BotN: Things starting to look bad for Holland, admits Van Marwijk
Monday 18 June 2012 10:42
Back of the Net report on Portugal 2-1 Holland
Holland boss Bert van Marwijk has admitted that his Dutch side have it all to do to secure a place in the quarter-finals after defeat against Portugal left them with no points on the board and no games remaining.
Van Marwijk's 2010 World Cup finalists were amongst the pre-tournament favourites but a sluggish opener against Denmark, sluggish second game against Germany and sluggish final match against Portugal have seen their odds slide considerably from 4/1 to ∞/1 with most bookmakers.
Trailing second-placed Portugal by six points with no games left to play, coach Van Marwijk has been forced to confess that it might not be Holland’s year.
“I can’t deny that we have made things hard for ourselves by losing every one of our scheduled fixtures at the competition,” Van Marwijk told FourFourTwo. “We aren’t exactly in the box seat in Group B.
“In an ideal world we would have picked up nine points by now, failing that seven, six, five, four, three or indeed one point. But we still have a lot to give in this competition and I don’t think anyone will be writing us off just yet.”
"Look on the floor… they might have dropped a point"
The Dutch will take heart from the Czech Republic’s gutsy run at Euro 2008, when they shrugged off being eliminated in the group stages to set up a three-team quarter-final against Turkey and Croatia, then a semi-final against Turkey, Croatia and Germany before suffering a heart-breaking final defeat at the hands of Spain, Germany, Turkey and Croatia.
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GRE 1-0 RUS: UEFA hope Greece forget to claim their quarter-final slot
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SWE 2-3 ENG: Ice-cool England dispatch Sweden with ruthless efficiency...
UKR 0-2 FRA: Ukraine, 400-year-old God of Thunder unable to stop France
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