Edwin van der Sar: remember ‘98 and 2000!

A wonderful playing Oranje scored nine goals in the Group of Death. Euphoria pushed criticism aside. And Edwin van der Sar, the 37 year old captain, was one of the men of the match in the two first games.

“And that’s why I am pessimistic and I do my utmost to explain to everyone we are not that good and we need to work harder.”

What?

“Listen, every one in Holland and in the media talks about who we will meet in the semis… Even Henk Kesler said he will start cheering when we win the tournament… I can’t allow everyone to get their heads in the clouds. I’ve seen too much for that.”

Van der Sar sees this as his duty. “I don’t organize meetings about it or something, but everytime I have the chance, at the bar, at breakfast, when we go for a walk, I will tell them. Listen, we have done well till now, but we haven’t won anything yet. We need to keep ourselves grounded. Three more matches to go!”

Van der Sar knows what it means to leave a tournament before the finals are played. He played the quarter finals in 1996, reached the semis in 1998 and 2000. “The euphoria in 1998 and 2000 was tremendous as well. But we were left empty handed. So frustrating. I’d rather leave a tournament with a bad performance. Then you know you didn’t have anything to lament. Now, I want to win the title.”

Van der Sar is not playing mindgames only. The goalie saw a lot of mistakes in his team, even in the big matches against Italy and France. “I won’t talk about the Romania game, I didn’t play and there were circumstances for the lads. But the Italy and France games… Listen, I could impress a bit but at the same time, the team allowed the opponents to take those potshots at me. We gave away too many chances and both games could have ended differently. Luca Toni for instance, squandered chances in all his matches. Next time, we might not be that lucky. The space between our defense and midfield is just to big, by times. We need to address this if we want to win this!”

Van der Sar won’t be happy with less than the title. “And that’s not just because this is my last tournament. These young lads will need to understand that if you’re lucky to have a long international career like me, still you won’t have many chances to win a title like this.”

The vibe in the group won’t stop the team though. “Of course, we are a tight knit unit. But Oranje has been more often. There were no issues in 1998 or 2000. It’s easy to be friends when you’re winning.”

Van der Sar also sees that right in time, the missing jigsaw pieces were found. Nigel de Jong suddenly excels in the holding role, Boulahrouz was sent on a holiday but returned to become the right full back and Andre Ooijer impresses on Heitinga’s spot.

“That’s the unpredictable side of football. Without knowing how that process works, suddenly it gels. It’s the mysterious side of sports, I guess. I told this before to you guys. Sometimes you want explanations when there aren’t any. Luckily, I won’t have to deal with you anymore, soon (laughs).”