Coach to the Netherlands National Soccer squad Bert van Marwijk showed that he had the right stuff during the FIFA 2010 Africa World Cup Tournament when he brought the Dutch national team all the way to the finals against Spain after an exhilarating win over Brazil in the quarter-finals and beating Uruguay in another exciting game during the semi-finals.
They only lost to Spain with a narrow 1-0 score which was played over extra time. This time, he’s looking for a win. (aren’t they all though?)
And just like the Germany national squad which lost 1-0 to Spain in the 2008 Euro Cup, the Dutch is team out for blood.
So how does he feel about the upcoming tournament?
He was reportedly quoted as saying in an interview with UEFA that he didn’t feel that his team had the same form during the 2012 World Cup. At least not yet.
He felt that it was because he only managed to get the whole squad together just a few days back. Not too surprising because they play in 5 different European leagues and all finish at different times.
He also said that some of the players in the squad has had some injuries while the others have had little practice together as a team. The Dutch team lost once in the qualifying rounds and had shown lackluster performances during their friendly warm up games.
He was also reportedly concerned about finding a replacement for left back Erik Pieters who succumbed to injuries and said that it was no secret that this set back would be a challenge to overcome. He does however already has a few players in mind for the position- Jetro Willems, Stijn Schaars and also Wilfred Bouma.
Dutch captain and midfielder Mark van Bommel however, is a little more optimistic. He reportedly told Dutch Metro that his side had superb chances of taking home the trophy and the only teams to look out for was Germany and Spain.
With Arsenal’s Robin van Persie on board, Arjen Robben, Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder they might just be able to pull it off too.
After all, they’re also ranked fourth as the world’s best soccer team by FIFA.
We’ll just have to wait and watch the Euro 2012 schedule and catch the action.