Frenkie de Jong, like national coach Louis van Gaal, believes in winning the World Cup by the Dutch national team. The former Ajax player sees that the Orange not only has good players, but is also a very good team. That combination should ensure a possible surprise at the tournament in Qatar.
Van Gaal previously indicated that the Netherlands can become world champions and Football International De Jong asks if he agrees. ‘Yes, it is possible,’ he says resolutely. “I know we have a really good team. We may not be the favorite, but we don’t have to be. I never care who the favorites are before the start of a tournament. I agree with the coach that we can win. Our strength is the team spirit coupled with good players. Then we are not yet France, which is a larger country and therefore also the pond from which they can fish.’
According to De Jong, the best team wins the World Cup and not necessarily the country with the best eleven players. ‘During such a big tournament it’s about wanting to go through fire for each other. That’s the basics. When you do that, players can individually make a difference. The team always provides a solid base and I believe we have it.’
De Jong stayed with FC Barcelona
In the past summer, De Jong was perhaps the most talked about player. For a long time the media wrote that he might leave FC Barcelona and make a transfer to Manchester United. However, the midfielder is not fooled. “Together with my family and my agent Ali (Dursun) I knew for a long time what I wanted: to stay at Barca.”
“So it was clear to us pretty quickly and we never deviated from that path,” says De Jong, who ultimately remained a ‘normal’ FC Barcelona player. ‘Then the outside world can say and find all sorts of things, but that didn’t affect me, because I knew what I wanted! You only start doubting when you are restless in your head. All that hassle wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Such things can also motivate you, can’t they? So that’s how I dealt with it. I believe in myself. The rest is noise.’
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