Fan of the Day: Sarteen salutes Cruyff's legacy

Berlin - Young at heart and full of life, Sarteen is one of those eccentric grandfathers we would all loved to have had. The 61- year-old has left his native Netherlands for Germany many times since that glorious summer in 1974 but never with as much excitement as now. 'I was 29 during that World Cup which gave the Dutch respect across the world as well as a name in the game. Half a life has passed since then and that's why I want these finals to be like those of 74. I'm going to think I'm younger than 30 and that I'm about to watch the pleasure of 'total football' again,' said Sarteen before leaving his home town of Maastricht ahead of the competition. His hopes for Dutch success were extinguished though in the second round defeat by Portugal. But instead of getting depressed he chose to see the glass half full: 'Holland have already written their names in the history books. Up until 1974, we'd only been involved in two World Cups, 1934 and 1938, when we were eliminated in the first round. 'Nobody knew about us until 1974, but though we never ended up champions, our football has become a reality, not a passing trend, and we are now among the best. We didn't even bring Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert, Stam, the De Boers, Makaay or Hasselbaink and any of those could have been in the starting line-up in many other national teams. Total football will have revenge in 2010, you'll see,' predicts Sarteen with a smile. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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