• Quality of football ‘better’ in European Cup • Dutch have become more pragmatic Wesley Sneijder, the Holland attacking midfielder, has criticised the quality of the football played at the World Cup to date and said it suffers by comparison to the Champions League. “So far the favourites didn’t show what they are capable of and only Germany really impressed,” said Sneijder who won the European Cup last month with Internazionale. “I think everyone has to get used to the circumstances, like the ball and altitude, and it all will start from now on,” he said. “Besides that I enjoyed watching countries like North Korea and New Zealand playing their games, but then you realise the Champions League is far better.” • Follow the Guardian’s World Cup team on Twitter • Sign up to play our great Fantasy Football game • Stats centre: Get the lowdown on every player • The latest team-by-team news, features and more The pragmatic approach used by José Mourinho at Inter has been taken on board by Sneijder’s Dutch team-mates but Holland’s performance in their 2-0 defeat of Denmark has not met with the approval of the media back in the Netherlands or the team’s fans. “In Spain and Italy they like it when you win with good football but winning without is appreciated,” said Sneijder. “Two years ago at the Euro finals we were expected to pick up the trophy after two impressive wins [over Italy and France] and the whole team got carried away with the euphoria. We know what is expected of us and that we can do much better but I can’t remember a World Cup or Euro in which a team plays six or seven fantastic matches.” World Cup 2010 Holland World Cup 2010 Group E guardian.co.uk
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World Cup 2010: Wesley Sneijder says Champions League beats World Cup
