“I already wanted to get out in Hoenderloo”, Sneijder remembers from the training camp in the run-up to the European final round, where the Orange lost his three group matches. “My cases were already packed. Why? I felt it coming.”
“Everyone knew their place in 2010. Apparently something had changed in 2012. Some players thought they were more entitled to a starting place. If that stays indoors, that’s no problem. But if it comes out, it will be a issue.”
“It only got worse at the tournament,” Sneijder continues. “Everything stands or falls with that first game against Denmark. We played well and had more right to win from the Danes than in 2010. But we lost. And then the turnips were cooked.”
Not wrong
Players who didn’t play thought they should go in, says Sneijder. He prefers not to mention names, but he can guess who they are. Is it sometimes Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Rafael van der Vaart?
“Correct,” says Sneijder reluctantly. “They weren’t entirely wrong either, because they were in good shape. But the trainer decides; he is ultimately responsible. If you see that there are more qualities than shape, you shouldn’t even go.”
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