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Bring on the EC: Robin van Persie

March 27th, 2008 | By: Jan | 13 Comments »

The friendly against Austria may not have had a lot of value, still there was one serious bonus: Robin van Persie was back after five months of injuries. And Robin has big plans: “I am so looking forward to this EC!”

The match in Vienna was soulfood for the sensitive. The game was played in the stadium where Oranje’s campaign should end in victory. On June 29, the EC finals will be played in the Ernst Happel stadium. “This stadium feels good. It’s a good place to play football,” Van Persie quipped.

Van Persie’s last game for Oranje was against Slovenia. Only beginnning of March this year saw the come-back of the striker at Arsenal in the EPL.

He came on against Wigan, played an hour against Middlesbrough and a tad more against Chelsea. Still, Van Basten was happy to get Van Persie back for this friendly. “Physically, I am very very fit. Last Sunday, after the Chelsea game I was totally buggered. I can feel that I hadn’t played for 5 months. And then against a team like Chelsea, who make you work every second. And you’ve got to be sharp and focused, their level is so high. And all that concentration takes up a lot of energy. But it does make you stronger. I felt much better today against Austria.”

Still, it all looked a bit cautious in Vienna. Van Persie doesn’t think so. “No, in my mind, I am all done with that injury. I think I was a bit cautious in the first EPL games this month, but I think that’s only human. Really, I am in tip top shape.”

But, physical form is not the same as match fitness. Of course, for someone that skilled the feeling in his feet has never left him. It’s a matter of a couple of percentages. “It’s all in the details. It always is. And I am certainly not 100% match fit. That will come after a couple of games. You can’t get that in training sessions or in the fitness center. An example. In the first half, Huntelaar passed me the ball. When I’m 100% I may not score, but the ball would be on target. Now, it was just nothing. And passing sometimes was horrible. Instead of hitting all balls well, you only get 8 out of 10 right. When the form is all there, these balls will all go well and you can up your effectiveness by 20% in that way. Against big nations, you may only get 2 or 3 opportunities to score, when you’re lucky. You want to be able to capitalize on all of them.”

Oranje couldn’t impress against Austria and the successful chase gave a lot of satisfaction, although the players weren’t happy to admit that.

The former Feyenoord player is happy with the new system. “In the old system, I started on the wings, and you wanted to create something from there. Now, there’s more freedom. We can switch, I can go deep, I can go wide. We received a lot of freedom and therefore responsibilities. Again, I think Oranje is unique in that way.”

For now, Van Persie is happy he can play again. He is not even 25 years old, but carries a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. His Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger hopes the Rotterdam born and bred talent will make the difference in the EPL and CL. Wenger: “I’ve never seen him so determined to come back and add value to the team.”

Some people compare Van Persie’s situation with Van Basten’s in 1988. He was just in time fit to help Oranje win the EC. “Well, if I can sign now for that scenario, I would. And it does make a difference if you can get some rest during the season. I can tell that some players at Arsenal are tired and that’s logical. They play twice every week for months now. Normally I’d want some more rest in this phase of the competition. But now, I feel relaxed, mentally. I want to play now. Bring it on! I really look forward to the next couple of months.”

Robin puts a spell on the ball

Tags: Arsenal, Group C, Oranje, Robin van Persie, The Netherlands

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Comments

By MK | March 28th, 2008 at 3:56 am

Holland are gonna win the EC!

Posted from Australia

By goose | March 28th, 2008 at 7:51 am

@Mk; maybe in 20 years time… not this one, im sure

Posted from Netherlands

By dirk v.d berg | March 28th, 2008 at 8:39 am

Definitly not this EC, I say it goes to Germany, but the 2010 WC is a possibilty. I originally said that the semi-finalists of next WC were gonna be Argentina, Holland, Germany, and Nigeria, but that’s just me. And Argentina takes it.

Posted from Canada

By goose | March 28th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

more worried that ze germanz will win this year, they looked very strong against the Swiss

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | March 28th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

i’m pretty sure too that the argentina will be the next world champion. their problem is that they always have the best squad but the coaches are not at the level of the squad. hopefully holland will be there and get good results. if an african team i would say ivory coast. but sure, now i’m worried about the ec. germans are good and lucky. until the semis they won’t meet serious pretenders.

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | March 29th, 2008 at 1:30 am

Why do you think Argentina will win it? You know what, I think England will do well in the next WC… Ok, sue me!

Posted from Australia

By Marc | March 29th, 2008 at 4:56 am

im not too convinced that germany will win this year anymore… alright theyre the strongest side in europe right now but so were we before th WC 2006. we cruised through qualifiers and so did germany. but germany has less offensive talent than we have(personal tought… i hate the germans)Even though it would seem obvious that they would win its always some team that has a horrible qualifiers and friendlies that win… all you have to do is look at italy before the wcup and their mediocre results.. This year the winner will be either spain, croatia(theyre not giving away their tactic yet…smart)or one of the winners of group C or even greece. Besides that i def thnk germany are primary favourites to win. Its just that with such a strong start theyll get cocky and overconfident.. wouldnt be surprised to see them stumble in the group stage.. their football despite the fact that its efficient is far from attractive and fluid.

Posted from Switzerland

By simon | March 29th, 2008 at 6:04 am

The EC… very hard to say. I’d say that all nations but one or two could win with some luck and hard work. Of course some of the big nations will compete but… Portugal wont have much of chance this summer, Germany could be very dangerous though. I mean, if Sweden can play like they did against Brazil last week, even they could win.

As for WC2010, I’m pretty sure Argentina won’t win, at least I hope they won’t. They always play very boring, like the Germans used to do, focusing on the result more than anything else. Plus they have several old or injury prone key players.

England wont win either, because they cant win… and their squad is very very overrated.

By dirk v.d berg | March 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

I don’t see why everyone thinks Spain is going to win. Sure Fabregas is doing good for Arsenal this year, but he doesn’t play that well for Spain. And if I were Aragones I wouldn’t field Torres, even though he’s doing good in Liverpool, Villa’s been playing better for Spain. Just my personal opinion. Croatia would’ve had a small chance, until Eduardo got injured. Spain’s not going to win, Fabregas is not going to shine, and Torres isn’t going to start, just my two cents.

Posted from Canada

By dirk v.d berg | March 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

van Persie scored, from the penalty spot, but at least he scored.

Posted from Canada

By goose | March 30th, 2008 at 4:22 am

@dirk; yes he scored but again he played awful, nothing worked…. hope theres time enough for Robin…we need him in better shape than this

Jan; we should have some sort of competition on whos gonna win the EC…. my money is on Germany….

ferenc; whats going on with Braca….where are all those great players???

Posted from Netherlands

By Bruce | March 30th, 2008 at 6:10 am

Yeah he didn’t play well at all. He wasted a lot of decent chances that he would have converted before. I think he needs to focus on his playmaking game and stop worrying about the goals. They will come soon.

Re: Goose. Yes! A competition is definitely in order. We should also start a fantasy football league together too. There’s some pretty smart observers in this group of ours, so the competition will be good I think.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By dirk v.d berg | March 30th, 2008 at 11:03 am

I already do a fantasy league with my friends. I had Huntelaar, Sneijder, and van der Vaart. The latter two didnt get me many points, but Huntelaar was my captain so I got twice as many for him. I had three Romanians because I figured they’d win by a lot, I had Mutu, Chivu and Lobont, but Mutu and Chivu got subbed off at half, and Lobont didnt play.

Posted from Canada

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