Dutch players back their under-fire coach

The World Cup finalists went home after losing all three of their Group B matches -- a performance so far only matched by unfancied Ireland -- to Denmark, Germany and Portugal.

Their humiliated squad, which arrived in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon, are now free to follow the national discussion about what should happen to the team and van Marwijk.

Playmaker Wesley Sneijder, set to become the captain with 35-year-old Mark van Bommel expected to retire from the national team, was the first to stand up for his beleaguered coach.

“We can’t blame the coach for this, he did a great job for us in the last four years,” said Sneijder. “But there are some issues in the squad that have to be solved first, like the player who is leaking to the press about our tactical plans before matches.”

 The 60-year-old Van Marwijk, honored by Queen Beatrix after the Dutch reached the 2010 World Cup final, still has four years left on a contract that was extended last year.

But after their dismal failure in Ukraine, Dutch media is convinced there is no future for Van Marwijk as national coach. While the press and the fans blame the conservative manager, who has barely changed his team in two years, the KNVB and several players have offered him their support.

But the KNVB, it seems, has little time to plot a way forward with a friendly against Belgium on Aug. 15 before the Dutch start their World Cup qualifying campaign at home to Turkey on Sept. 7.