Van Basten hails Dutch delights
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Article summary
Marco van Basten admitted his Netherlands side were "beautiful to watch" at times last night as they issued a Europe-wide warning by beating Croatia 3-0 in Split.
Article body
Marco van Basten was in ebullient mood after the Netherlands made an emphatic return to action, beating fellow UEFA EURO 2008™ finalists Croatia 3-0 in Split with a performance that was "beautiful to watch".
Message to Europe
The Oranje were under pressure after ending their qualifying campaign in colourless fashion, scraping a 1-0 home victory over Luxembourg before losing 2-1 to Belarus, and they responded in style. Johnny Heitinga, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and substitute Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink all scored as Croatia were overwhelmed at the Poljud Stadium. For Van Basten, the result will send out a message to the sides awaiting his team in Austria and Switzerland this summer. "This victory will really mean something in Europe as Croatia have a good reputation," he said. "There was a lot of quality football on show, not bad considering we were not even at full strength."
New system
To what extent the rediscovery of quality football was down to increased confidence in Van Basten's new 4-2-3-1 system is difficult to measure. Whatever, the display helped to vindicate the decision to digress from the traditional 4-3-3 formation. "Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart were very dangerous on the wings, and Ibrahim Afellay also shone when he came on – at times it was beautiful to watch," said the coach. "Heitinga formed a strong partnership with Joris Mathijsen in central defence and Tim de Cler created a lot of danger in attacking midfield, enjoying the freedom made possible by having Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Demy de Zeeuw behind him. This gives us real confidence for the future."
Renewed confidence
The feeling of renewed belief was evidenced by Van Basten's players, young and old alike. "This will give us a lot of confidence ahead of the European Championship," said the 23-year-old Sneijder. "We combined well and played real football, as we were able to boss the midfield." Fourteen years Sneijder's senior, captain Edwin van der Sar has seen it all before and knows how positive an impact this victory could have, saying: "This is a huge lift for us. We knew we could not win anything the way we played in qualification but this went well." The Netherlands will be keen to continue that progress against Austria in six weeks' time.
