Mark van Bommel: "Stylish football is an extra"
Monday, 14 June 2010
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| Mark van Bommel: "From what
I hear one can conclude that our level is higher
than that of most countries" |
Mark van Bommel says that stylish
football is not the main concern when Holland play their
first World Cup game against Denmark this afternoon.
"A World Champion doesn't play seven good games
in a row. But the one team to win it in the end has
made sure that the one bad game they play wasn't fatal.
The big difference with the previous World Cup is that
back then most players still played in Holland. Now
most have joined big foreign teams, often with top teams.
You learn to approach the game in a different way. The
offensive football that we all like to play can now
be paired to a result based way of playing."
"That is our inset. We've
been talking about that for two years now. Stylish football
is an extra, a bonus. It's about that one bad game,
if need be we might have to stretch it and take it to
the penalties and hope Maarten Stekelenburg pulls us
through. Your fate depends on fortune, yes. But that's
part of a tournament."
After the friendly against Ghana
(4-1) Van Bommel received some text messages from his
German colleagues at Bayern. "They had been watching
the game and said it was looking 'nice'. Well, when
fellow players say 'nice' they in fact mean 'good'.
From what I hear one can conclude that our level is
higher than that of most countries. I have said it before:
put this team in the Premier League or the Spanish league
and we'll compete for the championship."
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