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The Dutch national team played an exhibition match against South Korea in Australia on Sunday, but no one in the Orange squad is allowed to say how the last World Cup test went in Australia in New Zealand. At the request of South Korea, journalists were not welcome. Even the result was not allowed to be shared.
The match was played at 1:00 p.m. local time on Sunday at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, a stadium south of Sydney. The game consisted of three periods of half an hour each. And national coach Andries Jonker wouldn’t let his future base players play the whole game, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to train fully for three days.
That’s all that is known so far about the training match between the Netherlands and South Korea, exactly one week before the first World Cup game between the Netherlands and Portugal. How the game went, who won and whether the 25 Dutch players remained intact: no one at the Orange is allowed to say anything at the moment.
This time, the management of the KNVB was not the instigator of the secrecy, as was the case three weeks ago during the very commented exhibition match against the boys of De Volewijckers (2-1). The KNVB would have welcomed the six reporters present at the nine-day training camp in Sydney ahead of the World Cup. Many training courses in Sydney are also open to the press.
According to the KNVB, the reason for the current secrecy is a request from the South Korean football association. The South Koreans don’t want to talk about the game. Not even the result and the score – no matter how innocuous. The request to this effect from the Orange press officer was immediately rejected on Sunday.
Ontvang meldingen bij belangrijke ontwikkelingen rondom de Oranjevrouwen
KNVB: “Playing is the first objective, not informing”
It is unclear exactly what is behind the South Korean secret. The South Korean spokesperson could not be reached by phone for comment. There has been no response to an email from NU.nl (yet). Since this is a practice match and not an official international match, the teams can decide for themselves which rules apply and how they organize the duel.
The Netherlands decided to play after South Korea’s request. “We see it as a practice game,” Orange’s press officer told NU.nl when asked. “The first objective of the match is to play under resistance just before the World Cup. Informing is not an objective in itself, so we respected the request of the opponent.”
Achtergrond bij besloten wedstrijden
In het Nederlandse voetbal komt het vaker voor dat clubs besloten oefenwedstrijden spelen, zoals momenteel ook het geval is in de zomerse voorbereiding. Daar zijn verschillende redenen voor.
Clubs kunnen bij een besloten wedstrijd gewoon op het nabijgelegen trainingsveld spelen zonder dat ze extra kosten hoeven te maken of een complete wedstrijdorganisatie op touw hoeven te zetten.
Ook verzoeken trainers weleens tot een besloten duel omdat ze de tegenstander niet wijzer willen maken. Autoriteiten als politie en justitie zijn er doorgaans ook niet happig om politieagenten vrij te maken voor oefenwedstrijden.
Journalisten mogen vaak wel aanwezig zijn bij besloten wedstrijden, zodat ze fans kunnen informeren over het verloop. Als dat niet het geval is, wordt er na afloop van de wedstrijd informatie gedeeld via de kanalen van desbetreffende club.
De Nederlandse mannen spelen hun wedstrijden welhaast altijd met pers en publiek op de tribunes. De Oranjevrouwen oefenen vaker achter gesloten deuren, zoals eind vorige maand tegen de Nederlandse vrouwen onder negentien jaar. Daar waren journalisten wel welkom.
Whether national coach Jonker will be allowed to speak about the game at the next press briefing during training camp in Sydney on Monday, the press officer was unable to say before kick-off at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. This had to be discussed with South Korea first.
And so it’s a mystery to the general public whether the Netherlands have gained confidence ahead of the World Cup two days before leaving for New Zealand – after preparing with wins over De Volewijckers’ boys (2-1), the Dutch Under Nineteen (4-1) and Belgium (5-0) – or there are concerns.
Mis niets van het WK bij NU.nl
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