Holland coach Bert van Marwijk believes Friday’s quarter-final win over Brazil will serve to silence those who had mocked his prophecy that the Oranje were capable of lifting the World Cup. ‘When I was hired, I told the Dutch Football Federation we have a mission, we want to go for the World Cup,’ he said.
‘People mocked me, but if you really want to achieve something you have to believe in it. This is the message I tried to communicate.’
The former Feyenoord manager, who took over theNetherlands job after Euro 2008, is now just two games away from fulfilling that prediction after a Felipe Melo own goal and Wesley Sneijder’s header earned the Dutch a historic 2-1 win over the five-time champions.
‘We showed that we can play fantastic football and beat a fantasticteam .
‘When I started I said we weren’t going to come to the World Cup only to take part, that if we go we are there to win it.
‘People might think I’m arrogant but we’ve beaten Brazil, we’re number three in the world, that’s a fact. We shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it.’
Holland went into the break a goal down and van Marwijk, in arguably the most important half-timeteam talk he has ever delivered, managed to install belief in his men that victory was attainable.
‘We didn’t start the match very well,
we weren’t ourselves, so I told the players they had to go out in the second half and play their own game,’ he said.
‘We had to determine our own rhythm and dare to play, not hold back.
‘For example (right-back) Gregory van der Wiel was insecure in the first half, but in the second he dared to go for it.
‘After the break we were more courageous and really, really believed in ourselves. That was one of the reasons why we won.’
The Dutch received a potentially destabilising blow just minutes before kick-off when van Marwijk was forced into an unscheduled change after centre-back Joris Mathijsen sustained an injury in the warm-up.
The Hamburg defender was listed on the officialteam -sheet but, after a couple of pre-match sprints at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, he returned to the dressing room clutching his right knee.
‘When I first heard there was a problem with Joris, I told Andre Ooijer to get ready,’ said van Marwijk.
‘Joris was showing doubt about his problem so I said ‘OK, don’t play if you have doubts that could jeopardise theteam ,’ and I sent Andre on.
‘In the end that setback only served to make ourteam stronger. We had to show strength from this decision and not let ourselves become unbalanced.’
(Agence France-Presse . Port Elizabeth)
‘People mocked me, but if you really want to achieve something you have to believe in it. This is the message I tried to communicate.’
The former Feyenoord manager, who took over the
‘We showed that we can play fantastic football and beat a fantastic
‘When I started I said we weren’t going to come to the World Cup only to take part, that if we go we are there to win it.
‘People might think I’m arrogant but we’ve beaten Brazil, we’re number three in the world, that’s a fact. We shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it.’
Holland went into the break a goal down and van Marwijk, in arguably the most important half-time
‘We didn’t start the match very well,
we weren’t ourselves, so I told the players they had to go out in the second half and play their own game,’ he said.
‘We had to determine our own rhythm and dare to play, not hold back.
‘For example (right-back) Gregory van der Wiel was insecure in the first half, but in the second he dared to go for it.
‘After the break we were more courageous and really, really believed in ourselves. That was one of the reasons why we won.’
The Dutch received a potentially destabilising blow just minutes before kick-off when van Marwijk was forced into an unscheduled change after centre-back Joris Mathijsen sustained an injury in the warm-up.
The Hamburg defender was listed on the official
‘When I first heard there was a problem with Joris, I told Andre Ooijer to get ready,’ said van Marwijk.
‘Joris was showing doubt about his problem so I said ‘OK, don’t play if you have doubts that could jeopardise the
‘In the end that setback only served to make our
(Agence France-Presse . Port Elizabeth)
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