"It's crazy how good Robben is at 51 years old."

I'm quoting Scottie in the title of this post, but I think he's absolutely right. Arjen Robben is a monster on the right wing. The Dutch international/Bayern Munich winger absolutely terrorizes the flank, as evinced by his goal scored for the Oranje in this morning's match against Slovakia. His pace and touch are truly menacing, and although Bert van Marwijk had originally hinted towards using the naturally left footed Robben on the left wing to feed balls into the box, (rather than on the right, where he usually plays for Bayern) stating at some point something along the lines of "Well, Bayern are not the Oranje...". Looks like ol' Bert has changed his thinking since Robben's return from injury, as he has played him on the right not only against the Slovaks, but against Cameroon as well in their final group stage match. In the match against Cameroon, Robben helped facilitate a goal by taking much the same course he did today (where he scored), in which he swooped in from the right wing fooling the defenders, struck the ball with his left foot putting the ball off the post which was eventually put in by 'el cazador' (Klaas Jan Huntelaar).

Having watched each of the 4 matches 'Clockwork Oranje' have played in the 2010WC, it seems to me that if they're going to make a serious run at winning it all, Robben is going to have to keep up playing the way he's playing, while at the same time keeping that calf healthy. Also, the Dutch have put Liverpool striker/winger Dirk Kuyt (whose work ethic comes as a result of him being the son of a fisherman, as put by Martin Tyler) on Robben's opposing wing. Kuyt has a fantastic work ethic, and certainly gives his all when playing, but he just doesn't have the pace that a player like Elia adds towards the potent Dutch attack. I would hope to see Elia (or even Ryan Babel/ 'Babar' the elephant) on Robben's opposing flank when they match up against tournament favorites Brazil this Friday. This one's certainly shaping up to be a doozy, though.

Anyway, above I've provided a picture of Robben above for those of you reading this (Kristi) that don't know what he looks like. Let's just say looks can be deceiving... Per my wikipedia search, Robben was born January 23, 1984... which makes him 26?!? You have to be kidding me... He looks to be about 51, as Scottie put it. Absolutely ridiculous, seriously. What do you think he looked like as a 12 year old? Think they were serving him adult beverages back then? I bet they were... Anyway, I wonder what he's going to look like when he's actually 51? I'm going to put my money on him looking exactly the same...

Here's to hoping for an KNVB win on Friday,

Ryan