Babel showed some criticism towards Foppe de Haan. “I don’t think he used the players in the right way. And some of them didn’t stick to the specific training programmes.”

The Liverpool striker can’t understand the criticism by De Haan on Drenthe and Sno. “I haven’t seen or experienced anything by those two that deserved that criticism. I personally think De Haan’s remarks are basically his own disappointment.”

Babel feels De Haan is losing respect and support from his players by being so blunt in the press. “He always does that. He used to be like that when we played the EC in Holland. But we won that tournament and then you can sort of live with it and it doesn’t irritate as much. Now, we’ve lost and all those things start to have their effects.”

De Haan’s U21 team plays an important match tonight for the EC play offs. De Haan’s team only needs one point to qualify for the play offs. If Oranje U21 loses, they need to hope for a position amongst the “best numbers 2″.

De Haan stated that he’ll play 4-3-3 and will go full on the offence. “Playing for a draw is like trying to walk on a tightrope. It doesn’t work for us.”

That particular evening, Foppe de Haan asked Evander Sno to come by in his room. The Olympic’s coach had made an overview on video of all Sno’s ball contacts and decisions of the last match. The current Ajax player was supposed to soak it all up and learn from his actions. De Haan allowed Sno to watch the compilation and asked Sno afterwards: “well, what do you think?”. And Sno replied: “Well, that’s just how I play…”

De Haan now: “As a coach, there’s nothing more you can say.”

And thus, we don’t see Sno or Drenthe for that matter in the current U21 selection for the EC qualification. De Haan was clearly not happy with the two talented youngsters.

The Games are history now, but it still seems to be a tough reality for De Haan, who worked four years towards his goal: winning a medal.

“It was my major goal and not all players supported me in this. Their preparation was unsufficient. Or maybe I should say, non-existent. Not all of them, but some.”

“We had 22 players in the pre-selection and at least 10 of these players overestimated themselves and underestimated the circumstances in China. You’ll crash into a brick wall if that’s the case. I could see it during our warm up in Hong Kong already. I always enjoy watching football and the training sessions are usually a treat. This time, I found myself cursing at some of them! You asshole, I thought… It startled me. I never had that before.”

How is it possible that well-paid pro’s – playing for some oof the biggest clubs in Europe – prepare so badly for an Olympic Games. De Haan thinks it has to do with the Dutch football mentality. “We organize everything for them. We think for them. We don’t give them any responsibilities anymore. Beckham had to clean Keane’s shoes at Man United. Our players are pampered at a very young age. At the clubs, they have a whole network of minions taking care of their stuff. It’s sick.”

In Bejing, some players basically hid. They refused to stand up and take responsibility. An athlete like Theo Bos, who disappointed in Bejing, can’t blame anyone else but himself. Some of my players weren’t there with their hearts. Some people warned me for this, they said I was too positive about my group. I didn’t want to listen, but they were right. It was a tough and hard lesson for me.”

“When Gertjan Verbeek (current Feyenoord coach) played at Heerenveen, I had to stop him from working too hard, from trying too hard. I literally had to tell him to leave the trainings pitch. I missed players like him. Roy Makaay has it. He sticked to his program and he stepped up to the plate. And Dirk Marcellis. He is a real pro too. He knew he had to work hard to survive.”

Two tough characters, Marcellis and Makaay. Comparable with players like Verbeek. “The ones that invest in themselves are usually the lesser talented players. They know they need the work to make it big. Marcellis, and Calvin Jong-A-Pin aren’t top talents, but they’ll come far on their character and work ethics.”

Players who count on their talent to pull them through will fail, in the end, is what De Haan thinks.

“I told my players this. But to them, it’s a story. Some blokes see the light at a later stage in their career. Sibon. Santi Kolk. Romano Denneboom. These boys talk to me now and say, “trainer, you were right back then. I wish I’d listened.” It’s too late, in most cases. Too bad.”

U21 Jong Oranje plays Norway this Friday.

Aissati is still not selected by De Haan. “I think Aissati will have to prove himself at Ajax first. He was a tremendous player when he was 17 years old. We all know that. But something stagnated in his development and I don’t know what caused it. But the fact that several coaches in the past years haven’t used him as much is a signal you can’t ignore.”

The Dutch Olympic football team may have played a shocker of a game against the USA, the return to the hotel suggests they just won gold. Dozens of smiling school girls cheered the team when they got out of the bus after another training.

The rain is pouring down and for every Oranje player, there’s a person with an umbrella to escort them savely and dry to the hotel entrance. It’s only 8 meters… After the dreadful performance against the USA, this honour seems a tad too much…

Without that lucky shot in the 93rd minute by Sibon, the Olympians would be on a plane back to Amsterdam. And rightfully so as well. In nothing, De Haan’s team operates like a team on ut’s way to gold.

But, there is an escape. If Oranje beats Japan – already out of the games – with two goals or more, the quarterfinals lurk. “And you never know what happens than,” knows De Haan. “I remember our Portugal EC two years back. We started slowly and lacklustre there too and won. But, we will have to up our game against Japan big time, that’s one thing that’s clear.”

The Dutch problem being, that there is not a lot to cling on to. Against Nigeria and the US, Oranje started fresh but after 25 odd minutes, the team imploded. Even when the temperature improved and even with other teams facing the same circumstances, it seemed Oranje lacked power and breath.

In his quest for solutions, De Haan adjusted his schedule. A day before the match, the team only trains in the morning. “I want the recovery time to be maximal. This group is so eager and hungry on the training, but the batteries are dead too early in the match.”

In football technical terms, there is also not a lot to smile about. Goalie Ken Vermeer impresses a lot and Jonathan De Guzman is the best field player, but that’s about it. In terms of tactics and physical strength, the Americans beat Holland hands down and no one stepped up to the plate to keep the team afloat.

“My biggest problem with this team is that most lads aren’t capable of looking beyond their own performance,” says De Haan. “It’s not that they don’t want to, because they give it their all. But they can’t find the solutions on the pitch. I told Drenthe many times to stay deep and keep the pitch long. But he keeps on dropping back to pick up the ball and trying to force a solution with the ball on the foot. No wonder he isn’t able to finish the game. And he’s not the only one.”

The team manager himself is also searching for the best solution. Last Sunday, Emanuelson was taken back to the left full back spot. It’s also remarkable that De Haan keeps on selecting Luijckx and Sno who obviously do not have enough football-skills in this team. And then there’s the remarkable Sibon. Without a club last season, brought in as a leader upfront, relegated to a sub role and re-emerging as the saviour of the team.

So, the big question remains, how will Oranje play Japan tomorrow? Against Nigeria, De Haan played 4-4-2, against the US he played 4-3-3. With players who lack maturity in tactics, any change can be one change too many.

It’s obvious that Japan won’t hand Holland the victory. The teams play in Shenyang, a historical spot for the Japanese, since the Second Chinese-Japanese war started there in 1937. “They definitely don’t want to lose face there,” understands De Haan. “There are a lot of Japanese people here still. If we want to reach the quarter finals, we’ll need to give it our all. Luckily, all players realize that.”

Back from the Big Smoke. Sydney was busy, smoggy, cold-ish and like any city .

Been there, done that.

Back to the pitch .

Lots of wonderful news indeed. And not so wonderful… Ruud retiring as international is a bit of a shock. He definitely was the beesknees during the EC, but Van Gol must feel his body and maybe wants to focus a tad more on his family. I’ll see if I can find some sound bites on this case.

Van Bommel back is expected and maybe it’s a good thing. But then again, maybe it’s not. However, with Sneijder out for some time, you just can’t be too picky these days eh?

Marc Overmars back on the pitch is quite something. The 35 year old former Ajax, Arsenal, Barca and Oranje star is top fit. He did stop because of his knee injury but he was still involved – in several roles: sponsor, technical consultant – at Go Ahead and after the Stam-tribute the Go Ahead coach (for the love of God, can’t reproduce his name) joked that he wanted Marc back on the pitch. Some days later, Marc called him and said: let’s do it… .

Can we still use a good pinch hitter in Oranje???

Amrabat is doing well at PSV. I think his wondergoal against Everton will be shown on YouTube soon!

Ajax is doing well in the warm up, it seems Van Basten is making progress with getting his team together. At Feyenoord, the keeper Henk Timmer is the best man on the pitch, which normally is not good news. Tomassen isn’t 100% fit and Roy Makaay is in China, as is De Guzman, so Verbeek won’t be too happy as yet.

Van der Vaart’s move to Madrid is great! I always felt Raf was one of the best players coming out of Holland (partly) for a long time but his tenure at Ajax was a bit rocky so when he left for Germany I was worried. But seeing how he looks and plays (and how he was feted after his goal) shows me he is finally where he belongs. Good stuff!

And then now the Olympics!! Success coach Foppe de Haan has left his lucky streak in Holland it seems. After two disappointing draws, Holland needs some luck – it seems at least – to qualify.

Gerald Sibon was heralded before the games as “a real leader” but after some lacklustre performances and with Babel in good shape, De Haan subbed the Heerenveen striker and some bad blood between De Haan and Sibon surfaced. But, as was commented earlier by Bob, when Sibon came on against the USA, he finally showed why De Haan called him a leader. With only ten seconds to go and the assistant coach texting the staff at the hotel to pack the suitcases, the former Ajax-man saved the day with a blistering free-kick. Sibon: “I can shoot really hard, but my precision is terrible. I know that when I’m lucky and the ball is on target, not many goalies can stop the ball. I decided to give it a go.”

In the half time break, Sibon got a tip from the stands. “Some bloke yelled: can’t you do any better? I turned around and said: thanks mate, I’ll tell the boys in the dressing room, hahahahaaa….”.

De Haan: “I think that it’s clear that we weren’t able to prepare well enough. I can’t see any other reason for our disappointing results. We have very good players. We all know that. On training, I see great one-touch football, but in the games, we don’t seem to play as a team. In these circumstances, the ball needs to do the work. It’s too humid to keep on dribbling. But in the matches, I don’t see a team play, I see eleven individuals making wrong choices. Maybe we needed more time, but in today’s football it’s hard to gel a team together. Babel was injured, Drenthe was in Madrid, etc etc… The calender is full and our boys needed more preparation. But… I still have good hopes.”

Holland started good, with Emanuelson on the left as the secret weapon. After 20 minutes, the American coach made some tactical changes and Maduro and Urby had problems steering the team.
De Haan reacted very late moving Emanuelson up the park a bit, and when the injured Makaay was brought on with Sibon, it didn’t seem that Holland would be able to score. Ever. Until the 93rd minute.

De Haan: “We were very very lucky. The USA won every personal challenge, they seemed much fitter. Emanuelson told me after the match that he felt we are the weakest team physically. That’s a worry.”

I am not sure what will happen when Nigeria and the USA draw. They’ll have 5 points in that case and so will Oranje if we win against Japan. I don’t know the rules in that case. If either Nigeria or the USA loses and Oranje wins, we are through. Let’s hope for that scenario. I like to see the USA and Holland go through…

Argentina impressed against Australia, but the Olyroos weren’t too shabby either. Some of these youngster can surely play football! Italy impressed me even more. Having seen Italy plod along at the EC, I wondered why they didn’t play Casiraghi’s boys at the EC2008. They definitely have some wonderful young players, the Azzuri. Brazil outplayed New Zealand (yawn) and are through as well.

I haven’t seen Belgium or Germany play. Any comments on those squads?

The Dutch striker who just saw his starting position slip away looked a bit puzzled after the Oranje game against Cameroon. He’d seen who scored and knew enough. “That’s how it is in football.”

Sub Ryan Babel and Roy Makaay had just scored two goals to win over Cameroon. Babel assisted Makaay when he scored, and Makaay had the assist for Babel’s goal. Goals that livened up the game and supplied De Haan with answers, rather than questions like the Belgium game. De Haan confirmed his choice: “Babel and Makaay will be my preferred strikers duo up front. Although Sibon played a good game, I thought. It was a tad easier in the second half too, because Cameroon was getting tired and there was more space. And Babel didn’t even start that well…”

Sibon lacked luck. He missed a good opportunity with his head and Otman Bakkal forgot to pass the ball to the free-standing Sibon later on. “If I would have scored that first header, things could have gone differently,” said Sibon.

“But, that’s life. If my role changes in the group, I’ll have to live with that and flick a switch. It sucks, but it’s how it is.”

De Haan has to get used to his new duo as well. He meticulously picked the two over-aged strikers because they complement each other. “Yeah, I had high hopes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improvise or change things…”

And another surprising player was Urby Emanuelson. The Ajax player had a tough year, but impressed with his game as left midfielder in De Haan’s 4-4-2. His dynamic and unpredictable play gave the team an extra boost.

De Haan: “Urby was really good. It was easier to reach the forwards and we lost the ball less due to his work.”

It was Emanuelson who initiated the first goal. The midfielder played the throughpass to Makaay who found Babel. Not much later, Babel was sent away by Sno and the unmarked Makaay scored like he knows so well… Cool and collected.

De Haan: “Makaay can do better though. We need to get used to his ability to play so close to offside and on the other hand, Roy is sloppy when in possession. That’s not necessary and he’ll need to up his game a bit.”

Physically, the team looked fresh. “That was good to see. None of the boys complained about the conditions. These boys don’t whine.”

Holland started well with good opportunities for Makaay, Maduro, Sibon and Bakkel. After the break, the Africans were a bit more threatening but Oranje never got into trouble. De Haan: “We’re not there yet, but I am happy with where we currently are.”

Jonathan de Guzman made a new step in his Dutchman-ness… He walked along the bay of Kowloon in awe. This looked nothing like Scarborough, the Canadian town where he grew up.

“I made a lot of photos already. I know we’re here to play football, but I think it’s pretty remarkable to be here. When I get home, I’d love to tell my friends and family what it’s like here.”

The Canadian walks around in an Asics-training suit with orange tulips, the NOC logo on his sleeve.

“I could never even think about this when I came to Holland as a twelve-year old. This is weird, but also great. It may seem strange for a Canadian to play for Holland, but I thought about it long and hard and I stand by my decision.”

Canada reacted to his decision in an extreme way. Gerry Dobson, Canadian opinion maker, called De Guzman a traitor. Others supported the likes of De Guzman and Man United player Owen Hargreaves, with the deplorable state of Canadian football in mind.

“For me it was vital that my family supported my decision. Also, most of my old time mates understand why I did this. And that was a big help.”

Feyenoord midfielder De Guzman remembers the Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey and his gold medal in 1996. “The whole of Canada cheered and rejoiced. It was great.” Ironically, “Canadian” Bailey was born in Jamaica and moved to Ontario at 13 years old. The National Post wrote: “We never blamed Bailey for becoming a Canadian, so why blame De Guzman for his step?”.

De Guzman’s participation in the Olympic Squad was not a cert by a long stretch. Coach Foppe de Haan was pretty critical during the Malmo prep tournament. De Haan thought De Guzman was acting as if it was a training game. De Guzman: “Did his criticism surprise me? It did. In Sweden I only played 40 minutes, so I couldn’t really demonstrate anything.”

But Jona knew his selection was a close call. “I did feel that it was either Luigi Bruins or me. When I got the call, I immediately called my bro Julian (as I do almost everyday).” His brother plays for Deportivo La Coruna and the Canadian team.

De Guzman made a good impression against Belgium and hopes to start. “I will have to proof myself against Cameroon and/or Ivory Coast. I think every player will get a chance. My goal is to play. And to win a medal of course. That’s why we are here.”

Gerald Sibon is the most remarkable player of the Olympic team. Sibon agrees with this. Last year, he was registred as unemployed and this summer he’ll wear the orange jersey.

“Yeah, it’s a remarkable story, I guess”, says Sibon now. “I can see that too, but when you are the subject of the story, you don’t really realize it. Things go from one moment into the other. I don’t really think about what my life was like last year.”

In short: Sibon’s adventure at FC Nurnberg fails miserably in 2007. He decides to train with the old-Heerenveen players and enters into conversation with then-coach Gertjan Verbeek. The striker is allowed to train with the A-group, gets a contract and plays one of his best seasons ever.
And Bejing is his prize.

“I have never been selected for a representative team, only for the Drenthe selection when I was young.”

Team manager Foppe de Haan thinks Sibon is a “special human being”. Foppe: “His subtle dry humor, the way he approaches life. He seems uninterested, lacklustre but is also extremely intelligent and independent. He is always looking for answers in life, and along the way found the answer to his football career.”

Sibon agrees. “I look upon life differently now. Foppe reminds me sometimes of my two Mercedes cars on my driveway. He thought it was too much. I understand his point now. You have to realize what’s important and what’s not.”

After four years at Sheffield Wednesday he played his first period at Heerenveen. He was 28 years old and at an important junction in his life. “Some things I won’t discuss, these are private matters, but in Heerenveen I started to take life serious. I realized I needed to be fit to perform.”

He is a strange element in the Olympic selection and prefers books to the PS2 or the iPod. He revels in semi-scientific mysteries. De Haan: “Gerald is a pioneer in a way, but moves well in groups. He actually is a sort of reluctant leader.”

Sibon: “I can deal and interact with all sorts of people. And that we don’t share the same interests isn’t important. Drenthe loves different music than I do, but we’re both dads… And so you share something with everyone.”

After his career, Sibon wants to travel. Far away, with Australia as final station. “I played with five Aussies at Nurnberg. And their attitude, lifestyle…so relaxed…I liked that. I do feel something for the country. I still have a deal for one year with Heerenveen, but then I want to play in Australia.”

“We want to grab the backpack and leave. My wife has Indonesian roots so we definitely want to go there. China we can skip. By then, we’ll have seen a bit of China…”

In the Olympics, Sibon will partner with Roy Makaay. Against Belgium, this didn’t seem to be a solid partnership. But Sibon doesn’t see any clouds: “This team can get far. And how Roy and I play together is also a result of the performance of the rest. We didn’t get any decent service against Belgium. But I’m convinced Roy and I can work well together.”

China needs to be Sibon’s highpoint in a career full contrast. Every strong period was followed by a weak one. “I was the man at Roda JC and a season later at Ajax I was dramatic. Then I had my good period at Heerenveen and when I left for PSV it wasn’t that good again. Although I enjoyed my time in Eindhoven. I can see those contrasts, yeah…weird.”

“I think it has to do with recognition. I need to know I am valuable. That’s the difference between playing at sub top or at top level. At Ajax, playing good was the minimal norm. At Heerenveen, people will value you when you work hard. I’m sensitive to that, I think I’m not strong enough mentally to be absolute top.”

Gerald Sibon is a player whom a coach likes or dislikes. Same with the fans. At Sheffield in England, he was twice chosen as player of the year, at PSV they didn’t like the tall thin player. Slow, tackiturn, dreamy… “I know, I won’t win a beauty contest with my playing and I do think my career suffered because of that. I can’t really worry about it because I can’t change it. I don’t have a top athlete’s body. But I do feel I’ve done well. I won the title with PSV, wore the Ajax jersey, played in the EPL and now I’m going to The Games. Not bad for a slow, clumsy player…”

The Dutch Olympic team has entered a new wonderous world. Surrounded by smiling and bowing strangers, the Dutch athletes are being guided to their new, temporary home.

A lady at the airport sums up the players names for their official documents: Loyston Dlenthe, Elik Pietels and Loy Makaay are all invited to come forward. And good luck with the Olympics.

De Haan wanted to do some aqua jogging in the hotel pool on the roof. But the plans are being changed. It’s much too hot for that activity. So, instead, the group will walk along the Kowloon coastline. De Haan knows how to improvise.

Oranje will have to shield itself against jetlag, high temperatures, high humidity and the smog. The two prep games against Cameroon and Ivory Coast are planned to help the team adjust.

In the evening, the circumstances to train are better. “It looks and feels like Suriname,” knows Drenthe, “although those Chinese letters are a bit weird.”

Foppe de Haan is having fun. “If this is the climate as off now, I think we’ll be fine.” De Haan admits he is a tad nervous. He keeps the training session short. Some warming up, some ball exercises and a couple of sprints. And that’s it.

“We have asked help from specialists and talked to the hockey team, in particular Oltmans and Mark Lammers. We also asked Jim McCarthy of the skating team for advice and their training methods in different circumstances. We think we can benefit from that.”

Roy Makaay has seen a lot of the world already. Still, he is impressed. “It’s great, this vibe. Being in a different culture, helps to realize the whole thing has started.”

De Haan: “The atmosphere in the stadiums will be crucial as well. Will there be a lot of people? Does the public understand the game. Is there a dynamic? That’s all vital to get into the zone. This is a different world altogether. And these things can help to get the team ready for the big games.”

Summers normally mean football for Hedwiges Maduro. In 2005 he played the WC under 20, in 2006 he was with Oranje at the big WC in Germany and in 2007 he played the EC under 21. This summer, again Maduro defends the Dutch flag, this time at the Olympics. But he could take a little holiday first.

“It does feel like a new season,” says Maduro. The Valencia midfielder is sharp and top fit. “The last years, I couldn’t take a break after a season with the club, but this time around there was some time to take a break.”

Since July, Maduro trains on a daily basis in Zeist. His club Valencia didn’t force him to spend the first prep weeks in Spain. “That would have been a hassle. I’d have to fly back and forth for the Olympic prep-sessions. Now, I can take my rest when needed.”

The former Ajax midfielder expects a tough tournament. “The climate, the smog… I don’t expect ideal circumstances to play football. And, we only have 18 players versus 23 for the senior tournaments. But, all nations have these same circumstances, so…”

Maduro doesn’t have time for extra-curricular activities in Bejing. “We need to be focused on that one goal. The Gold. We play a match every two days, so there is no time for excursions. I do regret not staying in the Olympic village with the other athletes. I do want to watch other sports, but we’ll have to do that on the tv. I like swimming, hockey and athletics, but football is number one.”

Last Tuesday, Foppe de Haan published his definitive selection for the Olympics. Roy Makaay, Kew Jaliens and Gerald Sibon are the “dispensation” players (sorry, don’t know the right English term). De Haan selected his 18 players, and has four on stand-by in case one or more players get injured.
The four stand-by players are goalie Tim Krul, defender Christian Kum, midfielder Siem de Jong and striker Amrabat

De Haan made some changes from the Sweden-group (where the Olympics played some warm up games): Royston Drenthe, Ryan Babel and Urby Emanuelson are added.

Ismail Aissati (PSV), Luigi Bruins (Feyenoord) and Ryan Donk (AZ) didn’t make it. Aissati and De Haan have a strained relationship, while De Haan stated not to be too impressed with Ryan Donk’s performance either. Bruins is a bit puzzled why he was dropped. “De Haan probably didn’t need me. I don’t know. But he told me in person and I am not happy but I’ll except it”. Feyenoord coach Gert Jan Verbeek wasn’t too disappointed. “For me and for Feyenoord this is better. In all honesty, I would like to have De Guzman and Makaay in Rotterdam as well. But it’s sad for Luigi of course.”

“It’s hard to choose,” De Haan said Tuesday. “But you don’t do it in one day. It’s a long and precise process. Some players are beyond discussion, like Dirk Marcellis, with others it depends on little details. Jeremain Lens for instance, would be a sure thing, but he is still a tad injured. I don’t want to take any risks with him. We already have Ryan Babel who’s not 100% fit and one of those is enough. I had to choose between Babel or Lens.”

The four stand-by players won’t travel with the group to China. “In Holland, they can participate in the prep of their club. For Amrabat and De Jong, that’s important so they’ll have the best chances to secure a spot in their club-teams. And should we need them at the last moment, they’ll be fit anyway.”

Liverpool manager Benitez tried hard to keep Babel in Liverpool, but the striker will make the trip to China with the Dutch Olympic team.

De Haan: “Ryan told me he wanted to come.” Liverpool is obliged to allow Babel to go, since he falls in the group till 23 years old. Clubs can only veto the so-called dispensation players, as AC Milan did with Kaka and will probably do with Ronaldinho (as Barca will too).

Babel’s manager Haatrecht: “Ryan is quite uncomplicated in his thinking. If he’s called up and fit, he’ll do it. That’s according to the rules. Ryan wants to play matches at a high level to become match fit and he can do that with De Haan and with Liverpool. He chose to go with the Olympics.”

De Haan’s toughest choices were upfront. It’s remarkable how huge talents like Bruins, Amrabat and Aissati were dropped. “It’s simple. Aissati hasn’t played a lot. He was sick when we did the Sweden games, so…what can I say. I couldn’t really judge him. Luigi Bruins, see, here’s a player with tremendous potential but mentally…he doesn’t seem to get what top football is all about. It’s all to happy-go-lucky with him. Some days great, other days in another world. I don’t want to have to motivate players at this level. You need to ooze that you want to eat the grass and your opponent as well. De Guzman has that mentality, Bruins is too easy…”

Nordin Amrabat was the best man in the Sweden-games, but De Haan selected Beerens in his place. “Beerens is a real winger, who can take a man on and cross the ball in. Amrabat is a player who tends to want to go centrally. I have many players who do that, like Babel, Makaay and Drenthe. I can use Beerens better to have more options tactically.”

The Olympic team will play a friendly against Belgium on July 23.

The final selection is:

Goal: Piet Velthuizen (Vitesse), Kenneth Vermeer (Ajax)
Defense: Kew Jaliens (AZ), Calvin Jong-A-Pin (SC Heerenveen), Kees Luijcks (AZ), Dirk Marcelis (PSV), Erik Pieters (PSV), Gianni Zuiverloon (West Bromwich Albion)
Midfield: Otman Bakkal (PSV), Urby Emanuelson (Ajax), Jonathan de Guzman (Feyenoord), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia), Evander Sno (Celtic)
Attack: Roy Beerens (sc Heerenveen), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Royston Drenthe (Real Madrid), Roy Makaay (Feyenoord), Gerald Sibon (sc Heerenveen).

Feyenoord developed Zuiverloon, de Guzman, Sno and Drenthe.
PSV developed Marcelis, Bakkal and Roy Beerens.
Ajax developed Vermeer, Amrabat, De Jong, Emanuelson, Maduro, Babel and Sibon.