By Nicholas Rigillo Jun 8, 2006, 12:48 GMT
Freiburg, Germany - Dutch coach Marco van Basten was buoyed Thursday by news that his injured players were making steady progress and by an unexpectedly warm reception for his team at their first open training.
'Wesley Sneijder has been making a lot of progress, and so has Rafael van der Vaart. Phillip Cocu only did some running today, but he's not a problem,' Van Basten told reporters.
The coach had asked Nigel de Jong and under-21 captain Stijn Schaars to join the rest of his 23-man squad as a precaution following a string of injuries. However, both were now expected to be told they would no longer be needed and could go home as soon as Friday.
FIFA rules give coaches until 24 hours before their opening World Cup match to replace injured players. The Oranje play Serbia and Montenegro in their first Group C game in Leipzig on Sunday.
Van Basten is at the helm of a relatively young squad and needs all the experience he can get in Germany.
'It is very important for us that experienced players like Cocu and (captain) Edwin van der Sar can play on Sunday and help out the others on the pitch,' he said.
The PSV Eindhoven midfielder and the Manchester United goalkeeper are the few Dutch players with World Cup experience. At 35 - both were born October 29, 1970 - they are also the oldest in the squad. The team also got a taste of what's to come when at least 10,000 enthusiastic fans, most of them local German residents, turned up at Freiburg's Badenova Stadium to cheer them on during the squad's first open training session.
The two neighbouring countries have a long-standing footballing rivalry. Not so on Thursday, as fans saluted each goal with a roar of approval and each missed opportunity with a disappointed 'oh.'
And there were smiles all round when a fan wearing a panda bear mask and an orange shirt ran onto the pitch, only to be escorted away by security guards.
'We got a nice reception today, we didn't expect so many people to turn up. It shows there's a lot of interest in what we are doing,' van Basten said.
The Dutch have always done well on German soil, reaching the World Cup final in 1974 and winning the European Championships in 1988. That victory gave them their first and only international trophy to date.
'I hope this is not just a coincidence,' van Basten said.
'Perhaps it's got to do with the fact that there is not too much difference between our two countries. We have similar kinds of food and lifestyles. And Germany is also close for the fans,' he said.
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