Sneijder apologizes for defeat to Dutch fans

2012-06-14 09:01:28 GMT2012-06-14 17:01:28(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

THE HAGUE, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Wesley Sneijder apologized for the poor performance of the Dutch national team at Euro 2012 in an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS on Wednesday after losing 2-1 to Germany.

"I would like to apologize to everyone and everything," he said after their second straight loss at the tournament. "I hope the people still stay behind us. Even tonight, they helped us in the final phase with their fantastic support. They arrived en masse to support us here and that is important to us."

"This defeat is very hard," Sneijder added. "We did not see it coming. I really felt that we could beat the Germans."

The Netherlands trailed 2-0 after the first half due to two goals by Mario Gomez and only Robin van Persie did something back after the break.

"We started well and created chances," Sneijder said. "It's a heavy blow, I really thought that we were ousted. I did not think of any other scenario, but it's not over yet."

After two consecutive defeats the Netherlands can still reach the quarter-finals if the team beats Portugal with two goals difference (or more) on Sunday and Germany beats Denmark at the same time.

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