Where did you watch the game?
I watched the game just in our hospitality area at the track because our race was finished around 2:35 and we watched the game at 3 o’clock. I watched the game with some Portuguese people, of course, because Tiago (Monteiro) is a team-mate of mine (at Minardi). So we watched it together.

You must be feeling pretty disappointed today?
It was really a bad day yesterday because I was hoping that we could win the game. I like the way that Marco van Basten is setting up the team with all a lot of young players. I think they really had the spirit and were very eager to win. It was just a really strange game. Lots of people were red carded and I think the tackle on Robben close to the goal should have been a penalty. You can see that there was a foot on his shoulder, and I think that is a little bit too high!
My team-mate also drove into my back in the first lap and I couldn’t ride the race because of a Portuguese guy, so I have a double reason for being upset! Tiago just forgot to brake, I think, so he drove into the back of my car and we crashed together. It was a bad day. And then we lost the game, which was not necessary because I thought we were quite good and had a lot of opportunities. We just couldn’t get the ball into the net.

What went wrong?
If you see the first few games we played, I think we did quite well in our group against some strong sides like Argentina and Ivory Coast. Plus, if you see the game from yesterday, I think we did reasonably well. We had a lot of opportunities.
I am quite disappointed because, first of all, you know in the Netherlands that the press will start to say that Van Basten has not done a good job or that he had to put more experienced players in the game. This is typical Dutch. I hope he can battle his way through and that he doesn’t get irritated. He is a good guy for our team.
Everybody around the whole world has a lot of respect for him and I think he is doing a reasonable job. He has his own philosophy about setting up a team and he chose to have a really young team with a good spirit. Maybe they were not so experienced, but he did it his way. And he wants that team to grow, I think, for the next World Cup or European Championships.
Yesterday’s was a game we should not have lost. We just had bad luck.

It was also a very hard game…
The two teams were really strong. It’s bad when you see how many yellow cards and red cards, and how many guys were left in the game. I thought in the end maybe we would only have the goalkeepers! The most important thing is that we get it together again and you will see that in the European Championships and then maybe the World Cup in four years’ time. We are going to win!

Which team are you going to support now?
I am driving for an English team, so maybe I will support them a little bit, but you know, it’s not like it’s your own country anymore. I just like to support my guys, the mechanics for the car, and it would be nice for them if they won. Still, it doesn’t give you the same feeling you would get from your own team winning it.

How do see the tournament panning out?
I think Brazil are definitely one of the top teams. They are strong and can beat anyone. In the final, it could be Argentina against Brazil. But let’s not forget Germany. They were a little bit suspect at the start because there was a lot of negativity on in the press, a lot of critics, so they were pushed into an underdog position. But, since then, they’ve done really well. Germans are always really strong, you know, they’ll keep on fighting until the last few seconds of the game - that’s the German spirit.

What is your official website?
http://www.christijan-albers.nl/en/

Source: WCoffsite