You said that you for once did not hope the best team will win, and you were right!

Thanks for stopping by and the congrats are happily recieved as well as the 3 points our team got last night in Ukraine.And yeah we were not unlucky.Not at all ;) and I am a little sorry on behalf on the dutch team and the fans who somehow deserved to win but OTOH what is justice in football ?? Is life fair !?

If there is a kind of universal conclusion it could be that it is about being at the right spot and taking the chances offered in the window of opportunities while it is open and calling our names...!?

So now you are facin a tough task,seemingly to beat the germans in the next match and I partly agreed that they are not looking as strong as they could ,but my guts and brain say they will be stronger in the upcomming rounds.

Anyhow I wish you good luck and at least it seems to you have used your qote of unluck ;)/): .And let us not forget you have a very,very strong team with some of the best players around.

Well - the problem for the dutch team was the finishing; our forward Van Persie, a super talent - somehow gets a bit chaotic at times, perhaps the pressure, and he is not a classic striker type, more of a number 10, right behind the forwards, which is of course where our other talented player (plus Robben - above average, the rest of the team less so than those and van Persie) plays, namely Wesley Sneijder...

That they have to work out, possibly by bringing in a pure striker, like Huntelaar.

We'd <have> to beat Germany, and if a draw then perhaps an outside chance still, as portugal is also empty handed now. So Germany then gets 7 points if they beat Denmark, and we might have a chance if Portugal also beats Denmark: 7 4 3 3 - possibly after the final group matches - something like that.

But since I hope the Danes do well against Portugal, THE DUTCH ARE OUT - and I will not shed a tear, because as you said so eloquently:

<OTOH what is justice in football ?? Is life fair !?

If there is a kind of universal conclusion it could be that it is about being at the right spot and taking the chances offered in the window of opportunities while it is open and calling our names...!?>

Perhaps the dutch team will perform their best in a mustwin situation vs the germans.At least that is somehow the how human system sometimes works.Staring at the abyss,at the point of no return,is bringing forward the best in the best.The biggest aber dabei in this equation could very well be that the opponents are the germans.Not the italiens or the portuguese.But the mighty german machine who won the first match and got 3 points in the bank.But they also showed some vulnerability in some areas as you mentioned.

Funny,just before I read your post,my first (footbaloriented)thought was:Huntelaar replacing Van Persie supported by the same arguments as yours :)Van Persie is more like a lonely wolf (as e.g.Zlatan from Sweden)and could very well come up too light when the big germans are playing with their muscels...

Anyhow life is NOT a box of chocolat and Joachim Lôw is not Forrest Gump,but the Oranje may turn him into shrimpsoup on wednesday:)

<Van Persie is more like a lonely wolf (as e.g.Zlatan from Sweden)> Brilliant - it's true

<Anyhow life is NOT a box of chocolat and Joachim Lôw is not Forrest Gump,but the Oranje may turn him into shrimpsoup on wednesday:)> LOL

I'm glad you & <achieve> liked my little 'rant', yesterday I was lucky enough to get hold of an audio copy of Ronald Wright's Massey Lectures, were he speaks at length on the subjects I touched on at brankats forum.

Yes we won in 1992 and it was totally unexpected,e.g. I had almost 100§ at the bookies ,Denmark loosing all matches (odds 7:1).But history had it the other way and I still recall that hot summernight were the whole town of Copenhagen was one big peacefull party.And the next day were we all seemingly were riding on a wawe of somehting,that not even Keith Richards know of ;)

Yes,Peter Schmeicel was our biggest ace and Henrik Larsen played the tournament of his life.And man years later I met a guy who knew Peter personally and could tell about how nice and gentle person Peter is as a private person.(He once broght him to the local pub were they didn´t believe their own eyes;).

I also played and coached on a decent level in Billiards, Snooker, Tennis and Golf... I was, - still to a degree - addicted to ball sports, actually as a little kid football was my favourite, and first, so that is my back-ground, and since i was 15 or so, became obsessed with technique and psychology in Sport, including my Table Tennis, to compensate for the lesser movement behind the table, although at the time i thought I was hardly at a disadvantage! ;)

And in the many hospital surgeries between my 10th and 19th, I played and studied a lot of chess, Kasparov was sort of an idol to me, and his energy and will to win an example in my sporting endeavours.

Yo,<achieve>.But you have done tremendously good so far.And I sincerely thank you for sharing your story with me and I feel a kind of privelledged to be at the recieving end of such a journey.And an Olympic Gold with your condition weights in my book, at least as much as a gold medal <achieved> in the traditional competition.And perhaps I understand some bits of what you have gone through and what all this means to your life,as your biggest efforts to make it a rich and meaningfull one depite the lack of a foot and perhaps also,in some way, because of the lacking!..(correct me if I am wrong on this).So now I perhaps understand you better and my hats are off. Your dedication to chess makes perfect sense and you have even met your great model in life/live, I do recall !? And you have once again proven that chess is more than just chess,used the way you did it.

I used football to compensate for a,in some ways, turbulent childhood. On the pit I forgot everything about it,and realized that in a way there is only this little big strong and fragile now that life offers. On the green field we were all kings and vagabonds on those everlasting summerdays.Not to forget the friendships that came along with it.

I made it to the national team under 17,and had two matches as a number 9,which was ironically because I was better as a midfielder.

Yesterday had a clear winner IMHO : The irish people singing along though their teamm was hopeless behind and the scenes of spanish and irish supporters enjoying the game together. Very moving and perhaps the situation to be remembered when we in a hug of decades will look back on WC 2010.

- and this was so spot on, and I oddly enough forgot to address this at Brankat's:

<Yesterday had a clear winner IMHO : The irish people singing along though their teamm was hopeless behind and the scenes of spanish and irish supporters enjoying the game together. Very moving and perhaps the situation to be remembered when we in a hug of decades will look back on WC 2010.> You could not have said it better, <moro>, and I even posted a reaction on it in a reply just now at Brankat's...

There's a lot we could talk about following your generous contribution and sharing of your memories, for which I am grateful, and perhaps we can conclude that we are mostly children cut from wood of a similar type tree, and that is not an everyday occurrence...

"Old chap" -

I never thought I'd say "I drink to that!" but you are again hitting the jack pot, ha!

Have to get busy doing some stuff off-line now, and will get back to you; another thing, assuming that you are native Danish and played there in the U17, is that my first name is as you know Danish, at least that was why my parents chose the name as my dad's brother had moved to Denmark, permanently it turned out, just prior to that, and we visited Denmark quite a few times back in the day, where my uncle made a living as an Church Organ manufacturer...

And that it what it is all about.

Thank you! As a return gift I give you Book 7: Rodrigo Flores

What's new as it relates to Chess with you these days?

Not to belabor this age-thing, but I reckon you and our host are from the same year?

Must be close...

Speaking of "Klose", he is quite a class act but only a substitute in the current german squad; what luxury.

All their stand-out players are in fact mostly non-native, just as the Dutch team of 88 and the Ajax '95 had a central core of dominant players who were born from more exotic colonial regions, like the caribbean: Rijkaard, Davids, Gullit, Seedorf, Reiziger. Rijkaard probably my personal favourite.

<moro> I checked and my uncle and family lived in Evetofte, Melby area, Sjoelland, and we swam in the Kattegat... I spent a glorious ("endless") summer there, many, many years ago... Is it still as beautiful as I remember it?

A contraction of Nicholas, a website says, and even a purely Dutch contraction of Cornelius, it also posits, but being the critical sceptic I am I think the latter is simply a lie!!!!

heh - but really, Cornelius, is mostle shortened in Dutch to Cor, or Nelis, and at the time I slipped onto the dry land the name was seldom heard in Holland, but in past decades has surged in popularity, somewhat.

Good noon to you <Niels> and <brankat> as well !

Having just served homebaked bread to my wife.She loves it that way (au lit) and it usually makes a good start for the weekend,so here we go.

Elsinore/Helsingør 1953 was the first time I saw the broad daylight,if you can say so as it was during a winterstorm with snow.Since then I am amazed everytime it snows,especially when it is heavy ;)So about the cat and me you must do the math,but brankat being the oldest is right I think.And you are a coiled springrabbit (from 69?)compared to us ;)

Svimming in Kattegat can be pure bliss,and you may have had an experience for life there !? But I dont know Evetoft,it must be a small village.And the danish pronouncation is in a way priceless IMHO too.We can talk almost withour moving the mouth :).

I could imagine that Evetoft is as beautifull as you remeber it,most likely.Time travels very slowly in these parts of the country.

On sunday we may get a Klose Up,Roger and out with no cigar ): The bookies pay around 5,5:1 if Oranje
makes it to the quarters...Not that bad,after all.

And good luck at the bookies <brankat> !

To play or to stay...

Noon it is, and I am going out in a minute, but <moro> I for the first time delved into Google Street View, early this morning, and it is fabulous, I was at the mediterranean coastline in Cassis, France one minute, and in Elsinore, Manhattan and Evetofte the next, small place really, as you say, with one road crossing and a small restaurant, but you were correct in that time travels slowly, the landscape is "intact", and I could, with street view, just walk down the road and look in every direction. Incredible online tool, with a variety of ways of usage.

See you up the road, home bakery Chef!!