Dutch football legend Arjen Robben has offered some interesting advice to the Netherlands women’s team ahead of the World Cup.
The former Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea winger visited the squad at their training camp in Zeist and conducted an informative question and answer session.
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The Dutch team are preparing for the 2023 tournament ahead of travelling to Australia and New Zealand for kick-off on July 20.
In the last edition, the Oranje lost the final in Paris to the USA, and will be looking to go one further and win their first World Cup this year.
Robben similarly went to the final with the men’s team in 2010, but lost to Spain, and had similar heartbreak in Europe.
The winger lost two Champions League finals with Bayern against Inter Milan and Chelsea, but then got the ultimate redemption when he scored the winner against Borussia Dortmund in 2013.
Discussing his mentality with the women’s squad, he asked: “How do you respond to that pressure? How do you deal with that?
“Are you going to highlight it negatively or are you going to highlight it positively? I experienced that very well myself at the Champions League final, for example.
“At that point we had already lost it twice. If you lose it again, you become a bit of a loser who loses everything.
“I only had one thing on my mind: no matter what happens, we’re just going to win today. That is really the most important thing.”
Robben then explained to superstars like Jackie Groenen and Lieke Martens what their mindset should be heading into the tournament.
“If you start thinking ‘s***, the World Cup final, maybe I’ll never experience this again’, then you’re already wrong.
“You know what to do, you know what you are capable of. Because when you’re this far in a tournament, you know what makes you strong. Go do that.
“You have to think: ‘yes, today we will make sure we become world champions. Or that we will be in the final or semi-final.’ That defines the best, the strongest. Doing exactly the right thing when it counts. Because they know: this is what I’m good at.
“If you go onto the field with s*** in your pants, you might as well stay inside.”
