Kaiser sets chief goals

By Berend Scholten

The Netherlands tend to be associated with exciting football, but their route to the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals was remarkable by any standards.

Dramatic progress
In the qualifying round, a Geert Roorda equaliser against Turkey with only three minutes remaining took the Dutch through at the expense of Wales in a three-way tie. Then in the Elite round, having lost to the Czech Republic after beating Latvia, they needed three points against hosts Germany to take first place.

Sarpong strike
Although Niels Vorthoren gave them the lead, Sergej Evljuskin swiftly levelled and Sebastian Tyrala put Germany ahead in the second half. Things seemed bleak, but Vurnon Anita made it 2-2 with five minutes left and his AFC Ajax colleague Jeffrey Sarpong struck the winner in added time.

Vital changes
Netherlands coach Ruud Kaiser told uefa.com: "At half-time we knew 2-1 would be enough, but then we fell 2-1 behind which was not the plan! I had to make some changes in the team and that helped turn things around again.

German praise
"I said to my assistant five minutes from time: 'They are able to score a goal, no matter how tired they may be, and then we might win in injury time because anything is possible in this match'. That is what I said, and that is exactly what happened. Germany are a terrific side who really deserved to play in the tournament."

Hard draw
If there is to be another celebration in Tuscany, they must first get past Group B, where they begin a week today against Croatia in San Giuliano Terme before playing Switzerland and Israel. Kaiser admits it is not an easy draw.

Rivals assessed
He said: "You know before entering such a tournament, there will be eight good countries there. Switzerland have knocked out Spain, and Croatia won 3-1 against Portugal. Israel are outsiders, but they were in a tough group. But on the other hand we knocked out Germany and the Czech Republic, so I think it will be a terrific battle."

Tournament aims
Kaiser is not setting a definite target for the tournament, but reaching the FIFA U-17 World Championship as a top-three finisher overall is an aim. "Our first big goal is to be in the top two in the group and then play in the semi-finals. Once there we will look at our next goal, which will be to finish in the top three. And when you get that far, and reach the final, then you want to win that too. So we want everything, but it is better not want too much because then you usually end up with nothing."

Training camp
The squad will start a two-day training camp tomorrow, before arriving in Italy on Sunday. Kaiser, who concedes that a fixture pile-up caused by the harsh Dutch winter means his side will not get much rest before the finals, works closely with the players' clubs. "We have regular contact with the youth department heads, to have more insight into the physical condition of the players and we meet regularly for that," he said.

Club co-operation
"Then we look at the schedules - for example, when Feyenoord and Ajax have tournaments against clubs like AC Milan, [FC] Barcelona or Real Madrid [CF], then that is maybe more important for the development of the players than an international friendly. But when we have to play a big international match, then that is more important than a simple league game. It is something we take into account."