Our Dutch youngsters…

Marco van Basten, Gerald Vanenburg, Edwin van der Sar, Mario Been, John van t Schip, Frank Rijkaard, Patrick Kluivert, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Robin van Persie… They all started their international career in the Young Oranje squad. Some with some succes, some with a lot of succes (last year coach Foppe de Haan and players Huntelaar and Emanuelson to name a few won the title in Portugal (!!!)).

This year De Haan is hoping to prolongate that title and to win a ticket to the Bejing Olympics…

And the Dutch Federation takes this tournament – to be played in The Netherlands - very serious, but for now Foppe de Haan is struggling. Tonight, Oranje plays Morocco in a friendly and half Foppe’s selection is absent. Play-offs and injuries are the main stumble blocks.

The attention for De Haan’s team is huge. The next four friendlies will be broadcast live and who still wants to see the team play in the stadiums will have to hurry up. Holland loves their youth team, unparalled in the world.

Foppe misses seven players from AZ and Ajax, while RKC players Koenders, Janssen and Excelsior’s Bruins are also absent. Daniel de Ridder (Celta de Vigo) is still active in the Spanish LA Liga. Kruiswijk (FC Utrecht), Erik Pieters (FC Utrecht) and Tim Krul (Newcastle United) will report for duty next week.

“I am not going to complain about it,” says De Haan. “But for a good prep it is necessary to have your team complete. Some people really like those play-offs. I’m not one of them.” De Haan can’t use his favorite starting line-up in de next two friendlies (Morocco and the Suriprofs). “And I look forward to the next play-off games with some anxiety.”

“Yesterday, Emanualson got quite a kick. The injury is not that bad, I heard, but still. De Haan can’t have any more injuries, with Ibrahim Afellay (PSV), Evander Sno (Celtic) and Stijn Schaars (AZ) already in the sickbay. These players make up a pretty good midfield, and last Sunday Hedwiges Maduro was absent at the Ajax – AZ match because of an injury. “But he’ll show up, I think. He focusses fully on the EC here, that’s the deal I made with Ajax.”

The physical fitness of his players has grown enormously. De Haan: “I remember that Zuiverloon wasn’t able to do 10 ab-excercises 2 yeard ago. He has become much more fit and gained a lot of strength. We used to have a huge physical gap with the other European youth-teams, but that’s history now. These kids realise that top football is more than being able to do nice tricks with the ball.”

De Haan thinks the ticket to the Olympics should be the main objective for this EC. “The last time we were at the Olympics was in 1952! And we were kicked out in the first round. Yes, I feel a huge obligation to qualify with this team.”