Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at 10:41 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 22:46

Valentijn Driessen lashes out at the attitude with which Steven Bergwijn spoke to the press in Qatar on Wednesday. The journalist believes that the attacker of the Dutch despises the news and therefore the Dutch people by hardly answering the questions asked. “A downright mockery, also for the KNVB,” says Driessen in a video item for The Telegraph.

Bergwijn hardly said anything at the press conference and always referred to his teammate Davy Klaassen, who was also present. “I agree with Davy”, Bergwijn kept saying, or words to that effect. When asked whether Bergwijn also lacks his top form, Ajax’s winger responded quite laconically. “I don’t know, I’m comfortable in my own skin. It’s going well actually.”

Driessen lashes out hard afterwards. “I do know that often not much comes out of his mouth. It is often generalities that these players shout,” says the journalist. “But the questions are often fine. You can answer them well. You don’t have to have studied to be able to formulate a bit of a normal Dutch sentence. All players can do that. But Steven Bergwijn… Really, God damn it was this. He despises everyone who sits there for him. First you come all the way from the Netherlands to Qatar. Then you show up at half past five to ask a few questions, and no sensible word comes out…”

Press secretary Bas Ticheler refused to intervene, as the former journalist never does when Louis van Gaal falls out. “The people at the table are laughing sheepishly: press secretary Bas Ticheler, Davy Klaassen: ‘Oh, how funny’,” said Driessen. “It is just pure contempt for journalism and the Dutch follower. Everyone forgets that: we are not there on behalf of ourselves. We are there on behalf of the Dutch people to inform about football. Then you just expect an adult answer And not that sheepish stuff we’ve seen now, this is also an outright mockery for the KNVB.