Marco furious at Ooijer

Team manager Marco van Basten wasn’t happy last Tuesday on the training. Defender Andre Ooijer clashed into Klaas Jan Huntelaar in a hefty duel. The former PSV defender took a sliding tackle from behind, almost breaking both Huntelaar’s legs, who went down with a scream. Van Basten was on the spot immediately. He stopped the training immediately and took it out on the Blackburn Rovers defender. After their “chat” Ooijer was told to do a couple of runs around the pitch as a penalty.

“It was too much,” Van Basten later explained. “I like my players to be sharp during training, but this was very unprofessional. You don’t do this one day before the match. These types of fauls could end careers. Maybe Ooijer is still angry because of the Romania match, that’s all well and good, but save it for tomorrow.”

Van Basten also said he thought Oranje did make progress. “I do see progress. We are much more mature and disciplined in matches where the opponents don’t want to play football and where the circumstances aren’t optimal. We can be patient, play with our heads and still remain our dscipline. I’m happy to see that. And although we have top class strikers and midfielders, I also see that our denfense line is weak in building up. Particularly against weaker opponents who fall back on their own half, it’s more clear for everyone to see where our weakness is.” Van Basten admitted that he is playing with the idea of having a midfielder move back to defense to take charge of the build up. “I am toying with that idea, but it’s always hard to implement when you’re smack in the middle of your qualification series. But I know Demy de Zeeuw plays in that role at AZ sometimes and that works out pretty good. So, maybe that’s an option.”

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