Van Basten keeps course

In the last five months Robin van Persie had intensive phone contact with the Dutch team manager about the new team tactics. The injured Gunner couldn’t be present at the meetings between key-players and coaching staff but next week Robin will be present, for the first time since October last year.

Marco van Basten: “Robin has trained hard last weeks to be physically fit for the most important phase of the season. Arsenal has a lot of tough matches to play and I hope he’ll play a lot and gain rhythm for the EC. It’s good for him to be part of Oranje again, so we can determine which role(s) fit him in the new style of play.”

Now Oranje plays with three creative midfielders and one deep striker, Van Persie could actually play on all four positions. Although Van Basten rather not use Van Persie as deep striker.

Arjen Robben is not yet part of the selection. “We want to wait a while with Robben,” said Van Basten. “A fit Robben is a strong contrubutor for us, but he has been plagued with injuries and we don’t want to put pressure on him.”

Another remarkable name in the selection is Piet Velthuizen, the Vitesse goalie. Both Van der Sar (injury) and Stekelenburg (family circumstances) are absent.

“Van der Sar isn’t in a very good place, physically. We want him to focus on Manchester United. We know what Edwin can and can’t do. For us, the main thing is that Edwin is fit on May 20.”

“Piet Velthuizen is a great option,” stated Van Basten, who selected him in favour of AZ goalie Boy Waterman, who lost his starters’ spot in Alkmaar.

Henk Timmer will be starting in the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna. “The idea is too change as little as possible with regards to the Croatia line-up.”
Huntelaar will most probably replace Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Dirk Kuyt’s chances on EC participation are getting slimmer. At Liverpool, the former Feyenoord star plays on the right flank now. Rafael Benitez seems to rotate less with his team and Kuyt has extensive defensive tasks in the current Liverpool style of play. “But for me, Dirk will always be a striker,” commented the Dutch team manager. “But the other strikers are currently better. Bakkal is another player we will keep following. He shows he has great potential as a midfielder with penetrating abilities. We don’t have enough of those type of players.”

Bakkal is not longer pre-occupied with the decision between Morocco or Holland. The PSV midfielder played for Oranje U21 already after becoming 21 years old, so formally he has chosen for Oranje.

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