Netherlands – F. De Boer: “In this World Cup, none of the strikers have impressed me, not even Ronaldo”
Netherlands – F. De Boer: “In this World Cup, none of the strikers have impressed me, not even Ronaldo” 28.06.98 21h02 CET Frank De Boer (4): captain
“Both teams are strong in attack. They have the same style game and good players. This promises to be a great match. I’m confident we have a chance for the following games. We’ll have to be strong mentally and I hope we won’t make the same mistakes as we did against MEXICO. We can no longer allow our opponents to catch up with us when we’re in the lead. This is the first time that I’ve been in such good shape, playing for the national team. I’ve been waiting two years for this World Cup. I want this to be the best championship of my life. Yesterday, we watched our match against MEXICO once again; if we tie tomorrow’s match, it’ll be all our own fault. In this World Cup, none of the strikers have impressed me, not even RONALDO (9).”
Patrick KLUIVERT (9)
“
YUGOSLAVIA and the NETHERLANDS are two good teams. We feel good and we have prepared well for this match. I don’t know if I’ll be playing, but I feel ready and I’ve trained well. Of course we’re under pressure but so are the other team, because this will be a very difficult game.”
Ronald De BOER (7)
“I feel good. We have the better team. We have a good defence, which means we’ll be able to attack well. Football is different today so it is difficult to compare what we’re now capable of with how we performed in the last World Cup.”
Marc OVERMARS (14)
“As a team, we’re better than the Yugoslavians. I feel very good in this team; it has a good attack. We want to get through to the finals. Tomorrow we must play a tighter game in defence and rely on our midfielders to launch the offensive action. But we are confident.”
Arthur NUMAN (5)
“Yesterday (Saturday), we watched the video of the YUGOSLAVIA vs GERMANY match. YUGOSLAVIA are a good team; they are quite aggressive. Until tomorrow’s game, we’re going to try to remain calm. The most important thing for us is to keep possession of the ball as much as possible and, above all, not to let in any goals. We mustn’t make a single mistake for that would mean we’d go straight home to the NETHERLANDS. And that’s not our goal.”
Dennis BERGKAMP (8):
“We should be careful of the Yugoslavians because they’re a good team with good players. They showed us some good things when they played GERMANY even if GERMANY did make a comeback and the game ended in a draw. This will be a very difficult match with a lot of pressure.”
