Marco van Basten Top 15 Quotes

Yes Marco van Basten is a man who's not afraid to say what's on his mind for the most part, and indeed I like the fact he tells it like it is, so here is his top 15 quotes in my opinion, that I could read in english so far, if you have anymore you like post them as a comment, and if I like it enough I'll add it into my list.


1. 'As long as it is an open talk and you are not out to win the discourse, everyone involved can only gain from it. Neither Cruyff or I invented the game so none of us is right per se. Although, when it sunk in after a while, I usually had to agree that he was right after all. I still love those talks, but there are few players now with a clear opinion so it does not happen very often. That is a pity.'

2. “I'm satisfied with the result, but not with the way we played,” On just about every game that they win.

3. "It was like an episode of Mash in the dressing room." After the game against the Aussies where 3 Dutch players left with injuries

4. “Oranje is a fleurige mixture of freedom and blijheid, fanaticism, game joy and youthful zest, with sausje pure class transvased.” On his thoughts on what being a Dutch National team player is all about

5. 'We've abandoned the petty fines for coming late or leaving mobiles on, as this is not the kind of money that will hurt any modern player. As a punishment he now has to tell a joke in front of the group. That works very well. No one has sinned so far.' His way of fining players

6.'Many sides in the competition have an advantage compared to us due to their experience of playing in major competitions,' he says. 'We have other qualities, but this is a tough challenge for us.' His attempt at making it look like the Dutch are the underdogs and have something to proof, rather than being known as the favourite.

7.'Big names mean nothing to me, I am only interested in good players. I do think other midfielders have shown they can do better in the national team than Seedorf. A player like Van der Vaart can be a stylish playmaker, but also does his fair share of work for the team and that is exactly what we are looking for.' On his reason why he didn't choose Seedorf, Maakay and Davids

8.I've said to him a couple of times, "Do you enjoy it, Alex? Daddy won't make you play football." After I said it the first time, he did his best especially. But football means nothing to him. He doesn't support a club, either. It really doesn't bother me. It's just good for him to move a little, to play sport. But he likes K'nex much more - the toys you have to put together. His grandpa, Liesbeth's father, is handy, too. He must have got it from him. Alex can put together a K'nex fairground in an hour. And yesterday he was doing a puzzle.' Marco softer side and that he isn't trying to push his son and has come to accept it that he won't be a star soccer player.

9.“We train always on the knife edge with a lot of emotion, but I explained to Ruud that it is important that we control our emotions and treat team mates with respect.” Making everyone realize that it's all ofr the team.

10. 'I hardly believe that is the case. As coaches John van't Schip and I try to behave as equals with the players. We don't shout across the training ground to get everyone's attention. The players look at me like I am just a trainer and not some legend from the past. If they ever had my posters on their bedroom wall, I don't think they are still hung up there. I go to the bathroom just as they do.' How he is an equal and the team all has the same respect level, even though he is the coach doesn't mean at all that he is better than them.

11. Every country has been given a slogan and the orange bus used to transport the Dutch players at the tournament is adorned with the line: 'Orange on the way to gold'.

"We don't like it because we try to keep everything calm and this might be seen as a provocation" Van Basten told reporters on Wednesday.

12."Players can get in real good form, while others fall through the ice" How much ice there'll be in a German summer remains to be seen, but we're pretty sure some of the Dutch squad will give their team-mates the cold shoulder.

13."Klaas-Jan had a good season at Ajax and Heerenveen with many goals but is unlucky that we won't take four central strikers to the World Cup," On his reasoning for not picking Huntleer, just one two many central strikers.

14. “This staff intends to build a team which is offensive and attractive where the players must show proof of initiative and especially take pleasure in putting on the orange jersey.”

15. “They're all countries with a rich history and technically skilled players. We're going to make sure that we're well motivated from the start. If you start out with a tough one you immediately know what you are worth.”