‘What was it anyway? 7-1, 8-1?’, says Brinkman at the edge of the field, turning to the scoreboard. The result is no longer there. “Today was fine, shall we say. We just said it to each other in the circle: what are you going to talk about after such a victory over Wales? It doesn’t have to be about the goals. It starts with keeping the circle clean. That’s the basics. From there we will automatically get to hockey. That mode belongs to tournament hockey. That will be crucial against Belgium.’
This way of thinking does not come out of the blue, of course. It is a direct result – still – of the match against Germany, which the Orange lost 3-0 on Monday. ‘Absolute. That mode was missing there. Especially in the opening of the match. Those few defensive moments, from which the goals fell. Matches are decided on that. Especially at the international level, in knockouts. We will have to be mega, mega sharp on that in the semi-finals.’ Brinkman leaves the serious tone for a moment. ‘But you can also laugh in the meantime, you know.’
Watch the first minutes together
Title holder the Netherlands left the SparkassenPark with its tail between its legs on Monday. When we returned to the hotel in Venlo, there was still a lot of talk about the defeat against the hosts. ‘Of course. We always do. The only difference is that now we have only watched the first five, six minutes all together. We normally never do that. We found that after about eight minutes we started playing hockey and defending as we should. That is the minimum you have to deliver to participate in the competition at all. A good wake-up call, that’s it.’
It sounds almost unworthy of Orange, an eight-minute run-up strip. “Ultimately those first six minutes were below average. We have to learn from that. You don’t have much time in a tournament. It should improve immediately. I was no longer shocked by what I saw when I looked at the images again. I knew very well where we stood.’
The moderate tone afterwards
During the interviews after the game against Germany, they were generally still quite positive at the Orange on Monday. Yes, everyone knew that those first minutes – in which Germany scored twice – were not good. But after that, practically every interviewee quickly switched to feeling satisfied with the rest of the game.
‘I do agree with that,’ says Brinkman. He pauses. ‘But I also think it is typically Dutch to say this during a tournament. We played very well . But what good is that for a tournament? Ultimately, it’s about the result. The finish line. Whether you stand there with a win. It was 3-0 and that was just below par.’
So the memory was still fresh, so soon after that monster victory over Wales. “The lesson from the group stage comes from that match against Germany. So it’s not that crazy yet,’ says Brinkman. How does that lesson read in a sentence? ‘Being extremely sharp defensively and having your affairs in order from the first seconds.’
by Hockey.nl