During the dress rehearsal in the run-up to the group stage, the Dutch team trained for half an hour on Thursday. After that, a friendly international match against the United States was scheduled on site. Before the game, their hands came together and the Orange players shouted: “jel, jel, jel, we’ll see.” A slogan with the necessary self-mockery. “That’s how it goes here,” says a smiling Nick Close, who can call himself Orange-international from Saturday. “Together with our coach, we look at what is possible and what is not possible, we do not look at that”, Close continues with a smile.