Come on Holland !

[olddutch]

Come on .....Holland, the Netherlands and even the Dutch today

and...

Andy Murray as well ?

[olddutch]

Respect to Gromit and AB for all the Orange !

[redman41]

The Tennis and the World Cup will be good today, but unfortunately the times of each will clash......

[dothawkes31]

I'm working til 8pm and so will miss both but Holland should do well!!! Not bothered about Andy Murray he needs no support lol

[rowanwitch]

lost track what time does the match start, too lazy to look it up myself

[olddutch]

rowanwitch 1500 hours - and its against Brazil !

Dutch and Murray got mountains to climb

Murray on second in order of play today

[Gromit]

olddutch

Thanks - will be supporting the Netherlands at 3pm.

Maybe you can answer why we call the country Holland, when Holland is just a region of the Netherlands. It is like the Dutch referring to England as Yorkshire?

I have notice Dutch people saying they come from Holland and not the Netherlands, are they just joining in the mistake, or is it more complicated than that?

[olddutch]

Gromit

in a nutshell the old dutch are a bit sloppy !

When the country Nederland came into existence Holland was one of the provinces that joined the new country. As usual in that time the countries surrounding the new country translated the name of the new country into their own language, so Nederland became known as the Netherlands in English, Niederlande in German and le Pais Bas in French and so on.

But as the Duchy of Holland was well known over the world that name did become the nickname for all the country Nederland. It was its most influential area, and the name was established enough not to be 'translated' or not more than needed for local pronunciation.

Nowadays Holland is nothing but an informal region in the west of the country, and the name for two provinces, which together make up the region: Noord Holland and Zuid Holland.

So - why is the country the Netherlands also known as Holland - because the people are still too lazy to use the proper name, still after all these centuries.

[Marijn]

I'm half Dutch so will be supporting Holland too. But what chance have they got against Brazil?

[olddutch]

notafish

"I'm half Dutch" - Im 49% Dutch and 51% English/British

" so will be supporting Holland too. But what chance have they got against Brazil?"

More than We(England) had against Germany ?

[Marijn]

How did you work out your percentages?
I didn't realise that Holland were comparable with Brazil. I haven't followed football before and this is the first time I've watched any World Cup games.

[R1Geezer]

Yes you have the Geezer on board too, love to see them go all the way.

[olddutch]

"How did you work out your percentages?" with sloppy dutch difficulty - many years ago - at the start - it was 50 - 50 but as I've lived here (England) all my life Im English ?

"I didn't realise that Holland were comparable with Brazil. I haven't followed football before and this is the first time I've watched any World Cup games"

the Dutch are comparable to anyone - keep watching !

[olddutch]

Well done Geezer - how much you put on them and at what odds ?

[Marijn]

Are you going to have a guess at the result?

[olddutch]

notafish

Im dreaming 2-1 to holland but im its only dreaming

[Quizmonster]

I well remember the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, when Holland were beaten by Scotland but went on to play in the final. Though not beaten by Scotland this time...as, indeed, nobody was!..perhaps they can repeat that achievement.

(As a matter of interest, that was the year when Scotland's fans finally began to grasp that their team was pretty useless in world terms and came to their senses as regards their prospects in any such contest. Might England's fans do the same this year? I'm not counting on it!)

[Marijn]

If they got the same amount of goals, what happens next?

[Marijn]

Hello Quizmonster. I see that you said "team was". Some people use "team were". Are both correct?

[Quizmonster]

Yes, both are perfectly correct.

[olddutch]

Quizmonster - just when i thought it was safe to go back in the water - " well remember the 1978 World Cup in Argentina" - you forgot to mention gemmills goal - and andy murray today ?

I'll just mention 1974 and Cruyff ,Neeskens and "Total Football" - one of the greatest teams ever ?