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Holland is a calm oasis
Monday 17 November 2008
Bert van Marwijk put on the hat
of a club coach on Monday night.
The Holland boss granted his players
as much rest as possible ahead of Wednesday's friendly
against Sweden and sent them off to the showers after
45 minutes of warm up.
In doing so Van Marwijk conceded
to the wishes of the club coaches not to burden the
players too much in these busy weeks, as the medical
teams of the various clubs are working a lot of overtime
these days anyhow.
A friendly against Sweden has no
priority during such times.
Henk Timmer was the only absent
player of the 18 in Van Marwijk's squad.
The Feyenoord keeper dislocated
a finger during Sunday's match against Twente and went
to hospital for some x-rays.
Those revealed no damage which
means Timmer is ready to play on Wednesday.
Yet it is unclear whether Van Marwijk
will use Timmer.
The second goal keeper would then
be Michel Vorm.
How big is the chance he will play
against Sweden, he was asked.
Vorm: "I don't know. Let's
wait and see. I believe it was Dave van den Bergh who
was the last Utrecht player to get any playing time
in the national team. Right?"
But it's just not his goal keeper
Van Marwijk will have to replace.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, since the
resignation of van Ruud van Nistelrooy first choice
for the center forward spot, tore an ankle ligament
last week and will be out until January.
That means Dirk Kuyt is a serious
candidate to lead the forward line.
The Liverpool player hasn't only
been in fine shape this season: he was elected player
of the months at his club and has so scored more games
for his club than in all of last season.
"Rafael Benitez gives me a
lot of confidence. I play nine out of ten games. That
feels good. The manager uses me as a center forward
and on the right wing, just like the Holland manager
does. I think I can be important for Holland too as
a center forward. But of course Robin van Persie can
play there as well," Kuyt says.
Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van
der Vaart have a chance to escape the turmoil at Real
Madrid, the Spanish champions who only won one of their
last four matches.
And Ibrahim Afellay is away from
Eindhoven for a few days.
Last year's league winners lost
their last four matches.
"But still I'm not overly
worried," the midfielder said after the 4-1 defeat
at Ajax.
"Really, things will be okay.
We just need a decent victory. If possible next Saturday
against Heracles."
The youngster didn't want to say
whether he thinks PSV should play with one or two forwards.
"That's what a coach is for
no?"
He bit his lip when he was asked
whether he should play in the center instead of on the
wing.
"Well, yeah, that's also for
the coach to decide. But you're right, I did score immediately
when I came close to the goal. I now play on the wing
and tried to complete my task to my ability. I can't
do more than that."
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