Dutch players still squabbling over wasted free kick at Euro 2008

Published on Wednesday 1 October 2008 23:58

A NEW generation of Dutch football stars is bickering publicly, this time about a missed free kick that two players wanted to take.

Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder launched the opening salvo, telling Dutch newspaper Het Parool that Arsenal striker Robin van Persie had "broken agreements" in Euro 2008, and he wanted to have a talk with him.

Van Persie took a free kick that Sneijder wanted during the Netherlands' 3-1 quarter-final loss to Russia in Basel that ousted the Dutch from the tournament. The free kick was awarded late in the game with Russia ahead 1-0. Although the set-piece came to nothing, Ruud van Nistelroy equalised in the 86th minute to send the match into extra time. Russia then scored twice to progress to the semi-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Spain.

"From the first practice game, I've been designated as the man who takes free kicks and no-one else is supposed to touch the ball," Sneijder was quoted as saying.

Van Persie responded yesterday, saying: "I expected more class from Wesley.

"Besides, it's absolute nonsense that he's the only one who can take free kicks," he was quoted as saying in an interview with Algemeen Dagblad. "You can ask the coach."

Then-coach Marco van Basten has since left to take the top job at Ajax and declined to comment. His replacement, Bert van Marwijk, said that he would not comment on the players' dispute until he names his squad for the World Cup qualifying matches against Norway and Iceland known next week.

The Netherlands have a history of self-destructing due to ego clashes amongst players and discord with coaches, most famously when coach Guus Hiddink sent star midfielder Edgar Davids home from the 1996 European Championships after a dispute.

Davids also got into a dressing-room argument with Mark van Bommel in 2003, and Van Bommel, Davids, Clarence Seedorf and Ruud van Nistelrooy all had disputes with Van Basten in the past two years.

Van Persie said he would have been willing to talk to Sneijder – but won't now that the matter has been made public.

"I'm flabbergasted by the way Wesley has acted. Must the whole country take part in a 'meeting'?" Van Persie said.

Meanwhile, Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner has been included in Denmark's preliminary squad for a World Cup qualifier against Malta later this month.

Bendtner is one of five English-based players included in an initial squad of 13 players picked by coach Morten Olsen yesterday, with a further eight names to follow.