Stubbornness Portuguese and fatigue seem main pitfalls Young Orange
NOS Football–
The Dutch Junior Team started the European Under-21 Championship in Georgia and Romania this week with a 0-0 draw against Belgium. Tomorrow the second group match is scheduled against Portugal, which surprisingly lost its first game 2-0 to host Georgia.
“Everyone was kind of surprised,” said Orange defender Micky van de Ven about the result, which will undoubtedly ensure that the Portuguese will be motivated to the hilt to kick the Netherlands’ ass.
The decision in the group will fall on Tuesday for the Netherlands in the match against Georgia. The numbers one and two advance to the quarter-finals.
Van de Ven: “Portugal is a good team with a lot of individual qualities. They do have some big names running around. We definitely have to watch out for the counters, but I don’t think we necessarily have to change a system or tactics for that. They can play good soccer. So we have to prepare well.”
Most of the preparation is in the hands of national coach Erwin van de Looi, who, like Van de Ven, is apprehensive about the Portuguese’s qualities.
“They are skilled players, they are mature. They played below their level against Georgia. Maybe they underestimated slightly, but there will be no question of that against us.”
Substitutions?
In addition to Portugal as an opponent, Jong Oranje also has to fight against another opponent: fatigue. At the end of the match against Belgium, some players made a jaded impression.
Van de Looi may therefore have to intervene and make some substitutions. “The guys who are going to start are fit enough to accelerate,” he said about that. “We’re going to see how they are today. We don’t play until tomorrow night, so we still have some time.”
“We need to get a good look in their eyes, see how they’re doing and then we’ll see if we need to make substitutions and how many.”
For Van de Ven, it’s no problem. He has had a long season with VfL Wolfsburg and, thanks in part to his German training, still feels top fit.
“I’m still feeling fine, I must say. I’ve played a lot, it’s been a long season, but at Wolfsburg we trained a lot on our running ability. If we continue, we have four days of rest. Now it’s just a bit of bickering and see how we come out of this group stage.”
