- Premier League
'We only have ourselves to blame' - Van Marwijk
The Netherlands coach conceded that his side did not deserve to qualify for the latter stages of Euro 2012 after the Oranje lost all three of their matches in Group BNetherlands coach Bert van Marwijk was left to reflect on a tournament of unfulfilled promise as the 2010 World Cup finalists crashed out of Euro 2012 following a 2-1 defeat to Portugal.
The Netherlands, who came into the tournament regarded as one of the favourites, finished bottom of Group B after failing to take a single point from their three games.
Despite losing to both Denmark and Germany, the Netherlands went into their final encounter with Portugal knowing that a win would give them a fighting chance of qualification. Yet two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo soon dashed any hopes that van Marwijk's men had of reaching the quarter finals.
"I can't deny that this is a major deception for us," Van Marwijk told NOS.
"In all the three games we started well, but we couldn't hold it, just like today. We came up front with 1-0 but we need to hold on after a good start. We weren't able to do that again.
"We didn't have the good shape in this tournament to create goals. We give away chances too easily and then we concede goals. The first match against Denmark was very important. After that match we became insecure."
Van Marwijk was hoping the Netherlands could repeat their form of two years ago when the they reached the 2010 World Cup final, but the 60-year-old admitted that the performances in this tournament never quite reached those standards.
"I knew all along that it would be very hard to go to the quarter-final," he admitted. "I had the hope that we could bring another performance like two years ago at the World Cup.
"When you look at the age of the team, you know that we couldn't get any better. We only have ourselves to blame."
The Oranje's performance has placed a question mark over the future of Van Marwijk as head coach but the Netherlands boss insisted that he would not be drawn into commenting on the speculation.
"I'm not thinking about my future now," he insisted. "I'm busy with a lot of things, but not with that after a match like this."
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