Jong Oranje find Pot of gold

Replacing Foppe de Haan as Netherlands Under-21 coach was always going to be a big task. In his five years in charge, De Haan led the Jong Oranje to their first U21 title in 2006 and repeated the feat on home soil the following year. His departure last summer left a big void to fill, but Cor Pot has risen to the challenge.

Perfect record
The Jong Oranje have won all five of their qualifiers for the 2011 UEFA European U21 Championship and along with the Czech Republic are the only side still boasting a perfect record. If there was any doubt about the potential of this new generation it was banished by Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Spain, who had won their previous 14 group-stage qualifiers stretching back to October 2005.

'Excellent attitude'
A place in the play-offs is now within touching distance, though Pot knows his side have achieved nothing yet. "We are close, but the last crop under Foppe de Haan also had 15 points from five matches, but still didn't qualify for the play-offs," Pot told uefa.com. His pride in his side, though, suggests an important benchmark was set against Spain. "The boys did a terrific job. I cannot be anything other than satisfied. It was only a pity they scored to make it 2-1, which caused a bit of panic. That was unnecessary, but we earned a good victory over very good opponents. Our attitude was excellent and we were very disciplined."

Continuity
Those words could have been spoken about either of De Haan's title-winning sides and are evidence of the continuity that runs through the Dutch U21 set-up. Pot coached a number of Dutch youth sides between 2002 and 2006 and was temporarily in charge of the Jong Oranje between 2003 and 2004. The 58-year-old helped lay the foundations for De Haan's success, with Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Stijn Schaars and Romeo Castelen just some of the players he introduced to the squad.

De Haan praise
Handing the reigns over to De Haan is one thing, taking them back is quite another. "It is very hard to succeed a legend like Foppe de Haan," Pot said. "He did a terrific job and won two European championships, even if the last campaign went a little less well. The expectations are always high, but we have a good team, a talented generation and things are working out extremely well at the moment."

Zenit experience
Pot was born in Den Haag and enjoyed a successful playing career as a striker with Sparta Rotterdam, MVV Maastricht, HFC Haarlem and SBV Excelsior. He counts NAC Breda and Excelsior among the clubs he has coached and was assistant to Dick Advocaat at FC Zenit St. Petersburg prior to returning to the U21s. Advocaat and Pot led Zenit to the UEFA Cup and Premier-Liga title in 2008 and the latter naturally looks back on his time in Russia with fondness. "It was a fantastic period," Pot said. "I learned a lot from [Advocaat], and he learned from me, as I'm no rookie either. Dick is a fantastic person and he has become a good friend."

Team spirit
With the Jong Oranje, Pot has built a team along the traditional Dutch 4-3-3 lines. Of the 2007 championship-winning squad, Tim Krul is now goalkeeper with Erik Pieters the captain, the rest are new faces with the likes of Jeffrey Bruma, Vurnon Anita, Georginio Wijnaldum, who scored the winner against Spain, Diego Biseswar, Leroy Fer, Erik Falkenburg and Ricky van Wolfswinkel all making their mark. Like De Haan before him, though, Pot stresses that talent alone does not bring success. "For me the most important aspect is team-building. The group has to be one."