Bommel, keep your pants on!!

Mark van Bommel was happy with the win over Ivory Coast Friday evening, but he also delivered the fiercest criticism on the team. He was estatic about reaching the next phase, but felt the team should be able to play much, much better football.

His somewhat sour view on the match was also born by the way Ivory Coast scored their goal in the 37th minute of the match. It was Bakary Kone who scored, van Bommel’s direct opponent. Who could march up to van der Sar relatively freely… Where was Dutch midfielder??

Well, van Bommel was changing his shorts. Honest! In the first phase of the match, his shorts were ripped in a charge by an opponent… He wanted to change his shorts and looked out for the right moment. When the ball went over the goal line, Bommel thought it would be an appropriate and safe moment for him to do just that. He ran to the Dutch dug out, got a new pair of shorts and quickly changed. But not quick enough. Kone received the ball and went for glory. Van Bommel sprinted for what he’s worth, but to no avail.

“That sucked big time, of course,” Van Bommel said after the match. “I was looking for the right moment to do it… It’s a shame it went like that, but you have to give it to the guy, it was a great goal!”

The Barcelona midfielder was not satisfied with the Dutch 2nd half. “It’s great that we’ve qualified for the next stage already, in this tough group. We started strong, this match, but we lost it along the way. I do have to say, that Ivory Coast is not just some opponent. If they’d been in another group, they would have progressed as well… Luckily, we still have opportunities to show the world what we can do… So, let’s do that!”.

Indeed Mark… Do it!