania won their qualifying group for this Euro. 8 months ago they beat the Netherlands in a qualifying match. A Netherlands team that beat Italy 3-0. Let me drop a couple of names for you... Cristian Chivu (Internazionale), Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), top class players. If you don't take these guys seriously you obviously don't know shit about soccer. Italy has more superstars than any other team in this group, yet they have played two games, haven't won a single match and haven't showed much in either, coming up with 1 point out of 6 possible. Romania plays good soccer as a team, not as individuals, that's the difference with Italy right now, a team clearly on the decline. Yes Romania may not make it to the next round but the fact that you say Romania isn't a good team is a very stupid comment. They are there for a reason. I don't know what game you saw, but Romania played a darn good game against Italy.

You say Italy should've won that game, guess what, should've doesn't count. Well I might add that Buffon saved your ass on that penalty kick or Italy would've been out of this tournament. I have friends in this booking business and most of them will tell you that in the Italy vs. Romania game, most of the "smart money", the wiseguys-the guys that bet sports for a living-the good soccer handicappers- they were all on Romania +1 on that game, and yes, they were right.

Get your facts straight and show some respect. Romania has talent and they play good as a team. And if they advance to the next round, guess what, they made it out of the toughest group in this Euro. No one gave Romania any chances in this group, and look at where they are, they don't depend on anyone else not winning to make it to the next round, unlike France and Italy.

And yes, Italy might make it to the next round, I agree with you there. But that doesn't make Romania a bad team.

 

[kcameron95]

Don't compare Portugal because they don't have same depth. IMO this team got easy draw and will be lucky to win another game in this tournment. A team without a striker will suffer against the better organized teams.

As for their previous games, you can't really compare those qualification games. Usually players are together for like 2 days and its just like mid-week game. Often players are coming unfit, or just not prepared mentally. There are alot of factors that go into qualification that don't have any consequence in the finals games. Often these games favor those teams that are upcoming, rather then powerhouses for the simple fact upcoming teams usually are domestically based and know each other much more then for instance dutch team who have alot of overseas players.

Romania WILL have to go to win. They would've had better chance if Holland was forced to go for the win, as they could sit back and settle into the game.