From: The Trinidad Guardian
Dutch wary of Uruguay
Published: 6 Jul 2010
Netherlands' players Arjen Robben, left, Dirk Kuyt, centre, and Andre Ooijer, right, joke during a team training session in Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday. The Netherlands play Uruguay in the semifinal at the Fifa World Cup in Cape Town today. AP Photo
Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk is not planning on changing his tactics for the World Cup semifinal against Uruguay, despite criticism about the lack of Dutch flair that has dogged his team throughout the tournament. “We are continuing down the road we have chosen,” Van Marwijk said yesterday. “I will not let anyone distract me from that.” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, meanwhile, is drawing inspiration to beat the favored Dutch from the 1950 “Miracle of Maracana,” when his tiny nation beat Brazil at Maracana stadium to earn its second World Cup title. “The history of the World Cup is full of results that nobody could have expected, and they continue to happen,” Tabarez said. “Why shouldn’t we be able to win on Tuesday?”
But, he added: “I know we have to play a perfect game and we’re going to approach it with all of our effort.” Uruguay, ranked No. 16 in the world, is a two-time World Cup winner, while the fourth-ranked Netherlands is still trying to shake off the tag of two-time loser after talent-packed Dutch teams lost to hosts Germany and Argentina in 1974 and 1978. “We have to beat Uruguay,” Wesley Sneijder told the official Dutch supporters website. “We’re just thinking of one thing: we want to win the World Cup. This is our time.” Uruguay only reached today’s semifinal at Green Point Stadium thanks to Luis Suarez’s handball on the line to deny Ghana in the dying seconds of extra time, and Tabarez knows his team will have to do better against the Dutch.
However, Tabarez hit back at criticism of Suarez’s actions. “We are very proud of our behavior,” Tabarez said. “Please don’t tell me or suggest that we cheated. I don’t accept that in any way.” Van Marwijk and Tabarez are both having to fill holes in their starting lineups caused by injuries and suspensions. Chief among them will be the suspended Suarez, who knows all about scoring against Dutch defenses — with 43 goals in 39 games for Ajax last season in the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup. Fullback Jorge Fucile also is suspended after picking up a second yellow card against Ghana, while central defender Diego Godin missed that game with a left thigh problem and remains in doubt. Captain Diego Lugano also is fighting to be fit after injuring a right knee ligament against Ghana.
Tabarez refused to reveal whether Lugano and Godin would play.
“Our lineup is our great secret,” he said. “Neither my players nor the Dutch players are going to know until Tuesday.” Van Marwijk is expected to start Khalid Boulahrouz at right back and Demy de Zeeuw as a defensive midfielder in place of the suspended Gregory van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong, who both picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament against Brazil. However, injury clouds hanging over Hamburg center back Joris Mathijsen and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie have disappeared, with both declared fit to play. Mathijsen has recovered from the knee injury that forced him out of the quarterfinal just minutes before kickoff, and Van Persie can play despite injuring his left elbow against Brazil.
Van Persie has scored just one goal in the five victories leading into the semifinals in Cape Town, but Sneijder has picked up the scoring slack with four strikes from midfield, including both second-half goals in the comeback 2-1 defeat of five-time champion Brazil. Van Marwijk said he still had confidence in Van Persie, despite his lean patch.
“Players with so much talent can play well and turn a match at any time,” Van Marwijk said. “I have always had faith in him even when he was not playing so well and I still do.” Uruguay may be missing Suarez, but it still has one of the world’s top strikers, Diego Forlan, who already has three goals in South Africa. The Netherlands is on a 24-match unbeaten run and in its first World Cup semifinal since 1998 in France, when it lost on penalties to Brazil. While both teams’ strikers are making headlines, their success is built on defensive strength; Uruguay has conceded just two goals at the World Cup, while the Dutch have allowed three.
