Johan Cruyff hails Dirk Kuyt
Monday, 5 July 2010
 In
his weekly column in Dutch daily De Telegraaf Johan
Cruyff has hailed Liverpool midfielder Dirk Kuyt. "He
has developed into one of the most valuable players
of this Dutch team."
Cruyff says it's been
a World Cup full of surprises. "I had my doubts
about the Germans, but they have all vanished after
their game against the Argentineans. They way they took
them on was impressive. I have come to understand that
their manager Joachim Löw has adapted elements
of the Dutch school in his policy, and that was clearly
visible against Argentina."
The former Ajax and
Barcelona star went on to say that he didn't understand
some of the choices that were made by the Argentinean
staff. "Why did they leave Esteban Cambiasso and
Javier Zanetti at home? Cambiasso would have been perfect
for servicing Messi, and Zanetti is great for keeping
a team together. Argentina were great individually,
but not as a team."
Cruyff said he had
been on the edge of his seat during Holland's game against
Brazil. "At first the Dutch were impressed with
their opponents, but as ever so often you need a setback
to be woken up. That happened after they opened the
score, and it was an achievement that team didn't break
at that stage. They were a bit lucky that the best goal
keeper of the tournament made the first mistake I have
ever seen of him. Holland were then mentally strong
enough to push through."
Cruyff hailed especially
Dirk Kuyt: "It's great to see how he has developed
into one of the most valuable players. Coming up to
the tournament I had my doubts about him, but he has
been great from the opening game against Denmark. And
just look at what he has done since. He started wide-right,
after that he played center forward and against Brazil
he made sure on the left not only that Maicon was kept
quiet, but he also prepared the winning goal. He's worth
his weight in gold for your team."
Cruyff said he hopes
Holland will take Spain's performance against Paraguay
as an example on how not to approach the game against
Uruguay. "After they knocked out Portugal they
thought that they had overcome the biggest hurdle. They
hadn't; In the end they were fortunate it all went well,
but let Spain-Paraguay be a warning for Holland. We
are in a similar situation. After Brazil Uruguay may
seem a little easier, but Spain has taught us how dangerous
that is."
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