Bert Van Marwijk believes that victory in his side’s next Euro 2012 game against Germany is an absolute necessity after a disappointing 1-0 loss to Denmark in their tournament opener.
Despite the Dutch creating a number of goal-scoring opportunities, a first-half strike from Michael Krohn-Dehli consigned the 2010 World Cup finalists to defeat.
The loss could see Oranje crash out of the competition at an early stage, but the coach has refused to look so far ahead, and said that his sole focus was beating Germany in their next match.
“We must now beat Germany. You have to get over this, it’s all part of it. I would have preferred it otherwise, but I refuse to give up,” he told NOS after the match.
Reflecting on the match against Denmark, Van Marwijk voiced his belief that his side’s willingness to commit bodies forward may have contributed to their loss.
“We created plenty of chances in the first 20-25 minutes. Our build-up was good and we played well, but you need to score to win,” he reflected to NOS. “We applied a lot of pressure, and when you do that holes begin to appear.”
When asked for his thoughts on Robin van Persie’s performance, the 60-year-old refused to blame the loss on the Arsenal forward, despite the 28-year-old missing a number of chances.
“Robin [van Persie]? In possession he performed decently. He just can’t seem to put them in the back of the net for us. But he wasn’t the only one today.” The Dutch will return to action on Wednesday, when they face fellow tournament favorites Germany at 20:45CET
