Babel urged to emulate Afonso

Huntelaar footsteps
Babel has the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of AFC Ajax team-mate Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who was the star of last year's tournament, capping a series of impressive displays by scoring twice in the final against Ukraine. However, rather than looking to Huntelaar for inspiration, De Haan has urged Babel to turn to Afonso Alves, the Brazilian striker who succeeded Huntelaar as the Eredivisie's top goalscorer this season with 34 goals in 31 Eredivisie matches.

'Fantastic player'
"Alves is a fantastic player who is constantly moving in front of the opponents' goal," said De Haan. "Just watch how many times Alves loses his defender and manages to do so at the right time. I hope that Ryan can learn something from that by Sunday, when we play our opening game against Israel."

'Early crosses'
The Jong Oranje coach believes his side can improve their crossing from wide areas. "Staying calm and showing good technique is not good enough,” he explained. "Balls from the wings will need to be crossed in front of goal straight away. The lads must not think too much about it, just do it. We will work hard on that over the next few days."