The Netherlands’s Junior Team: Retaining the title is the main aim

The aim of the Dutch is demanding. The host team want to retain their title achieved in Portugal on June 4, 2006, at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Home advantage is not the only reason the “Jong Oranje” side are considered the favourites to reach the final at the tournament in Heerenveen, Groningen, Arnhem and Nijmegen, between June 10-23, 2007. After all, the Dutch juniors produced excellent performances in Portugal. Coach Foppe de Haan is confident that a similarly good result can be achieved at home. “You can never get too many trophies”, the 63-year-old said after the brilliant 3-0 final victory over Ukraine in Porto, the first ever win by this great football nation in a continental competition for UEFA Under-21 national teams.

In 1988 and 1998 the Netherlands made it into the semi-finals, in 1992 they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Since the draw for the 2007 finals, the Oranje fans have been planning to reach the semi-finals, as their team will meet Portugal, Israel and Belgium in Group A, with the two latter countries considered outsiders. The hosts, however, have lost some of their reigning European champions in this fight for the junior trophy of the European Football Union, UEFA. Professionals such as Nicky Hofs, Romeo Castelen and top forward Klaas Jan Huntelaar have surpassed the age-limit. Ajax attacker Huntelaar in particular played a major part in winning the 2006 title. He scored four goals, two of them in the final, and was the best goalscorer of the UEFA Under-21 Europeans in Portugal. “My team has been playing together for just a short time. We still have a lot of work to do until the start of the tournament in order to play as well as the previous team”, De Haan emphasised.

But De Haan is considered, among the many excellent junior coaches in the Netherlands, as a top specialist for building up young teams. The former professional, who is a Frisian, was contracted by the Royal Dutch Football Association in 2004 and is now responsible for the older juniors. He led his team into the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2005.

De Haan, who was elected “Coach of the Year” twice in the Netherlands, has been a coach since 1974. His longest stay with a club was with SC Heerenveen for whom he was also a player. After a coaching job from 1985 to 1988, he took over the position of Heerenveen’s head coach in October 1992, starting a great history of success in football for the Frisian club – based in an area recognised as a stronghold of successful Dutch speed skating.

De Haan led the club into the top division, the Honour Division, and into the 1993 Cup final against Ajax Amsterdam (6-2 defeat). His team played in the UEFA Cup, and once again made the national Cup final against Roda Kerkrade (4-2 defeat) in 1997. Ruud van Nistelrooj and Denmark’s Jon Dahl Tomasson also benefited from De Haan’s expertise at discovering and moulding young talent.

Heerenveen, where he worked for twelve years, and De Haan enjoy a special relationship. And in this city’s Abe Lenstra Stadium two of Holland’s preliminary round matches will take place during the 2007 Championship -- the opening match against Israel on June 10, and the third group match against Belgium on June 16. The semi-final with the winners of Group A will also be played in Heerenveen on June 20. The Dutch team only have to travel to Groningen for their second preliminary round match against Portugal on June 13.

“The schedule is favourable for us”, De Haan commented after the draw. He called the match against their Belgian neighbours a “fantastic, old-fashioned derby”. The Dutch did not have to qualify for the finals. UEFA had previously decided on the position of the host country at the finals only when all participating teams were known, but this time the Netherlands had been chosen to organise the UEFA European Under-21 Championship early, due to the much shortened qualifying round.

De Haan paid tribute to the build-up by his new team during friendly matches. After a draw against Germany his team suffered defeats by Denmark and England. But all Oranje fans are sure that come June 2007, the experienced champion coach will again assemble a team capable of retaining the title won in 2006.