Kharkiv (Ukraine), Jun 14 (IANS): Wesley Sneijder has apologised for the poor performance of the Dutch football team at the ongoing Euro 2012 Championship.

"I would like to apologise to everyone," he said in an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS Wednesday after losing 1-2 to Germany.

"I hope the people still stay behind us. Even tonight, they helped us in the final phase with their fantastic support. They arrived en masse to support us here and that is important to us.

"This defeat is very hard," Sneijder added. "We did not see it coming. I really felt that we could beat the Germans."

The Netherlands trailed 0-2 after the first half courtesy goals by Mario Gomez.

"We started well and created chances," Sneijder said.

"It's a heavy blow, I really thought that we were ousted. I did not think of any other scenario, but it's not over yet."

After two consecutive defeats, the Netherlands can still reach the quarter-finals if they beat Portugal with two goals difference (or more) Sunday and Germany beat Denmark.