Well, that was really enjoyable. Seven goals, much to admire – and a fantastic comeback from USA. Two debut goals from Bobby Wood and Danny Williams – the latter might go down as a Luuk de Jong own goal – and the USA deserved their victory for their tenacity and commitment, and no little skill. Holland? Well, basically, they’re rubbish.
Thanks for reading. Bye.
Reading midfielder Danny Williams speaks to ESPN:
It was an unbelievable game, a great effort from the team. I was lucky that my shot deflected, but I have to complement my team. Everyone gave their all, and it’s a fantastic feeling to win against Holland in Amsterdam.
I was quite unlucky the last two years with my injuries, and it was tough, but all the hard work I put in … thankfully I was rewarded, and yeah, I think it was the best moment of my career.
At first I thought 3-3 is a great result away from home, and Michael passed it, and Morris found Bobby, and yeah, just a great effort from the team.
US Soccer is happy:
FINAL: #USA 4, Netherlands 3! What. A. Comeback.
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) June 5, 2015
Jon Champion calls this a “landmark victory” for USA. Bobby Wood, who had a miserable year for Erzgebirge Aue in Germany, scored his first international goal right at the death as Holland capitulated. Holland won’t qualify for Euro 2016 like this: they look good in attack, but their defending and goalkeeping is abject.
Updated
Full-time: Holland 3-4 USA
And that’s the game! What a finish! The most incredible end to a match, and how well the USA did to respond. Yedlin was magnificent, but Holland just fell apart. What a win for USA!
90 min + 3: Propper shoots from range. Wide. The Holland subs’ bench looks stunned.
90 min + 1: This is amazing. How about this comeback from the USA! But Holland, honestly: they give up so much time and space. What an end to this game!
90 min: This is insane! Bobby Wood! Holland hit the bar with de Jong, but USA broke clear, and Bradley fed Morris, and Wood swept home unmarked. The Dutch defence was in disarray. They are terrible!
Updated
GOOOOAL!!!!!! Holland 3-4 USA (Wood 90)
Unreal!!! Bobby Wood!!!
89 min: Amazing! From the corner, Holland cleared, but Williams picked up the loose ball and hammered home via a deflection! Three each, and USA deserve this!
GOAL! Holland 3-3 USA (Williams 89)
And it’s Danny Williams!
88 min: Great chance for Jordan Morris! A long hoof from Guzan, and Martins Indi gets much too tight. Morris is clean through … but Cillessen saves. What a chance!
86 min: Klinsmann is sitting on his haunches, a la Bielsa. Wijnaldum has a blast. It’s blocked.
85 min: Chance for USA from a free kick on the D. Johnson fires – into the wall. Bradley strikes! Into the wall. And Holland clear. Holland break, mess it up, and van der Wiel receives the first yellow card for a late tackle.
83 min: And he nearly does! A fabulous straight pass pierces the USA defence and finds Blind clear on the left. His cross deflects off Brooks and is slightly behind de Jong, who gets his legs in a tangle and tries to backheel it over the line – but it hits the post! A comedy of errors, but Fabian Johnson did well to recover.
Updated
82 min: Holland have lost that vim they had in the first 20 minutes of this half. Maybe Sneijder can ignite something.
81 min: Jordan Morris replaces Zardes. Klinsmann gives Zardes a wholehearted pat on the butt.
80 min: Yedlin does well to evade a dreadful, lunging tackle from Blind, and that’s a chance for Diskerud! Wood holds off the defender and feeds Diskerud, but his shot is wide from the edge of the box. Should have done better.
77 min: Two changes for Holland: Huntelaar and Clasie off, Luuk de Jong and Wesley Sneijder on. Sneijder wins his 114th cap, but has he been as big a star as he should have been?
75 min: Kasey Keller on ESPN thinks Holland took their foot off the gas. Clasie, neat and tidy in possession, finds Narsingh, and Huntelaar, through the middle, has a dig from distance. It’s deflected, and it’s a corner. but it’s a waste.
Updated
74 min: Yedlin and Wood have impressed since coming on. Klinsmann is yelling at Chandler: “Timmy, find Yedlin!”
Updated
73 min: Holland just stopped there. Maybe Huntelaar was fouled, but no one bothered tracking Brooks, and he accepted the invitation like a tabloid journalist attending a party with a free bar.
71 min: Great team goal from the USA. Brooks dispossessed Huntelaar, who thought he was fouled, fed Bradley, who split the defence with a fine ball to Yedlin. Yedlin crossed and Brooks, who had galloped three-quarters of the pitch unchecked, tapped home from six yards. It’s on!
GOAL! Holland 3-2 USA (Brooks 70)
USA are back in it!
68 min: Things a bit subdued now: too many subs, too much interruption. A lull.
65 min: And now here’s another substitution: Bobby Wood replaces Johansson. Free kick on the right for USA, and six go into the box. Bradley’s ball in is cleared, and Narsingh breaks, but he holds on to it, and the chance is lost. The greedy bugger.
Updated
64 min: Danny Williams replaces Kyle Beckerman, and then Zardes is denied by Cillessen! He cracked a shot hard and low following impressive work from Yedlin, but it was too straight. Holland’s defending is lolz!
63 min: That’s a really great save from Guzan: a lovely ball in from Depay, and got free between two defenders. Guzan did really well to save with his legs, though, to deny Wijnaldum.
62 min: Lovely ball in from the right, but Johansson can’t beat Bruma to it. Great ball in from Yedlin, but good defending.
Sean Joyner is sniggering:
@timmyhilleh https://t.co/NSqi10L5mm
— Sean Joyner (@seanny_law) June 5, 2015
Updated
60 min: They’ve only been on the pitch for 15 minutes, but van der Wiel and Narsingh have looked a real threat down Holland’s right. The second goal was beautifully constructed, and the third came from Narsingh beating Shea much too easily.
58 min: First action for Yedlin, showing his pace, and barrelling down the right flank. Bruma does well to stop Bradley, though, and Holland clear. And that’s Bradley fizzing a half-volley over the top! Zardes did well to win the first header, but Bradley couldn’t keep it down.
56 min: Klinsi makes two more changes: Diskerud on for Morales, and Yedlin for Brek Shea. Yedlin’s played just 11 minutes for Tottenham since his January transfer.
Van Persie is hoiked, too, and Davy Propper of Vitesse takes his place.
Updated
55 min: ESPN confirms that Memphis Depay was given the goal. He didn’t really know much about it, but his divertion was crucial. Narsingh and van der Wiel on for Promes and Janmaat, by the way.
Updated
53 min: Well, this is all Holland. Narsingh beat Shea down the right, and Wijnaldum’s header was saved well by Guzan, but Holland recycled it, and fed Huntelaar on the edge of the box. His left-foot rocket hit Orozco, and then hit Depay, and beat Guzan, who was still recovering. Who gets the goal? Is that Depay’s? USA are in a funk.
GOAL! Holland 3-1 USA (Depay 53)
And it’s the Hunter again! No, it’s Depay!
Updated
50 min: Klinsi looks pissed. But USA force a corner, and Brooks scores! No, wait! Zardes is whistled for a foul on Wijnaldum, I think. I guess the Swedish ref had to call that if he called Depay on Chandler at the end of the first half.
48 min: What a start for Holland here. Great combination play again, this time by substitutes Narsingh and van der Wiel down the right, and van der Wiel’s ball in is delicious. Huntelaar, the ur-predator, gets between Brooks and Orozco again, and it’s another flick header into the top of the net. Fabulous centre-forward play.
GOAL! Holland 2-1 USA (Huntelaar 48)
Holland playing with some verve, here, and it’s 2-1!
46 min: We’re back, and one change for the USA: Orozco is on for Alvorado. And a chance for Holland right at the start! Wijnaldum and Blind combined beautifully down the left, and Blind put in a great ball from the byline, but van Persie’s header is straight at Guzan!
Klinsi speaks!
“I think we really played eye-to-eye and had three 100% chances. It’s a very open game and it could go either way.”
Here’s Gyasi Zardes scoring his first international goal:
Interestingly, Zardes went with his right foot with the shot, even though his left would have seemed the more natural angle. No matter: Cillessen couldn’t keep it out.
US Soccer has a good summation of that first half and in homophone corner I am a big fan of “individual flare”:
The game has zipped end to end, with both teams creating quality chances. It's been #NED individual flare and lightning #USMNT counters.
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) June 5, 2015
In the interests of balance, here’s Rob Coughlin:
I’m calling foul on my fellow American Mr Strauss. I hang with a big group of soccer junkies over here, and not one of us wants our top players to play in MLS!
Sean Swift sticks up for Brad Guzan:
@timmyhilleh Guzan is quite good. I'm not sure what he was supposed to do behind that appalling Villa defense. TS was mad to drop him.
— Sean Swift (@thefallen29) June 5, 2015
Some half-time admin:
Simon McMahon gets the gags in:
Evening Tim. In other news, Scotland are playing Qatar in Edinburgh tonight. Apparently the winner gets to host the World Cup in 2022, and the loser gets €5 million. It’s currently 0-0.
Wahay!!!
Half-time: Holland 1-1 USA
45 min: Oh, so close! Depay fires wide from inside the box, and that’s half-time. But what preceded it was a strange moment: Wijnaldum thought he’d scored from Promes’s cross, and everyone started trudging back to the centre circle, but the whistle had gone for a push on Chandler by Depay. All-square at half-time. Good half!
Updated
43 min: Here’s Daniel Strauss:
I’m going to stop following your MBM after reading your suggestion at 22 minutes that Michael Bradley is wasting his time in MLS, rather than playing in a “top European league”.
As an American who is enthusiastic about the development of the sport here in the US, this is a perfect example of the disdainful disregard that gets US fans so irate. The game is growing by leaps and bounds here every year, thanks in no small part to players like Michael Bradley who choose to come and increase the overall talent of the league.
“It’s clear by your comment that you either don’t know anything about MLS or don’t really care to know anything about it. It’s a tired old cliche, and it’s becoming a less and less tenable cliche every week. Anyway, that’s why I’m closing this MBM. Thank you.
I’m enthusiastic about it too! I love MLS. I just think Bradley is a really, really excellent player. He could play for Liverpool or Inter or Dortmund! I wasn’t doing down MLS – I was praising Bradley. Sorry!
Updated
41 min: Actually, that wasn’t too complicated: he just got the angle of pass wrong. It was lovely skill of Depay to get by two defenders, but his pass was misplaced. Shame. Then Johansson beats Janmaat, but Cillessen is out quickly to claim.
39 min: Gah, that’s a clear chance for Holland! Depay had so much space down the left, cuts back, leaves Alvorado on his arse, but tries to over-complicate things by feeding van Persie, and the ball is cleared.
38 min: Sunil Gulati, the head of the US Soccer Federation, is in the stand. I wonder is Sepp is watching?
37 min: Promes is free down the right, and puts in a fairly atrocious ball. Throw-in USA!
36 min: This game has a pleasing ebb and flow. Janmaat is free down the right. “A devilish ball in, upon which Depay might have feasted,” opines the florid Jon Champion. Love that! Holland look dangerous going forward, but they defend like amateurs. So much space!
33 min: That’s a great ball in from Johnson, in the inside-right channel, and Zardes stole in ahead of Janmaat at the back post to steer home. Slack Dutch defending, and Cillessen might have stopped that, but Zardes doesn’t care: what a way to open his account!
Updated
GOAL! Holland 1-1 USA (Zardes 33)
Zardes’s first international goal!
31 min: More Holland pressure: van Persie, his fringe flopping in front of his eyes, trying to outdo Alvorado. Then Depay fires from long range. It’s way over.
29 min: Hmm. Brooks had two bad minutes there – losing two headers in two minutes. Mick McCarthy would be going nutso. But they’ve done OK so far, the USA – they don’t deserve to be behind.
GOAL! Holland 1-0 USA (Huntelaar 27)
27 min: He’s got it this time! That was too easy. A great ball in from Depay, and Huntelaar outjumped Brooks to flick in a header from six yards. That’s 40 international goals for the Hunter. And he’s got great hair!
Updated
25 min: Huntelaar’s clean through … and he can’t finish! It was a nothing ball forward, but Depay outjumped Brooks, and Huntelaar read the flick-on. He had all the time in the world, but tried to took too much time, and was crowded out. What a chance.
24 min: Holland look decent in possession, but it’s a horror show in defence. They’re lucky to be level. Wijnaldum forces a corner down the left with some bustle and adventure. The corner’s nicely worked, short, and Blind has a crack from 25 yards. Brooks does well to get in the way. Another corner, but Guzan claims.
22 min: Bradley’s a class act, isn’t he? Don’t know why he’s back in Toronto: he should be playing in one of Europe’s top leagues. And what a chance for Shea! The left-back was in acres of space down the left: Martins Indi stepped up way too late, and Depay didn’t track his runner, but Shea couldn’t finish when clean through. He should have scored.
19 min: Now Holland’s turn – Janmaat got forward well down the right, but his cross evaded everyone. Blind almost forced it, but couldn’t quite get his shot off, and USA survive. Klinsmann, looking every inch the 50-year-old Abercrombie model, is agitated. And Bradley hits the post! The USA broke down the left, and Bradley took his shot from the edge of the box early, and it spun and bobbled, but came off the inside of the post! Johnson then hit the other post, but it was offside. USA with the best chances so far!
17 min: Lovely balled whipped across the face by Promes. No one went for it though. And Depay fed Wijnaldum on the edge, but that’s a great tackle by Alvorado. Getting better, is this.
16 min: Depay got a whack there. He’s limping, but he’ll be OK. (Incidentally, have you seen Depay’s abs? They’re chronic! He’s obviously doing his crunches.)
Corner for USA. Zardes came in – Cillessen was all at sea, although maybe he was being held by Johansson – and it’s another corner! And what a chance for Zardes! That was an absolute comedy by Holland in defence: like the Keystone Cops, as Mark Lawrenson would say. They couldn’t clear it – RVP and Bruma went for the same ball – and Zardes swivelled and hit it. Straight at Cillessen though. Chance!
13 min: Charles Antaki is a purist: “Oh! Some football! What with various recent events in its global administration, I’d sort of assumed it had been cancelled. Great. I don’t suppose many of us are that bothered about USA vs the Netherlands, but play on.”
Bradley drives forward and feeds Chandler, but his cross is bad, and straight outta play. Shame.
Updated
11 min: I love how full-backs are referred to in America as “outside-backs”. They can’t stop Depay cutting in, though, and his short pass to Wijnaldum prompts another test for Guzan. Easy stuff so far, though: they Feyenoord man didn’t really get hold of it.
9 min: A giant agricultural mow by Martins Indi on Johansson. He was never getting the ball, so Martins Indi just kicked him up the arse. Bradley tries a daisy-cutter from 25 yards that Cillessen saves, but that’s better from USA: they’re stepping up higher and disrupting Holland’s rhythm.
7 min: That’s a push by Depay on Chandler. The free-kick is headed clear, and Morales hammers it goalwards. It’s wide by about a million yards. I think it’s fair to say that this match hasn’t quite caught fire so far.
5 min: USA sitting deep. Huntelaar wins a free-kick in a decent position 40 yards from goal on the right. Van Persie takes, Guzan claims. Guzan is starting for just the fifth time in the last 40 interantionals. Is he any good? Tim Howard, of course, is on sabbatical. Does he have to show US Soccer what he’s accomplished during his time off?
3 min: Chandler gives it straight to Wijnaldum, who returns the favour. Johan Cruyff must be going spare. But that’s better from Holland: Depay cuts in from the right – Chandler blocks the shot – and then Janmaat stings Guzan’s palms from range.
1 min: What a start for Holland: under no pressure, Jeffrey Bruma hammers it into row Z. Hello football!
On the Holland bench, Danny Blind is rolling up his sleeves. Ruud van Nistelrooy has a closely trimmed beard. Guus looks relaxed.
They’re playing the anthems – the Star-Spangled banner first. (A difficult song to sing: the range is so vast.)
The ground is full. What a fabulous soccer nation Holland is.
We’re just a few minutes away! The roof is closed – it’s pissing down in Amsterdam.
Brad Guzan is playing his first game of 2015. He really struggled at the end of the season with Villa, and had his place in the team taken by Shay Given, 56. Also, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore are missing for the USMNT USA, meaning the USA strikers have just seven international goals between them. By contrast, Robin van Persie has 49 in 96, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 39 in 71. What a star Huntelaar is. So underrated.
Former USA and Tottenham No 1 Kasey Keller says: “These are the types of games Jurgen Klinsmann loves to push on his players. It’s an opportunity for these young players to prove they belong at these levels.”
My colleague Maraithe asks: “Where’s Robben?”
Robben is injured. He was struggling last season, came back against Dortmund in the German Cup semi-final, but then limped off again with a calf injury.
What a player, though, porcelain bones notwithstanding. When slaloming past defenders at top speed, he’s such a thrilling sight. Provocative question of the day No 2: would Robben be rated higher if he weren’t bald?
Tweet me and email with your considered responses!
Here’s the tactical line-up for Holland:
Bondscoach Guus Hiddink start het oefenduel tegen @USsoccer met de volgende opstelling. #NEDUSA pic.twitter.com/bl7uRqEdLw
— KNVB (@KNVB) June 5, 2015
So RVP starts deeper, and Depay on the left. Expect Daley Blind to get forward also.
A pic from training: Jordy Clasie, Robin van Persie, Gregory van der Wiel. Lads on tour!
Tactical insight from the official Twitter feed of the USA team. As an aside, USMNT must be the worst acronym in professional sports. Maybe Team GB.
#USMNT deploys in a 4-3-3 formation. Beckerman sits behind Bradley & Morales. Johnson on the right, Zardes the left & Johannsson up high.
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) June 5, 2015
Updated
The teams are in! New Man Utd superstar Memphis Depay starts for Holland; Michael Bradley captains USA.
Holland: Cillessen; Janmaat, Bruma, Martins Indi, Blind; Clasie, Wijnaldum; Promes, van Persie, Depay; Huntelaar
USA: Guzan; Shea, Brooks, Alvarado, Chandler; Morales, Beckerman, Bradley; Zardes, Johannsson, Johnson.
USA’s 2015 has been a bit like the curate’s egg: good in parts. Victories over Mexico and Panama, a creditable draw against the Swiss, and losses against Chile and a Nicklas Bendtner-inspired Denmark.
(Actually, I think that might be the wrong use of curate’s egg. @guardianstyle, help!)
"Aggro" is what football fans typically promise their rivals, and it stands for aggravation. A lot of aggravation. https://t.co/TMn8ngWmPe
— Guardian style guide (@guardianstyle) June 5, 2015
Here’s round-faced Dutch coach Guus Hiddink. Never a workaholic, he loves cappuccinos and riding his motorbike. (That’s true!)
But his second spell as Holland coach hasn’t been so good: since the World Cup, he’s lost half his eight games – to Italy, Czech Republic, Iceland and Mexico – and only won three. Must do better, Guus!
Updated
If you only read one thing today, make it this, by Simon Kuper of the Financial Times, about how Johan Cruyff, the father of Dutch football, invented modern soccer. It’s brilliant.
Cruyff best explained this in a 1980s TV programme that compared football to ballet. Initially, he had had no desire to debate the gay ballet choreographer Rudi van Dantzig but he rapidly got into it.
While he was lecturing Van Dantzig on how when the first man was passing to the second man, the third man already had to be running to receive the second man’s pass, Van Dantzig interrupted: “So it’s choreography?” “Exactly!” said Cruyff.
Cruyffian football is a dance for space. The British tended to think football was about willpower, Brazilians bet on the dribble and the Germans on fitness but they were wrong and Cruyff was right.
Hi! To some club managers motivated by naked self-interest, international friendlies are about as welcome as a tape recorder at a Fifa executive committee drinks party. But don’t listen to the cynics: we love them. And this one could be a goodie – two decent teams, two high-profile coaches, under the (red?) lights in Amsterdam. And to add an extra layer of complexity, these two have, as New Yorkers never tire of telling their shrinks, issues.
Holland are in a Euro 2016 qualifying funk: they’re five points back of Iceland and six shy of the Czechs, having lost against both already – and looked rubbish while doing so. Given that just the top two are guaranteed qualification for next year’s tournament, Holland need to shape up and look sharp, and they have to win in Latvia next Friday to stay in the mix. They did beat Spain in their last game in March, though, so maybe Hiddink’s lot are on the up.
(Here’s my compelling thesis about Holland at the World Cup: for a team that finished third, they were rubbish! Let’s look at the evidence: against Spain, a mad second half aside, they were basically crap. Crap against Australia, crap against Chile, really crap against Mexico, appalling against Costa Rica, crap against Argentina, quite good against Brazil.)
Discuss!
Meanwhile, USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann is still trying to fiddle his roster for the Gold Cup, the biennial Concacaf jamboree that begins in the USA and Canada in July. On home soil , it’s the USA’s to lose – Panama or Haiti probably aren’t going to go all the way – but only 23 names can make the cut, and Klinsi, as Landon Donovan will attest, is not one for sentiment.
It’s a bun fight for the USA roster, and today’s game, plus Monday’s fixture against Germany, should go some way towards forcing Klinsi’s hand. Besides, USA love to play European sides – it’s a nice change of pace from facing insurrectionist central American nations. Kick off is at 2.30pm ET, 7.30pm BST. Join us!
Updated
Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Richard Whittall’s MLS weekend preview, where many top clubs are missing their stars:
No Michael Bradley for Toronto FC, no Juan Agudelo for the New England Revolution, and no Brek Shea for Orlando City, among others. Though there will be the usual hemming and hawing about the Major League Soccer’s incongruity with the rest of the football calendar, the level of parity in both conferences right now mean this isn’t exactly a crucial time in MLS.
Instead, nervous club supporters will be left praying their various stars will manage to avoid injury. So, the usual.
