van Marwijk ready to grind it out

By Zain Alvi | 11th July 2010

van Marwijk ready to grind it out | read this item

In contrast with his Spanish counterpart Vicente Del Bosque, Holland coach Bert van Marwijk believes that playing attractive football is not the only way to emerge from Sunday’s World Cup final as the winner. The Dutch have finally lived up to their potential this summer after sufferring from disappointing exits in previous FIFA competitions. However, many still regard them as underdogs against Spain.

As far as van Marwijk is concerned, though, the underdog tag has only spurred his resilient team to success thus far, particularly in their surprising 2-1 win against Brazil in the quarterfinals. Holland certainly didn’t accomplish that feat by playing the Joga Bonito way. In fact, they came from behind to upset the South American giants and followed that up by grinding out a 3-2 win against Uruguay in the semifinals as well.

Therefore, van Marwijk is confident that even if his side fails to entertain as much as the Spaniards when they meet in Johannesburg, their primary focus will remain on claiming glory. Speaking ahead of arguably the biggest match in Holland’s football history, the Dutch manager also mocked the idea of beautiful football, suggesting that the concept cannot stand on its own without yielding tangible results.

“What is beautiful football?” van Marwijk asked rhetorically. “No one likes to play ugly football. We also try to play beautiful football, sometimes we manage to achieve it to some extent, and sometimes we fail. It cannot be anyone’s monopoly. Our primary objective is to win. So we play as per our own strategy.

“Twice before we reached the finals (1974 and 1978) and we lost. We have no intention of doing the same. I can assure you that the boys will play good football and win,” he concluded with confidence.

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