FREIBURG, Germany, June 8 - Goalkeeper Edwin van Sar will call on his vast experience and organisational skills as he captains a new-look Dutch team in their World Cup opener with Serbia & Montenegro on Sunday.

The 35-year-old left the 1998 tournament in tears after a semifinal penalty shootout defeat against Brazil but returns eight years later in a completely different team.

Only Philip Cocu and Giovanni van Bronckhorst remain from the 1998 squad in France. Coach Marco van Basten has ditched many of the older generation and put his faith in youth, a policy rewarded when the Dutch won a tough qualifying group.

"We had a good preparation with many new players," Van der Sar told a news conference.

"Since Van Basten started two years ago he invited players who normally would not have been in the picture for the Dutch squad."

The Dutch are hoping that the introduction of so many new faces will help to prevent some of the infighting that has marred previous campaigns.

Van der Sar does not consider inexperience a problem.

"This is a different set up than we had eight years ago but you have to start playing a World Cup at some time," said the Manchester United keeper.

"We have a group of young players but they are very mature in playing the game we want to."

Van der Sar, who made his international debut in 1995 a month after clinching the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam, has 109 caps so far and needs three more to match Dutch record holder Frank de Boer on 112.

Van Basten uses him and Cocu as a sounding board.

"The manager (Van Basten) gives the direction and talks it through with the experienced players," explained Van der Sar.

"But the discussions we have are just about little adjustments, not really the big things."

Van der Sar knows exactly what a good start on Sunday will mean for the Dutch.

"An opening win against Serbia & Montenegro will give this young team's confidence an enormous boost," he said. The Dutch must also play Argentina and Ivory Coast in group C.