Mathijsen on defending and Drogba

June 15th, 2006 | by: Jan | Comments(9)

“Like a striker dreams of scoring, I dream of my direct opponent not touching one ball. That’s just me, I guess. If I make one mistake, I can get so angry with myself. I want to be able to sense in the game, that he is not getting anything from me. You can tell from the body language of your opponent. I am always looking for the perfect match.

There is continiously physical contact. But we don’t talk. I’m not a talker and I seldom encounter strikers who try to get me off my balance by talking to me. I also think it’s a sign of weakness, honestly.

Marco shows us footage of our opponents. We use that to prepare. With the S&M game, we saw that Milosevic is the targetman, and Kezza plays around him and off him. Obviously, most strikers are known well. I saw Drogba play in the Africa Cup and in the Premier League. I watched him against Argentina. But that’s all. I do not want to know too much, you know. Just play your game and make sure you’re the boss. Simple, really.

I don’t care what type of striker I am up against. You just can’t think that you can’t handle certain types. You can’t start a match thinking: Oh no…Drogba, I can’t handle the type. You lost the match already. And to be honest, it hasn’t happened often that an opponent was better than me. No striker scored more than once against me, for instance.

I am not a ugly player. Spitting, hitting, insulting, elbows…I don’t do it. And it’s not necessary either. I know Marco was a tough player in his days, but times have changed. We have I don’t know how many cameras around the park. But, if we are 1-0 up against Ivory Coast and Drogba breaks out, I’ll grab him from behind. With my hands. I don’t want to injure him. But I’ll accept the red card, take the three points and take a rest against Argentina.

People who are important to me seem to acknowledge my value. The coaches, the team… The media… ahh..they don’t have to right in the papers how good I am. You know that 16 million people in Holland have their own opinion… That’s fine.

Drogba has everything a striker wants. He does not have a specific strong asset. Like S&M Zigic, who is 2.02 meter. He is a good header, so that figures. But Drogba is complete, he can head well, is quiuck, strong in duels, always goes for goal… and he has charisma. A real leader.
Against Argentina Drogba was the target man and Kalou circled around him. The S&M forwards played more on line. Different way of defending, but Andre Ooijer and myself will sort it out. We train on those things, with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink playing Drogba.

I am really looking forward to playing Drogba. It’s great to be up against the best in the world. This WC is the best thing a player can experience. The S&M match was truly wonderful and I want more.”