Kampong seemed to smell the victory in advance, because the coach chose to spare his strongest players on Thursday evening. The internationals Jip Janssen, Lars Balk, Duco Telgenkamp, Derck de Vilder and Jonas de Geus had already had a few tough training days with the Dutch team this week and were given rest to prevent overload. Striker Terrance Pieters is still recovering from a knee injury.