Football
Reuters 18y

Soccer-World-Dutch greeted with flowers and brass band

By Theo Ruizenaar

HINTERZARTEN, Germany, June 6 - Netherlands were
welcomed with flowers and a brass band when the World Cup
finalists arrived in Germany on Tuesday.

Coach Marco van Basten and his squad flew in to Lahr airport
before travelling to their base in rural Hinterzarten where a
large proportion of the town's residents left their houses to
catch a glimpse of the players.

The squad's luxury hotel will be a perfect base camp for the
Dutch, who are competing in their third major tournament on
German soil.

In 1974, the concept of 'total football' took them to the
final where the Dutch lost to the hosts.

Fourteen years later, van Basten scored five goals to lead
the Dutch to the European championship title.

The Dreisam stadium in nearby Freiburg will be the training
ground for Netherlands, who open their World Cup campaign
against Serbia and Montenegro in Leipzig on Sunday.

Van Basten has injury concerns over Rafael van der Vaart,
Philip Cocu, Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

^ Back to Top ^