Euro 2012: Robin van Persie absolved of blame for Dutch debacle

HOLLAND coach Bert van Marwijk refused to criticise Robin van Persie after the Arsenal captain missed a hatful of chances in the Oranje’s shock 1-0 defeat to Denmark in their Euro 2012 opener in Kharkiv.

Van Marwijk’s highly-fancied side created 28 opportunities, hitting the post through Arjen Robben and having two penalty appeals turned down, but Michael Krohn-Dehli scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half at Metalist Stadium. Van Persie was preferred to Klaas Jan Huntelaar in the starting line-up and, despite his failure to make the most of the numerous chances that came his way, Van Marwijk insisted the blame for Holland’s lack of goals should be shared around.

The Oranje coach said: “It was not only Robin van Persie. There were maybe four, five, six players who had a lot of chances. And the referee had also a chance to give us a penalty. I’m not looking for excuses. I’m just trying to give answers to the questions.”

The Dutch next face Germany on Wednesday, and Van Marwijk recognised the added importance of that game. He added: “We just have to beat Germany. That’s not going to be easy but that’s the goal now and everyone knows that.”

Denmark coach Morten Olsen claimed his team deserved their victory. “We said before that, if we have to beat one of these teams, we have to reach a high level to get good individual form and a good team performance – and that happened,” he said. “You saw a Danish team who, overall, were the better team and also over the last ten minutes were better physically than the Dutch team – that was very important.”