Sneijder: I can do much better

Sneijder: I can do much
better
(FIFA.com) Friday 18 June 2010
Sneijder: I can do much better
Wesley Sneijder is the man charged
with pulling the strings and dictating
the pace in the Netherlands' star-
studded midfield. His precision
passing to Dirk Kuyt, Rafael van der
Vaart and Robin van Persie can
clinically dissect an entire defensive
line, and the 26-year-old schemer is
no slouch in front of goal either.
Prior to the Oranje's second group
match at South Africa 2010, FIFA
spoke to the Inter Milan star.
FIFA: Wesley, you've made a
good start to the tournament,
so how is the mood in the
Netherlands camp?
Wesley Sneijder: The mood after
a victory is always good. It's
important to win your first match of
the tournament, both for the
atmosphere in the camp, and as we
look ahead to the next round. And it
was a game in which we didn't play
very well and yet still won – that's
very important too.
You say it wasn't a fantastic
game. What needs to improve?
Well, it could be much better overall
and we all readily admit that. We
have to prove that now, and play
the football we've played in the two
years leading up to here, in the
qualifiers and the warm-up matches
before the World Cup.
You face Japan next. Do you
think you'll have to go into that
game with a different
approach?
Fortunately, we know the Japanese
very well, because we played a
friendly match against them in the
Netherlands last autumn. It was a
difficult match and we were under
pressure for an hour, but eventually
we won 3-0. They run hard and
play tight combination football – it's
difficult to defend against them.
They basically play the way we
want to, you always sit up and take
notice when your opponents do
that. It's the second match of the
tournament and we both have three
points, so the winning team has a
big chance of going through to the
next round.
Arjen Robben is close to fitness
after injury. What does that
mean for you?
He's not completely fit yet, but he's
back on the training pitch and he's
with us in the group, which is
important for the atmosphere. We
have to wait until he's back to 100
per cent. Maybe he'll return for the
last match against Cameroon, but
let's hope by that time it no longer
matters so much, and he can take
some extra days to rest.
What's his role in the team, and
what do you see as his
qualities?
It's clear that Arjen has had a really
good season. He's been very
important for Bayern Munich. He's a
player with a lot of qualities and he's
very useful for the team. He can
change the course of a game with
his speed and the way he goes past
defenders. That's something we
need, and it's important, but let's
hope we go as far as possible
without him, because that would
mean we're doing well anyway.
You also have an important role
in the team. What do you see
as your strengths?
If I can play as far forward as
possible, that's where I'm at my
most dangerous. Obviously, we
need to get into those positions first,
but with our passing game, and
with a lot of creative people in
midfield, that's also one of our
strongest points, and that's where I
do well too. My strengths? I'm not a
person who likes to talk about
himself very much, I let others do
that. I'm here to play a very good
World Cup and to go as far as
possible in the tournament.
Do you feel there's extra
pressure on you at the
moment?
I really don't know. I have certain
qualities, so people are allowed to
expect a lot from me – and I want to
live up to those expectations too. I
didn't play my best in the first
match against Denmark. It was
OK during the second half, but it
was difficult for all of us in the first
half. I know I can do much better
than that, but the first match is
behind us, we took the three points
and we'll be up for it again on
Saturday.
You've mentioned your wealth
of creative players. The
Netherlands have consistently
produced this kind of player
down the years. How do you
explain it?
I think it has something to do with
our footballing education. I
personally started at the age of
seven, with the youth school at Ajax
in Amsterdam. All we ever did was
training with the ball, three or four
times a week. And then when you
get older it's almost every day.
That's what you get in the Dutch
education. We're advanced in the
way we provide training of that
kind, concentrating purely on the
technical side of football. It's
something you see with this group
of players – everybody plays good
football. That's the chief
characteristic of this team.
How far do you think the
Netherlands can go in this
tournament?
We have to take each game as it
comes. Two years ago, at the EURO
in Austria and Switzerland, we
began with a 3-0 victory against
Italy and the second game was 4-1
against France. At that point,
everyone said we already had the
trophy in the bag. Now it's different.
Everybody agrees that we didn't
play our best match, but we won
and we're well on our way. Let's
hope we can improve as the
tournament goes on, look at it game
by game, and eventually we'll see
where it leads us. We have to keep
believing we can go all the way.
S