Heitinga Speaks

It seems like the whole of the Dutch defense has taken up giving interviews about their performances and chances.

Now Heitinga speaks but notice that he doesn’t focus too much on his own performance but that of the team and their chances. I don’t usually pull quotes out of articles or interviews because I’m a big believer in understanding the context but I’m breaking my own rule with this one.

Heitinga’s message to Serbia and Montenegro and Côte d’Ivoire is simple: Catch us if you can.

“Before the Serbia game, we were all feeling under a lot of pressure,” he admitted. “This is such a tough group that one bad result could have left us in big trouble, and the fact that Argentina had won the night before just increased the pressure on us to take all three points.

“But the fact we did that means we can now focus on the next game with clear minds, relax a bit and play our football. Winning our first game has taken the pressure off us a little bit and put it on to other teams. Now it’s down to them to try and catch us.”

Make of that what you will.