Kuyt: "We can beat Brazil"

Friday, 2 July 2010

Dirk Kuyt is normally a man who weighs every word and says few remarkable things in an interview. The fact that even the man from the city of Katwijk dares to say that Holland have a chance to win the World Cup says something about the self-confidence of the players of the Dutch team. "We can beat Brazil."

Dirk Kuyt, Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel during yesterday's training

"This game against Brazil is in fact the first real game," Kuyt says. "We have to win this one or it's over. But the same goes for our opponents. There's two candidates for the World Cup facing each other. We have put this pressure on ourselves and I don't regret it. We can beat them, I am 100% convinced of that."

The Liverpool forward knows that Oranje have a lot of experience, perhaps even more than the South Americans. "Wesley, Gio and Mark have all won the Champions League, Arjen and I have played the final. If we want to achieve something it's now."

"But we'll have to be very good," Kuyt says. "And we will be, because we've grown harder mentally. And that's on top of our technical abilities. The collective strength is enormous. I feel as if everything comes together here in South Africa.