FRANCE 98 – Holland-Mexico – G. Hiddink: “Mexico is a tough team and they persevere”

“We didn’t play very well against MEXICO this evening, but we are pleased to have qualified for the second round. Being Dutch, we tend to be self-critical and we can say that today we didn’t play at our best level. In the first half, we scored two beautiful goals and in the ten to fifteen minutes after half time, we played well. Then, we relaxed our defence and let the Mexicans attack at us. I had to make some changes to our team to avoid the risk of red cards. MEXICO had an excellent performance in all respects. It’s a tough team and they persevere. It’s not the first time that they have been two goals down and have come back to equalise. As for our opponents in the second round, GERMANY is known world-wide and our fixture will be a real clash of the titans. We respect them but don’t fear them. As for YUGOSLAVIA, they’re also a good team, that we are ready to meet.”