Van Rhijn relieved with Dutch draw

Ricardo van Rhijn admits that Netherlands did not do enough to beat Germany in Wednesday’s international friendly at the Amsterdam ArenA.

The Dutch were second-best for large parts of the game and only really managed to threaten in the final 30 minutes of the 0-0 draw.

And Van Rhijn acknowledged that Netherlands did not have an easy time of it.

“We saw that Germany are a team of the highest level and that we are unable to control an entire game at this point,” Van Rhijn told Goal.com.

“They were the better team in the opening 45 minutes. We bounced back after the break and were a bit more in charge then.

“Germany dominated possession and we had to chase down the ball rather than dictate play. That wasn’t easy. We all know that Germany are a great team and can play some good football.

“It was up to us to make sure we were well organised and had an answer to their attacks. We threatened a few times, but all in all we were not good enough.

“They missed a few players and so did we. They were stronger individually, and we had to make up for that as a team. We were unable to do just that, though.

“A draw was the right result in the end, but we shouldn’t read too much into it.”

Netherlands resume friendly action at home against Italy on February 6, 2013.