Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt has said Germany was intimidated by Spain, which led to its World Cup semi-final defeat, and added that Netherlands would not make the same mistake in Sunday’s final in Johannesburg.
Kuyt claimed there were weaknesses in the Spanish set-up, which could be exploited.
“We are not afraid at all. You could see the Germans were afraid of Spain. They didn’t try to attack. We are going to attack and then you will see weaknesses coming to the surface,” The Guardian quoted Kuyt, as saying.
“If you play like the Germans you are definitely going to lose. We don’t have players who are afraid and we don’t have players who feel small against the big opponents. There is respect, but not fear,” he added.
The 29-year-old further insisted that Dutch football is always very strong with several experienced and quality players.
“But, in this tournament, we have shown we have more than just quality. We also have belief. We believe we can beat every opponent in front of us. We have the patience to do that. Against Brazil we were 1-0 down, but we still had the conviction that we could win,” he added.
“Against Uruguay in the semi-final they equalised and, in tournaments in the past, we would have gone on to lose it from that point. But this time we stayed focused. We believed in our own qualities. We kept our positions and, in the second half, were the only side that deserved to win,” he added.
The Netherlands go into the final unbeaten in 25 matches and bolstered by 14 successive wins, in qualifying and the tournament to date, in the World Cup.
