Dutch not among favourites - Van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar has known many things over the course of a long and successful career. From tasting UEFA Champions League success with Ajax to collecting 107 caps with the Netherlands, via spells with two of Europe's most glamorous clubs, Juventus and Manchester United, the 35-year-old has had much to savour.
Yet ask him to single out one memory from his 16 years of senior football and it is a night in Marseille eight summers ago that remains most vivid in his mind. Van der Sar was in the Dutch team beaten by Brazil in the FIFA World Cup? semi-final, an occasion he looks back on "both in a positive and a negative way".
Guus Hiddink's Oranje team had ousted Argentina in the quarter-finals but despite Patrick Kluivert cancelling out a Ronaldo goal, they eventually succumbed to the Brazilians at the Stade Velodrome, going down 4-2 on penalties. "There was such a good atmosphere before the game in the squad and on the pitch it was a highly intense game but we lost it and you don't get too close to World Cup finals," Van der Sar told FIFAworldcup.com. "That time was very close. I was devastated."
That Netherlands side featured a generation of players in their prime ? Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, the De Boer twins and Kluivert included ? and, for Van der Sar, was the best he has known in his 11 years as a Dutch international. "In '98 that team had everything - experience, youth, good defending, good finishing," he said.
For all their strengths, reaching a major final proved a step too far, with another semi-final shoot-out defeat following at the UEFA European Championship on home soil in 2000. However, Van der Sar, who tasted a third semi-final loss at EURO 2004, counters the suggestion that the Dutch have underachieved.
"It's quite difficult to win a trophy and reaching the semi-finals is not a bad thing," said the Manchester United No1. "It's not what you aim for but as a country we've only 16 million people and although we have good players we're not the only ones with good players. In 1998 and 2000 France won it and I think overall in that period they were better than us."
Eight years after their last FIFA World Cup appearance, it will be a very different Dutch side on show in Germany this summer. From the squad that faced Brazil in Marseille, only Van der Sar, Phillip Cocu and Giovanni van Bronckhorst are regular starters under Marco van Basten, although Davids may also make the trip to Germany.
Wind of change
Asked about the changes since Van Basten took charge in 2004, Van der Sar replied: "The style is the same 4-3-3 but we've got a whole new defence and some players in midfield, so it's a new wind blowing through the selection procedure. He (Van Basten) had a look at the Dutch league and picked some players who most of the managers before never thought about."
The Netherlands captain cited "players from AZ", such as central defender Barry Opdam, who have been "doing really well for the last two or three years" as well as the "one or two young players from Ajax coming through" like midfielder Hedwiges Maduro and striker Ryan Babel. The result, he explained, is a squad short on experience but "very hungry".
Van Basten himself lacks experience, the Netherlands role being his first senior coaching post, but Van der Sar is impressed. "He's good. Of course he's got such a high profile so everyone knows him. The players because of that have a lot of respect for him and he tops that because of the quality he has as a coach."
Whatever Van Basten's merits, Van der Sar played down the prospects for the new-look Netherlands in Germany. "I don't think we are the big favourites. We've got a good team with a couple of good youngsters and a couple of older players but we're not among the favourites. You look at Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and after that there comes a group of four or five nations and I think we're in that group."
Speaking of groups, it is not just Argentina that the Dutch have to worry about in a daunting-looking first-round section that also includes Côte d'Ivoire and Serbia and Montenegro. "We saw some highlights of Ivory Coast's matches in the African Nations Cup and they look a good team, powerful and dangerous. Serbia are defensively strong and fairly organised."
A tough challenge awaits for the Dutch but Van der Sar has not ruled out a repeat of their feats at France 98. Asked the Oranje's objectives for this summer, he concluded: "If we can reach the semis again then I'll be very happy."
