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Sad farewell for Dutch stalwarts
by Paul Saffer & Berend Scholten from St. Jakob-Park
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Dmitri Torbinski strikes past Van der Sar to
put Russia 2-1 up (¿Getty Images)
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Marco van Basten's last international appearance for the
Netherlands was just three years before Edwin van der Sar made his debut
in 1995 - on Saturday night the coach and his goalkeeper bowed out together
with the 3-1 quarter-final defeat by Russia.
Record mark
Van Basten had announced before the tournament that he would join AFC
Ajax after four years in charge of his country. Van der Sar equally decided
that, aged 37, it was time for him to leave international football, his
Dutch-record 128th cap being his last as he equalled Lilian Thuram's mark
of 16 UEFA European Championship outings. He made a number of vital saves
at St. Jakob-Park but was powerless to keep Russia at bay as Dmitri Torbinski
and Andrei Arshavin scored in the last eight minutes of extra time.
Regret
"We created too few chances ourselves and gave too much away,"
Van der Sar said. "[Russia] played very well, and we did not play
as well as in the group stage. And that hurts." He also admitted
he would miss this stage. "It is the end of my international career
- the tournaments I will miss most, they are the nicest to experience.
I have reached quarter-finals, semi-finals, but that is not enough. You
always want more than that. But every two years there is only one team
that wins the tournament, and in my playing days that has not been for
me to experience."
Hope gone
The disappointing conclusion to Van der Sar's Oranje career also deepened
Van Basten's regret at their loss in Basel. "I feel very sorry for
Edwin van der Sar, as I had hoped to give him a nice finale in his career
with the Netherlands," the 43-year-old said. "We didn't succeed
in that and I feel sorry for Edwin as he deserves to win a tournament
like this. We tried, we didn't succeed and I feel sorry for him."
First role
This job was Van Basten's first as a head coach. In his debut campaign
he led the Netherlands to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, past a group containing
Argentina, Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast, and into the last 16
where they were knocked out by Portugal. This time around Van Basten's
team stormed through the group stage by defeating Italy 3-0, France 4-1
and Romania 2-0, only to be outdone by compatriot Hiddink and his Russia
side.
Outdone
Reflecting on his time at the helm, Van Basten mused: "I think in
the first two years we played well in qualification. And in the [World
Cup] we were in the 'group of death' and we got to the last 16 and had
an unfortunate game against Portugal. In the last two years we had problems
in qualification but we started well in this tournament. But today we
have to say Russia were simply better than we were."
Euro2008.com,
21 June 2008
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