Holland keen to focus on football

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk wants to concentrate on football matters after claims of racism against some of his players overshadowed his team’s build up to their Euro 2012 opener against Denmark.

Van Marwijk attempted to draw a line under the incident which saw some of his black players subjected to monkey chants during a training session at Wisla Krakow’s Miejski Stadium on Wednesday.

He and captain Mark van Bommel yesterday repeated what was already known, with the former confirming he had not heard the alleged abuse and the latter reiterating he definitely had.

Instead, Van Marwijk was keen to turn his attention to the game against the Danes with Holland the clear favourites to pick up three points.

“I think we are the favourites as well, but it will not be easy,” Van Marwijk said. “You can make the comparison to two years ago (when Holland beat Denmark 2-0 at the World Cup en route to the final), but two years ago everything was new for me and for the players in a big tournament.

“We have that experience now, but that just means you can’t be complacent because you’ve done it before. We need to make sure we are as sharp as possible.”

Van Marwijk expects few tactical surprises from the Danes.

“We both have the same way of playing, we don’t have any secrets from one other,” he said.

“A lot of Danish players play in Holland or in the big competitions across Europe, and they are very similar to two years ago, with maybe four or five new players. We maybe have two or three different players.

“So we know it will not be easy but we are going for the win.”

The message was not much different from Danish coach Martin Olsen.

“Everything has already been said and written,” he said. “We can say we are a little jealous of the Dutch team, that we are not in their shoes, because they are the favourites. There is no doubt about that.

“They are a good team in all positions, and on the bench as well, they are filled with great quality.”

But while he was happy to cede the favourites tag to his rivals, Olsen promised no lack of fight on the pitch.

“We are playing against a better team. That’s the realistic situation but it doesn’t mean we will throw the towel in. Of course we would like to be the favourites because that means you are the better team.”

Van Marwijk confirmed the Dutch will be without defender Joris Mathijsen today as he is struggling with a hamstring injury.