Tag: Clasie

January 3, 2018 by Jan

Big Four are history now…

Arjen Robben, after the last WC qualification game vs Sweden: “The man of glass went on the longest….”

The Big Four are no more. Sneijder might play a fringe part for us in the future, but Van der Vaart, most likely Van Persie and Robben are no longer going to wear the orange.

We didn’t just lose a couple of world class players, the Big Four, we lost our self-esteem.

It’s 2010, Oranje up for the semi-finals vs Uruguay. Sneijder is being interviewed, but the cocky Utrechter turns the tables. He asks the question: “Do you believe we can win it?” The sports reporter hesitates… Sneijder: “Ok, you doubt me? I will convince you. Not with words.” And he pointed at Robin van Persie. Then he pointed at Van der Vaart. Then at Robben. He looked the reporter in the eye and pointed at himself. “Tell your wife you’ll be coming home after the finals.”

Sneijder got up and walked away. And raised both arms in triumph, with two fingers up on both hands. Four.

Two days later, Oranje made it to the finals.

Earlier that year, he did the same. He asked the question of the sports reporter: “Is there a name for it when you win the treble AND the World Cup?”. He just won the title, the national cup in Italy and the Champions League. He played against Robben and Van Bommel. These three would get to the national team training camp late, but brimming with confidence. Robben and Sneijder talked at the trainings camp, about their mutual debuts for Oranje against Portugal. “We never made it far in 2006 and 2008 because our aim was to survive these groups of death. Getting through was the key thing. This time, it’s different. This time we want to go all the way. We told each other constantly: we are not leaving until we played the finals. We will go to South Africa to win it!”

Those were the days. Not just because we had these four Top Guns. But because we had personalities in the team. Think Nigel de Jong, Mark van Bommel, Dirk Kuyt. Players with a voice and an opinion. In 2010, the players wanted to win it. In 2014, Louis van Gaal squeezed it out of them.

The development process of the Big Four was fascinating. And also because of their temperaments. When self consciousness and top quality meet, ego is lurking. And in particular, when certain players are going for the same position. It was never a thing, for Sneijder and Van der Vaart. Best mates since their youth. And they still are close. Bert van Marwijk demanded it: mutual respect and acceptance. Trust each others qualities and skills and cover for the weaker aspects. A collective consciousness. And all this got processed and came to the fore in 2010. If it wasn’t for Casillas toe, Holland would have had the cup.

They shared their talent and confidence, but the Big Four also never forgot their roots. When Van Persie scored that phenomenal header vs Spain, in 2014, he credited his old youth coach Aad Putters, at Excelsior, as the man who taught him to head the ball. And every year, Robin participates in the youth tournament carrying his name. Just like Rafael van der Vaart visits his own youth tournament in Beverwijk, with his dad behind the bar counter and his mum selling entry tickets. Arjen Robben recently produced a video tape to ask the fans of FC Groningen to support his old club, even in these dire times. And Sneijder financially supports an entourage of family and friends, to make them part of his success. They’re multi millionaires but in their hearts they’re still street players.

Robben, the dribble king from Bedum, Sneijder the focused leader, Van der Vaart the old-fashioned virtuoso and Van Persie the elegant artist, who’d do the grocery shopping in Kralingen with a ball glued to his left foot. They love the game, from their youth right to the highest level.

But after that failed tournament of 2012, in the run up to the World Cup Brazil, the rust started to show. Van der Vaart was already out. He played his last international game in 2013. Van Gaal harassed Sneijder about his fitness. Van Persie admitted he played with constant pain. Only Robben, with him was it the opposite. The injury prone winger was in the form of his life and carried Oranje through the World Cup 2014. Sneijder and Van Persie just made it. When Wesley Sneijder had himself tested by the Dutch squad medical team, Van Gaal thought the equipment was faulty and ordered a re-test. That is how fit Sneijder was. Van Persie withstood the knee complaints and had his most productive tournament ever: 4 goals. In that sensational 1-5 win over Spain, all three players were involved: two goals Van Persie, two goals Robben and Sneijder with two assists. Robben: “Whenever Sneijder gets played in, I’m on my bike. Even if he still has work to do. Because I know he’ll find the gap to pass the ball exactly where I need it.” It’s how it went in Salvador, with Sergio Ramos crawling on all fours, watching how Robben scored. And in Johannesburg, when Robben was thwarted by Casillas’ toe.

In the years post-Brazil, the rust took over. Robben remained the Oranje leader. But his body didn’t agree and in 2015 and 2016 he only played 166 minutes in Oranje. The exact same period in which we failed to qualify for France 2016. Van der Vaart got sidelined by Betis Sevilla and later at Mitdtjylland. Van Persie and Sneijder had the support of Danny Blind and Advocaat after Blind betted one more time, heavily, on the two mavericks. To no avail. Sneijder got subbed for Vilhena and Van Persie ended up with a bad knee injury. Not much after, the WC Russia disintegrated for us and with that, a proper send-off for our Top World Class players. Only Robben was there, when we clutched at straws vs Belarus and Sweden. Robben had an assist on Propper against Belarus but fired a free kick into row Z later on. He had a wry smile on his face… Against Sweden, Robben was man of the match. With two goals, a lucky pen and a smashing strike from outside of the 16. His swan song.

The demasque of Oranje is a fact now. Sneijder: “At Galatasaray, some players asked who were in the Dutch national team. I named them and all I could see were question marks in their faces…”

Sneijder wasn’t present for the last qualification games. Robben was the only one left. When asked about it: “I’m not going to lie. I find it tough to be here without him. I think he could have had value for us, he’s very important. But, it’s the coach who decides, not me. But yes, it’s a wake-up call for me.”

What rests us, are the memories. Two years ago, this sentimental journey got it’s prologue. Three of the Big Four are in the bar of the Amsterdam Hilton. The Dutch team stayed the night there. Clarence Seedorf, ex-international, came by to say hi. Sneijder, Van Persie and Robben sat down with Seedorf and shared memories of the times that Oranje was a shoe in for the semi finals at big tournaments. Life was good, jokes all around, sipping drinks in front of the fire place. Sneijder grabbed his phone and said: “Let me call Raffie, ask him to come down. We’d be complete again.” They laughed and toasted. Proud and melancholic.

December 26, 2017 by Jan

Ruud Gullit’s football vision

Ruud Gullit aimed to bring Oranje to the World Cup alongside Dick Advocaat. It didn’t work out. Gullit’s story, on his time with Oranje, the crisis in Dutch football and the hope he feels inside him.

When Gullit walks into the lunch restaurant in Amsterdam, he’s got a big smile on his face. As per usual. He just had a body-scan, a preventive medical examination. “Man, I had to be all empty for that. You can’t eat for 24 hours and anything that is left in your body, got to go out. They put tubes in your mouth, in your ass, in every body-opening a tube, hahaha. Well, they tell you afterwards what’s going on and in my case: all clear. Super healthy!”

He orders a soda water and a salad. “Now I’ll do a bit more even to stay this way, hahaha.”

So, when did you – uber positivo – lose faith in Oranje’s chances for the World Cup?

Ah, the night Sweden thrashed Luxembourg… My faith got a big blow. We were in the bus for our Belarus game, towards the Johan Cruyff Arena. And we heard ping after ping on the mobile phones. That was a big downer.”

So how can you then motivate the players to have them play with confidence?

“That’s hard. But we stayed positive. Look at yourself, focus on the tasks at hand. We have quality and we will beat Belarus! This is also how we approached the Sweden game. But we didn’t make it. The series we played weren’t too bad. With normal rules (the results between rival Sweden would normally be the decider instead of goal difference) we would have qualified. In the CL, it’s about the result between the two clubs who finish at the same level of points. Our results vs Sweden were better but still we’re out. That is wrong!”

Did you do enough though, to get our goal difference up?

“I do believe so. It’s so easy to say you gotta start with four attackers. We played against Belarus with four, at some stage and we gave away chance after chance. You can’t just say “now we’re going all attack!”. The contrast is crazy, we needed control first and we actually did well considering the circumstances. And while we were trying to get more confidence in the team, the people and media around us had all this negative energy going out way. It becomes really hard to overcome all that.”

When you and Dick were presented, it wasn’t about the Dutch School, but all about winning. That was a conscious decision?

“No not really. Dick and I have a similar vision and approach. Winning is all that matters. I get annoyed with all that talk about attractive football. We are not in a position to want to play attractive. I played for AC Milan, which was at that time one of the most attractive teams on the planet. But seriously, three quarters of all our matches were won ugly. Just get the points. And I’m talking absolute top! And yes, Pep Guardiola spends 500 mio euros to get the football he wants, but we believe we can play like that with our national team? Don’t make me laugh!”

Have we been too much focused on all this, in Holland?

“For sure! We see ourselves as the inventors of modern football. I will never forget Carlo Ancelotti’s words, whenever Dutch reporters would come to Milanello. “Ah, there are the Dutch football professors again!”. And that still is our image abroad. A couple of know-it-alls who talk about tactics as if it’s some holy topic, but never winning trophies. And its our own doing.”

Is that why we don’t see top coaches from Holland in the big leagues anymore?

“Partly, yes. And it’s no surprise to me. Dutch coaches stay in their bubble too long in other leagues. And we go into another football culture and tell them they’re doing it wrong. But adapting to other circumstances is key. There is not just One System, there are more ways leading to Rome. And sometimes we get a shock and wake up. Like, when Dutch clubs are without a hope in the world in European competitions. Or when a coach gets fired. We all start yelling how is it possible that we are so far behind, but then we shrug our shoulders and keep doing what we were doing.”

You couldn’t make it happen for Oranje though.

“We did turn the results around. But it wasn’t enough. We don’t need to be all dramatic about it. It’s like the economy. There are waves of talents and periods with lesser talent. When we won the EC in 1988, we hadn’t performed at 3 major tournaments. In 1988, PSV won the European Cup, KV Mechelen with a couple of Dutchies won the EC II. A year prior, Ajax won that. Marco and I were at AC Milan. But when we were younger, we didn’t qualify either. And Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder also needed time to become the world class players they ended up becoming. And we’re in one of those phases now. But we still ooze talent.”

So how hard will we miss those big name players going forward?

“You will miss Robben for sure. He was a top player for us, and a role model. And in the last matches, Sneijder was there and he did ever so well. A fantastic mentality. He was on the bench, and usually a player like him can’t handle that too well but he is no fool. And he wants to keep on fighting for Oranje. He really pushes the quality up at practice. And after the friendly against Scotland, he got me in stitches. He wasn’t used by Dick and he walks into the dressing room after the game and says “Wow, I didn’t know you can only sub two players in a friendly!”. Typical Sneijder. And you could wipe me of the floor. Others will have to step up now.”

How is it that top players like Wijnaldum and Strootman are vital for their top clubs but are so disappointing in Oranje?

“Good point. The good thing is, these players know this too and they’re working on that. It’s a first step. I have visited Kevin in Rome and discussed it with him. The contents will remain between us, but it’s too easy to just point at the difference in teams they play in. There is more to it. The meeting I had was good, open and honest and Kevin thanked me afterwards. Players need to look in the mirror first. I also spoke with Wijnaldum about it. And they’re top players and smart too. They now have the experience and status to be the leaders. Like Virgil van Dijk, that lad has everything to be world class: length, speed, strength, a good build up pass, but he can be a little complacent at times. He needs to focus. Once he focuses for 100%, he will be a top top defender. Daley Blind, he is a super player in the role we used him in, just in front of the back four. Tonny Vilhena is also a player I rate high. I expect him to grow once he makes his move from Feyenoord. I think he’s ready for it. And Stefan de Vrij is top at Lazio, Memphis is reborn in Lyon, I think we have amazing players. It’s not all bad news.”

Which young talents do you see emerge?

“I see many. Matthijs de Ligt, he copped criticism after Bulgaria, but I told him not to worry about that. See, he’s developed at Ajax, and at Ajax they are used to have the ball 70% of the time. At Ajax, you have the ball. I told him, in Oranje it will be different. The focus needs to be on what you do without the ball. His attention needs to be 100% when we do not have possession. Anticipate what can happen when the opponent wins the ball. What are his tasks when we lose the ball, his positioning, etc. You need to be mentally and positionally ready for that. The other 30% in Oranje, is easy. That’s when we have the ball. It’s another mindset. In the Eredivisie you can pass the ball nicely, but against France or Denmark or Portugal, you can’t. He is like a sponge, he loves that input. Like Donny van de Beek. They want to learn. Justin Kluivert has massive potential. He now needs to be more constant in his game. These lads need time. Dennis Bergkamp wasn’t extra-ordinary when he was 20 years old. He started to become super good at 24 years of age. Paul Pogba, same story. Talents who are world class at 19 years old are rare.”

Our talents leave Holland too soon?

“Yes, I would advise them to stay longer. It’s better for your development, you will play more games and the scouts will find you anyway. Look at Lozano and Neres, they’re in the Eredivisie for a reason. They want to learn here and use Holland as a stepping stone. In the top leagues, you either need to be top notch already otherwise you are on the stands or loaned to a lower club on a lower level. Look at what happened to De Bruyne at Chelsea. Or Salah at Chelsea. Or Loftus-Cheek. If these lads have trouble initially, it’s not strange that our talents are having a hard time there as well. So don’t leave too soon, even despite the artificial pitches.”

What is your biggest problem with that?

“If I tell people abroad that we have so many clubs playing on artificial surfaces, they think I’m pulling their leg! It’s something you can’t explain. No one does this, only Holland. You get different types of players, the football is different. When will people act? When will the licensing requirements change? Clubs with artificial pitches should not play top level football. So, simply don’t sign that right back from Slovakia, but fix your pitch. Make the right choices. Same with youth academies. If a club does not want to invest in youth academies, then don’t let them compete at the top level. Full stop. You can’t just look at your own interests. The new KNVB Technical Director has a big job fixing all these things. I wish the guy all the luck in the world.”

How is your relationship with Hans van Breukelen?

“It’s fine. I forget and forgive. I can get pretty angry, but it goes away quickly too. That is my personality. Swallow the turd and move on. Don’t keep on walking around with a turd in your mouth! I told Hans in his face what I thought about it all and that’s it for me. He should have told me that Marco was about to leave for FIFA. Easy. And Marco agrees with me. All that silly stuff of secrets and hidden agendas. But, it’s not an easy job, he had. I wonder who will step into that role now. Because you get the blame for everything.”

What do we need to change at youth level?

“Kids are being told everything. It’s all made so simple for them. So stop with those positioning games and those pre-programmed methods. Most youth coaches kick the creativity out of the player. You can hear them yell at the players. They need to pass, they can’t have a failed dribble activity or all hell breaks loose. Let those kids play! This is how they learn, let them develop their technique. And let them sort out things themselves, let them choose teams etc. Ger Blok, who was our youth coach at the time was good at that. He would always ask us: so what is your idea? What do you think we should do? Forced us to think about it. My son plays in the AZ youth. They get it there. They make the talent responsible for his development. You create independent and intelligent players like this. Because on the pitch, players need to make the decisions.”

How can you make this part of the training?

“It’s important to use match situations in training. Even at the highest level, this is lacking at times. Typical example with Oranje. After the training, some players took time to do some finishing. Memphis, Promes, Vilhena and some others. So they were on the edge of the box and someone would play the ball to them from next to the goal post. And then they’d hit the ball on goal. Good fun! So I asked them: How often do you get a pass from next to the goal post, in a match? The answer is clear: eh..never… Ok, so why practice this? So I said, we’ll do this different. Stand with your back to goal, with a defender – me – in their back. And then you get a ball played into you, which is not perfect. At hip height. At knee height. With a bounce, to the wrong foot. The first touch needs to be so that they create space, turn and then shoot on goal. Those are the situations you get in a match. These are the details I’m talking about.”

Was that your role, typically?

“Yes, Dick said: just work with the players and that is a good role for me. Take Locadia. I asked him: what are you, a winger or a central striker. He said: I’m a striker. So I said: but you run so much. All that running… That is easy to defend for a defender. He didn’t believe me. So I called out to Rekik and asked him: What do you think is harder to defend: a striker on the move, or a striker who basically leans into you and you don’t know when or how he’ll run? Rekik said: a striker running is easier to defend, you know where he’s going, he won’t surprise you that much. You should have seen Locadia’s face! I want to make players aware of their job. Take Daley. Blind is a tad introvert. So I asked him: what playing style do you prefer? He said: I’ll go with what the coach wants. I said, no I want you to think about it and express it. It’s important that players are accountable and they need to learn to communicate this. Some players started to give their opinion and wanted zonal marking. I’m personally not a fan, but hey… The players need to do it, and I’m not a dictator.”

Is this something that happens enough between players and coaches?

“I think it can be done more and better. I think players with an opinion are being told to shut it. But you need to cherish those, these kids think out of the box. The cherries on the cake. A talent needs to be a bit difficult. All good players have their weird things. I was a bit crazy too. In Holland, Hakim Ziyech is one of those. He’s “difficult”. He’s got an opinion. But he dares to think differently and play differently. And he has the skills to execute it. He can be the difference. And as a coach you need to find the balance, of him playing in service of the team or the other way around. And he will need to find that too. It all starts with the material you have, as a coach.”

Do coaches make their vision too important?

“I think so yes. They play and act as if they invented the game. The game is evolving constantly. It’s faster, more physical. So you ask yourself, how do I get the optimal result from this team. How to create a man more situation. How to pressure. How do you avoid being taken out by a counter? Now suddenly, the 5-3-2 is being heralded as the new thing. Nonsense, I used that at Chelsea already, 20 years ago. And Liverpool played like that back then too. The system is just a starting point. And Louis van Gaal apparently made a wonderful discovery for the WC2014. So he did it for Man United too but that never worked and he went back to four at the back. It all depends on the material you have. You find the system that fits the players, in particular with the National Team.”

Is Memphis potentially the best player we have?

“He has tremendous qualities. He’s now making some good steps. But it’s not about playing. A top player needs to be aware of off-pitch things as well. These guys are like rock stars now and the world has you under a magnifying glass. And you can’t let that distract from what it is about. Memphis is a totally cool lad. A very sweet guy. And a fantastic player. We see this in Lyon and now we see it at Oranje as well.”

Did you discuss his performances vs his image?

“Absolutely. I had many really good talks with him. He has his own view on things. He feels people should leave him be. His private life, is his. And I get that. But, he does put private pics on Instagram and social media, and you can’t have it all. If you do this, people will judge you. So, either you don’t care what people say about you, or you don’t give them ammunition. No matter what you do, you can’t change other people. And it all comes down to results and performances. But, he’s doing well now at Lyon, and guess what: people talk about his performances again. That is what he needs to keep up.”

And how about your social media exploits with that little film you published after the Bulgaria game?

“Yes man, much ado about nothing. Neymar does this all the time, and in American sports it’s also very common. People love a little look behind the scenes. Everyone had an opinion about it, well fine… Whatever. It’s not the most important thing, is it? And you know what, we had just lost 4-0 against France. We had to get the players’ chins up in 4 days. And they did, and we won. Well done and I felt it was a rightful thing to do and say, to support the players. In that sense, it was a fantastic game.”

Would you have wanted to go on with Dick, with Oranje?

“For sure. If I was the top man at the KNVB, I would have said: “Dick, it’s going well, why not keep it going?” The results were good, the players responded well to us, Frans Hoek and Fred Grim are top professionals. Why not keep it going? No idea…”

Dick Advocaat even suggested you as the national team manager….

“I loved that. Dick believes in me, but he is not the decision maker. And it’s like, every coach that gets fired in bigger leagues is suddenly a top candidate for Oranje? Is that a recommendation than? Being fired? Well, if people think they’re better qualified, so be it. And I would love to remain as assistant of course, but it has to come from the new coach. I think any new coach needs the freedom to pick the assistants he wants to work with. I will not push myself forward. I have ambitions and want to coach. At a club, a country, whatever works. I will respond to what comes on my path.”

Thanks to VI Pro

August 11, 2017 by Jan

The 2017/18 Season is upon us: predictions!

Well people, the waiting is over. It’s all going to go ahead again.

Let’s look in the crystal ball and see what will happen.

Oranje

We will suffer the least from the summer break vs France. Les Blues have talent to spare but they are rusty in their home game vs Holland. We will hit them on the attack. 1-3. We score first (Depay on a break) and when France is fighting to get back into the game, we score a second (Wijnaldum). They get back to 1-2 but in the final stages a risk-taking France concedes a penalty, converted by Janssen. Oranje is flying high and we won’t lose any qualification game after that. We’ll go to the WC2018. We’re not going to win it but we’ll get some swagger back.

Eredivisie

Ajax is vulnerable. A young squad, an inexperienced coach and when Sanchez and Ziyech are sold, there is not enough leadership and experience to have the time fight for the title. Like with JC’s first season as coach, this will be a “development season”. The fans won’t like it but I do believe Ajax has gold with De Ligt, Kluivert, Van de Beek, De Jong and will grow to a peak performance in the coming seasons. They’ll finish 2nd.

PSV has lost their spirit. The new hierarchy in the dressing room takes time. Willems is not properly replaced and something seems missing in Eindhoven. They’ll have an abysmal season. They’ll finish 4th.

Feyenoord is in the winning mood. They won’t be making waves in the Champions League but the new kids gel into the squad with ease and Feyenoord wins the title again. Quite rare for that to happen. Boetius has a super season, Jorgensen wins the golden boot again and Labayad is the coming man in Feyenoord’s midfield. Feyenoord wins the title.

The surprise #3 in the Eredivisie will be Vitesse. With good, neat pass and move, they upset most opponents and get to rub shoulders with the Top 3. AZ and FC Utrecht are just behind, with PEC Zwolle again impressing. VVV will drop back immediately.

It will be Kluivert’s real break through year, like Hendrix will snatch a starting birth at PSV.

EPL

Man City will win the title. Man United will again disappoint. Liverpool will do well in the CL as cupfighters. Newcastle will finish mid-table. The lads in England will have a mixed season. Janssen and Klaassen will struggle to get time. Blind, Wijnaldum and Fer will do very well. As will Nathan Ake. Van Dijk will move to Liverpool and will become their rock for seasons to come. Crystal Palace under De Boer will also impress with Riedewald and Van Aanholt on the wishlist of the bigger clubs.

Elsewhere

Cillesen will get the #1 spot for Barcelona. Lens will impress in Turkey, like Promes will do in Moscow, if he doesn’t get a transfer before September 1. Karsdorp, Strootman, De Roon, De Vrij, Hoedt will keep on delivering the goods in Italy, while Robben will have one of his best seasons. Sneijder takes Nice by the horns but will finish fourth, behind PSG and Monaco. Lyon will finish third.

Dutch football will make the comeback we all hope for. We’ll have most players at mid-level European top clubs. No more Juve, Barca, Real or Chelsea but the mid-range players will form a solid team when they wear the Orange and the squad will only grow in quality with players like Van de Beek and De Jong of Ajax joining in.

Sneijder and Robben will lead the pack and young talents like Karsdorp, Memphis, Vilhena, Promes and even Kluivert will add to the recipe. It will be all good, my friends. I’m just still sad that Appie Nouri will never wear the Orange jersey….

July 17, 2017 by Jan

Tributes to Abdelhak Nouri

The news is still ringing in my ears. What was supposed to have been his season after the exit of Davy Klaassen would become a horror scenario. Holland’s biggest talent at the moment will never show his magic in an Ajax shirt or Oranje shirt…or any shirt. Severe and lasting brain damage. He won’t be able to walk, talk, remember things, think even… The player with the brains of Cruyff or Iniesta or Zidane is now potentially a vegetable. Here are some thoughts…

David Endt, former Ajax player, team manager, press chef, players’ confidant…

“Like a feather in the wind, that is how Nouri plays football. With a smile on his face he dances football. His talent came up, it wen up and sideways, his talent went where it wanted to go, a sight for sore eyes to see Abdelhak play football from the heart. When he touches the ball, the straightjacket goes off, the rules of result fall by the wayside and…well not all…Nouri loves to score, or to let others score or to win, but he will do so as a free spirit.

Fans paying tribute to Appie Nouri

I admit here and now I sometimes left my office at the Youth Academy to stroll to a match of Ajax D1, C1 or B1… I admit I shirked my responsibilities because I couldn’t resist the lure to see these kids play, to see him play!

The kid that played like a feather, that only played the ball in order to get it back. The lad who was lovingly called “Appie”, an old Dutch name for a player with a Moroccan name. He was gifted by the football Gods with the gift of True Football. Light, but never lighthearted, you could tell he was shrewd, he knew the consequences of every move. He played for a higher cause. And after a while I turned around to go back to my office… but no, just 10 minutes more! “Look at that kid!”.

Look at him play, look at him go and every second of the match was used to feel complete happiness. Yes, he’s small, yes he’s thin but no one can even dare to ask whether he has enough to become a football great. Cruyff? Messi? Iniesta? All thin and small. He is all football, technique, control, timing, seeing the best solution in a split second. Light, even musical in a way, like a feather on the wind. And his heavenly game made you want the future now.

Ajax Captain Joel Veltman joins in the tribute

Like a feather on the wind, in one moment all can change. Cruelly so. It makes you mad as hell. Abdelhak’s life has been utterly and completely changed, in that one fatal moment. The horror grabs your throat, you can’t believe it, your head fills up with tears, you clench your fist. You scream at the football Gods: “Do something! Give Appie his football back!”

And Youp van ‘t Hek, Dutch comedian, writer, Ajax fan:

“I never met Appie so I won’t call him Appie. Abdelhak Nouri made his debut in September 2016 in the Ajax 1 team. Vs Willem II. And since I’ve seen him I understand why everyone calls him Appie. Appie has something careless. When a window was broken by a football, surely someone called Appie would be responsible. His eyes look through the hole, to ask for the ball back. You see the smile in his eyes and you can’t resist. You give Appie his ball back.

This is how the other Ajax players treated Abdelhak Nouri. Their Appie. I know this because during his debut, he floated smiling above the field, in between the cautiously passing team mates, these carefully moving players. Since Gerald Vanenburg’s debut, many years ago, I can’t recall having seen that.

The Ajax squad – with Lasse Schone leading the line – at the Nouri tribute

I watched him that match with bated breath. With every touch of the ball, life struck through his body. After five minutes I knew enough. This Abdelhak was a a football player who played football because that was the only thing he wanted to do. And it was sensational, as it always is a religious experience almost, to see someone live his passion.

He loves playing football. And with Ajax. Always Ajax. I went back in my memory, of players with him whom I had similar experiences, with Jesper Olsen, Tahamata, Van der Vaart of course. I wasn’t in the crowd when Cruyff made his first appearance, but… all these player played with a smile. Never afraid. Always looking for something special. I saw a player who’d put his foot on the ball – Willem van Hanegem style – and looked around. Not some triathlon dude of 110 kilo and 40 kilo leg muscles. It was all grace. Nouri enjoyed every minute of the game and you could see that, as his team mates saw it.

In his debut match there was that one special moment. Free kick Ajax. Nouri next to the veteran Lasse Schone. It’s 3-0 and Schone will use this free-kick to make it 4-0. But suddenly Nouri joins in. “Can I take it?” He wants to score at his debut. Schone says no. The camera focuses on the beautiful, touching expression on Nouri’s face. That is how I will remember him. He smiles apologetically and walks away. He tried at least. But Schone is ok with it. He accepts it but will cross the ball into the corner. Schone does get the desire of the youngster. He dreamed his whole life to play this game and he’d love to score. A dream. Scoring in front of the fans. So the next free-kick, Schone allows Nouri the ball. If he misses, he needs to pay Schone 10 euros. Nouri scores and the explosion of joy afterwards says it all. The joy of his team mates told me, these players love this lad.

Lasse Schone and Abdelhak Nouri

For me, this is why Nouri’s fate is so terrible. Someone who got so much happiness and joy from his passion, someone who had the ability to bring 1000s if not potentially millions joy sees his life cut short in a cruel fashion. This really affects me. He was a kid who didn’t see problems. Who’d dribble through lines of defenders, who would always have a broad smile on team photos. Nouri was who we wanted to be. Someone who trusts the world, believes in happiness and enjoys what he does. When watching Nouri, you knew what life was all about. He reminded you, don’t bow down, but dance. Don’t be silent, but cheer.

Daarom is Nouri’s noodlot zo vreselijk. Dat juist iemand die iedereen vrolijk maakte, iemand die onbevangen aanviel op het leven zelf, zo wreed tot stilstand is gekomen. Daarom grijpt het stilvallen van Nouri mij zo aan. Ik zag een jongen die geen problemen zag. Die door linies wilde dwarrelen. Ik zag hem lachen op clubfoto’s.

When we saw Nouri collapse on that fated Saturday, we saw ourselves. We all mean so well but in a flash it can all be different. Nouri gifted us the drive to live. He allowed us to feel what it must be like to be perfectly happy. What a beautiful gift.

Feyenoord comes onto the pitch with Nouri tribute jerseys on

June 13, 2017 by Jan

Wesley Sneijder: Mr Oranje Record Breaker

Phillip Cocu passed the ball into him. A quick turn and a shot on target: goal! He jumps laughing into the arms of Pierre van Hooijdonk, at the side of the pitch. On the bench, coach Dick Advocaat. Oranje team manager, but without hair from front to back and Willem van Hanegem next to him as his assistant.

Ajax’ total management team was on the pitch. Marc Overmars on the left wing, Edwin van der Sar on goal. Sneijder was just a kid, gel in his hair and a somewhat oversized Orange jersey.

He walked and laughed like a teenager, that day. A school boy, but he played the match of his live. November 2003, Holland-Scotland: 6-0.

This was not his debut, but it certainly was his breakthrough. Just watch in the first 30 seconds of the game. Sneijder demands the ball, creates space from his own box, sprints across the length of the pitch, gives an opponent a knock at the half way line and walks away, chin up and chest out.

The Agassi-style walk, a bit pedantic, with the high raised elbows. The look saying “no one can touch me” and his fabolous kicking technique.

When Sneijder walked onto the pitch of De Kuip – one of his favorite venues – for his 131st international game, he doesn’t have that mercurial dynamic anymore. It was 14 years ago. His muscles are less agile, he’s got more tattoos, he bridges the distances with a bit more effort, but he is still Wesley Sneijder. Pure player. Bravado. The Man. Proud like no other.

He gave Oranje venom, will, class and bravado. But also a smile and a cheer. The many interviews, in the dark underbelly of a stadium, sweat dripping of his face. Or at the sideline of a windy practice pitch on Katwijk. Sometimes long and philosophical conversation, other times short soundbites. In hotels across the globe, at the training camps of Inter or Real Madrid, or at airports or amongst 1000s of insane Turkish fans.

Sneijder Superstar but always himself. Good mooded, positive, opportunistic even. For some an annoying alpha male but usually a happy-go-lucky larekin. Always good for a story, an anecdote or a fierce debate.

The World Cup 2010 in South Africa was the pinnacle of what would be his most successful year on the field. But also off the pitch. In South Africa, in Johannesburg, he would share stories about his faith, about love, about the talismans he brings on his travels, about his son, God, about him mother and life as a public persona.

Sneijder is streetwise. He may not have been educated too well, but he’s incredibly intelligent, and his emotional intelligence is a gift. He never lost his Utrecht dialect, but turned an ego-centric punk into a mature man, with an eye for the less fortunate. He is always happy to help old friends, will always give the young Oranje fans the time of day and is always available to the press.

In March, the last international game under Danny Blind, Sneijder had a speaking engagement before a conference hall with parents of young cancer patients. Sneijder knows how to: warm, upbeat, spontanious and will a good feel for timing and atmosphere. Whether he’s speaking with Princes Maxima, or the sick kid in the wheelchair, he is always at ease.

But it didn’t all go smoothly. Sometimes, Sneijder behind his mask of manliness could be unhappy and vulnerable. During his time at Real Madrid, he divorced his first wife and drowned himself in the Spanish nightlife, with a mediocre spell at the club. Self critical as he can be, later on he said “I was completely shit” about that period.

His love for life was a stumbling block a couple of more time. He didn’t always live like a pro. It seemed he almost missed the World Cup 2014 when Louis van Gaal attacked him agressively and forced the proud Sneijder to shape up or ship out. Sneijder took the bait. He was insulted. Humiliated. Angry as hell at Van Gaal. And he trained himself insane with kickboxer and personal coach Gokhan Saki. He was ignored for a while by Van Gaal but he kept at it. At the WC in Brazil, Sneijder was to play in service of the artists Van Persie and Robben and accepted the role. He had his value for Oranje with a killer game versus Spain and the equaliser against Mexico.

Glory embraced him in 2010, the year he won the Champions League with Inter and headed Oranje past Brazil at the WC. Or that pass through the eye of the needle on Arjen Robben, on his way to meet the toe of Casillas. One inch away from world gold.

It would not get any better than that. And this is another point of criticism: he seemed to settle to easily for Galatasaray. It might have been a couple of years too early. He became a demi god in Instanbul but as a club player, he said goodbye to the European top.

“He still is the best player of Galatasaray, hell, maybe of Turkey!” said Dick Advocaat this week. Sneijder took that quote and taunted the media: “You guys don’t follow the Turkish competition, but maybe you also want to make a judgement about me?”

He now has the record which he has been chasing fanatically. On his birthday even. 131 caps. And Sneijder even hinted at staying on after the WC2018. “Why not? I really value it, playing for Oranje. Every time again. Wesley Sneijder, figure head of Oranje in good and bad times. An Oranje legend in his active playing days. Worth a standing ovation.

April 30, 2003: Oranje – Portugal 1-1

There is a first for everything and this was the first for our record international. The young Ajax upstart came on in the second half to replace Phillip Cocu in a friendly vs Portugal. Dick Advocaat was his coach here as well and Arjen Robben made his debut as well.

October 11, 2003: Holland – Moldavia 5-0

The second international for Sneijder was a good one. Advocaat allowed him a starting birth and he got his first goal in the 51st minute, on a Kluivert assist. Signs of things to come.

November 19, 2003: Holland – Scotland 6-0

After being absent at the 2002WC, Oranje couldn’t afford to miss another big tournament. The qualification was not a smooth ride and we needed a play offs game vs Scotland to get to the Euros. We lost the away game 1-0. Oranje needed to set things right in the Amsterdam Arena. The 19 year old Sneijder took the reigns and led Oranje to a big win. Wesley scored the 1-0 after 14 minutes and allowed Ooijer and Van Nistelrooy goals via his free kick delivery. Van Nistelrooy also scored the 4-0 after which Sneijder delivered a corner-kick onto the head of Frank de Boer: 5-0.

June 9 2008: Holland – Italy 3-0

After another difficult qualification campaign, Oranje found itself in another Group of Death, with Italy, France and a strong Romania. The openingsgame vs Italy was on Sneijder’s 24th birthday. The world champions were played off the pitch 3-0, with a goal and assist by Sneijder.

June 13, 2008: Holland – France 4-1

A couple of days later, the World Cup runner up was the opponenent: France. Sneijder again dipped in with an assist and a sensational goal in injury time. A wonderful no-look distance striker pregnant with spin. His goal was choses as The Goal of the Tournament.

July 2, 2010: Holland – Brazil 2-1

A weak Oranje had to play cat and mouse with Brazil. With Oranje as the mouse. Robinho scored already after 10 minutes and Brazil was actually playing with Oranje. If Stekelenburg wouldn’t have stopped a marvelous Kaka effort, the game would have slipped away. But Bert van Marwijk was able to bring a totally different Oranje onto the pitch, with Rafael van de Vaart as holding midfielder. In the 53rd minute, a free kick by Sneijder remained untouched and found his way past Julio Cesar. Fifteen minutes later, the little playmaker scored a surprising header in amongst the Brazilian defense. 1 meter and 70 centimeters and the header was the winner. Oranje in the semis!

July 9, 2010: Holland – Spain 0-1

Uruguay was the next scalp in the semis, with another Sneijder goal (and Gio’s Goal of the Tournament). The finals vs Spain was supposed to be to ultimate. Just before the break, Sneijder released Robben with a pinpoint pass but Casillas toe came in between Sneijder and the World Cup. There were a number of goal opportunities but no goals. Nigel de Jong scored the biggest upset by kicking Alonso in two (almost). Oranje was headed towards penalties after Heijtinga was sent off and Van der Vaart took his place as man market. In the 116th minute, Iniesta decapitated Holland. For the third time, a runners up silver medal for Oranje.

September 2, 2011: Holland – San Marino 11-0

One could say any international game vs San Marino should be a footnote and nothing more. The question is not: who wins, but with how many goals will we win. But it was a benchmark game. The first time Oranje got double digits. Sneijder scoring two goals and an assist.

July 13, 2014: Holland – Spain 5-1

The openings game for Oranje at the WC2014 was Sneijder’s 100st cap for Oranje. The Spanish Seleccion had won three major tournaments in a row and was favorite versus a – alleged -weak Oranje. Xabi Alonso scored the first goal from the spot kick. Just before half time, Van Persie scored the equaliser on a deep pass by Daley Blind. After the break, Holland scored 4 more, with two assists for Sneijder. Oranje’s revenge. Spain would go home after the group stage.

29 juni 2014: Nederland-Mexico 2-1

Oranje qualified with ease for this tournament and actually sailed through the group stage after finishing of the reigning world champs. In the first knock out game vs Mexico, it almost went wrong. Dos Santos scored the first goal in the first half and it took till the 88th minute before Oranje could salvage the game. A loose ball fell on the gifted foot of Sneijder who finished the ball emphatically. Not much later, Robben was awarded a penalty and Huntelaar hammered the ball home. Mexico went home, Oranje moved into the quarter finals.

May 17, 2017 by Jan

Feyenoord, finally…. Champions!

Wow guys, I needed a couple of days to emerge again after the celebrations….

“It was 20 years ago today…”, The Beatles said, but it was actually 18 years and 9 days…

The desire and shear need to win the title was humungous in Rotterdam. Once, one of the richest clubs in the world. The first European Cup winner of the country. For decades, the biggest football temple of the country. The largest fanbase and most widely supported Dutch club, with one of the world’s best pitches…

But no title for 18 years! That hurt, in Rotterdam. Traditionally, it was always between Ajax and Feyenoord. In the late 1970s, PSV joined in and the Eindhoven club eclipsed Feyenoord for years.
Ajax has the most titles, that tremendous academy, the most European trophies, produced the likes of Cruyff, Keizer, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Krol, Kluivert and Van der Vaart, but their Hollywood vibe and their Amsterdam arrogance never pushed them to the position of the people’s favorite.

The last 20 years, Feyenoord had its last European success in 2002 under Van Marwijk. Since then, they only won the National Cup twice (2008 and 2016). As a result of consistent financial and technical mismanagement and high risk taking, Feyenoord was almost bankrupt in the mid 00s. A last ditch financial injection by the Friends of Feyenoord rescued the club and with a license losing threat above their heads the likes of Leo Beenhakker, Mario Been and later Ronald Koeman and Martin van Geel worked to turn that beat around.

After having to try and boost the club forward with some older big name players (Van Bronckhorst’s return, Makaay, Hofland), Feyenoord had to resort back to using talent from Varkenoord to survive. Young lads like Wijnaldum, Fer, Biseswar, Martins Indi and De Vrij Feyenoord battled with ups and downs, the infamous 10-0 trashing in Eindhoven being the lowest down of all. Slowly, Feyenoord managed to dig themselves out of a hole, using the money of the sell-out of Wijnaldum and Fer and using smartly scouted loan players and question marks (Guidetti, De Guzman, Pelle, Janmaat, Vermeer, Van der Heijden, Berghuis).

As big bonus, Feyenoord gets to play Champions League football again. This will result in a financial bonus of at least 20 million euros. Still, very needed as Ajax and PSV both have budgets at least 20 million above Feyenoord. The last time Feyenoord played CL football was in 2002/2003 when they competed with Juve, Newcastle United and Dynamo Kiev. And finished fourth in the group.

League leaders since day 1
Feyenoord dominated the Eredivisie from start to finish. The team was number one for 277 days on end. In 61 years Eredivisie, only AZ led longer in days, in the 1980/81 season. Feyenoord is the first team to be league leader in every week match week since Ajax in 11997/98.

Defeat against relegation club
Feyenoord 2017 is the second club to win the title after losing against the club that would get relegated. In 1964, it was Feyenoord managing the same feat, versus NAC.

Experienced titlewinners
The starting eleven of Feyenoord was just short of 28 years old on average. Feyenoord was only older in the 1989/90 season. Only two champs managed to field and older team: PSV in 1991/92 and DOS in 1957/58. Brad Jones and Dirk Kuyt pushed the average up for Feyenoord.

1-0 guaranteed the win
Dirk Kuyt scored the opener vs Heracles after 43 seconds. Which meant the game was played. Feyenoord was the only club this season to never drop points after being 1-0 up. They won 23 games after scoring first. Feyenoord won 26 of the 34 matches. The club record is 27 matches, reached back in 1972/73.

Ajax hangs in to the end
The last 5 times that the gap between champions and runner up was only 1 point, Ajax was always the number two.

Botteghin plays every minute
Eric Botteghin, the Brazilian defender who came to Feyenoord via FC Groningen played every minute this season: 3060 minutes. He is the first Feyenoord player to achieve this since the season 1970/71, when Eddy Treijtel and Wim Jansen did the same.

Only Cruyff older than Kuyt
The 36 year old Kuyt is the second oldest player to win the title with Feyenoord. The oldest champion was Johan Cruyff, 37 years old. This is Kuyt’s first title in The Netherlands, while Cruyff won eight titles before, with Ajax. Only goalies Pim Doesburg (43), Sander Boschker (39) and midfielder Leo van Veen (36) were older than Kuyt, when winning their titles.

Hattrick in championship match
Dirk Kuyt is the first player to score a hattrick in the championsmatch, since Arnold Bruggink who did this in 2000, when he scored three for PSV vs FC Twente.

Van Bronckhorst youngest champion coach.
Feyenoord won the title 15 times in Holland. Five times before the second world war and ten times since. All ten titles were won by ten different coaches. Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the youngest of them all, at 42 years and 98 days.

Jørgensen in footsteps Ove Kindvall
Feyenoord won the title and Nicolai Jorgensen won the golden boot (21 goals). The last time that Feyenoord won it and produced the top scorer was in 1970/71, when Swedish striker Over Kindvall found the net 24 times. The 26 year old Jorgensen is the first Danish player to win the golden boot and the oldest top scorer of the Eredivisie since Pierre van Hooijdonk (32 years old) in 2001/02. Jorgensen is also the most valuable pplayer (MVP) with 13 assists on top of the 21 goals.

This title couldn’t come soon enough for Feyenoord. The club needed it and the loyal fans deserved it.

Feyenoord was consistent, solid and clearly worked with one goal in mind. The team members operated close and as friends, supporting each other when times were rough (injuries Vermeer, Kongolo, the death of Vilhena’s mum). It takes a good goalie and a good striker to win trophies, they say. Brad Jones was a lucky, when Vermeer got injured, Feyenoord needed something. Kuyt remembered his old team mate from Liverpool and tipped Martin van Geel. Similarly, Kuyt met Berghuis this summer and simply said: you should be playing more. Why not come to Feyenoord? And it clicked. Jens Toornstra had his best season ever, Jan Arie van der Heijden, the Ajax reject, had a rough start but became a cult hero and Karsdorp and Kongolo are developing into European top defenders. Dirk Kuyt might have been captain of this team, the real leader on the pitch in football terms was El Ahmadi. The former Twente prospect is the metronome in midfield, with strong challenges and pinpoint positioning play. When King Karim starts the press, the whole team responds.

Will they manage to defend the title next season? Will they be able to make an impression in the Champions League? It depends, on who will go and who will come…

Some issues:
– Kuyt might retire, he’s not clear yet
– Berghuis might be called back by Watford
– Elia says he wants to make one more big move
– Jorgensen is on many a scout’s list
– Karsdorp same
– Kongolo appears to be fragile and injury prone
– Brad Jones will have to make way for Ken Vermeer

Surely, if a player like Jorgensen goes, he’ll cost at least 20 mio euros. That money can be spent on new players, plural. With Ricky van Wolfswinkel a serious candidate for the striker position.

Jean Paul Boetius, developed at Feyenoord, might be brought back in from the cold and Amrabat of FC Utrecht is high on the list to be signed as well… Time will tell if Feyenoord is able to make that step up. Getting to the top is one thing, staying there is another… Next post will be on Ajax!

April 8, 2017 by Jan

Ruud Krol: Royalty in Naples

Holland produced tremendous talents in the 1970s. We all know the names, and the memories. Johan Cruyff, of course. Van Hanegem, Neeskens, John Rep, Wim Jansen, Rob Rensenbrink… The right footed Ajax player morphed into a left back – and later central defender – Ruud Krol was part of that generation and grew out to be a super star, first as captain of Ajax and Holland and then through his time and impact at Napoli.

The now 67 year old cosmopolitan would turn into one of Napoli’s most popular players ever.

Elegance, duel strength, speed, heading capabilities, a phenomenal long pass and personality. This is the story in the VI Italy special.

This version of hero worship is new even to Ruud Krol. In the belly of the Stadio San Paolo, Krol is confronted with a man who’s eyes and mouth are wide open once he sees Krol. He makes a deep bow and mutters “Mama mia!”. And followed with another deep bow. With typical dry Amsterdam humour, Ruud quips: “Hey mind your back my man!” This is not just an old fan. This man happens to be current Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri. Earlier today, his team lost the match vs arch enemy AS Roma, but that all is now forgotten. “What a tremendous honour to meer you,” the coach adds. “Grande Rudy, you are a Napoli hero. You are Napoli!”

And a day earlier, Ruud Krol received a huge hug from his former right back from that team, Guiseppe Bruscolotti. They haven’t seen each other for 32 years but they always stayed in contact. And now they are reunited, two tough guys, with teary eyes, touching each other fondly, as Italians tend to do. Guiseppe puts his hand on Ruud’s belly and on his own and says “Rudy, you need to eat more! You probably missed the food here, come on, let’s get some seafood.”

Driving through Naples, Krol is in his own thoughts, taking in the roughness of the city. A city with issues, sure, but also a city which is taking care of things. Scaffolds around old buildings, fountains are being cleaned and horse and carriages are colourful and waiting for tourists to take them for a ride. “This city really grabbed me by the throat, ” Krol whispers. “And it never let me go.”

Once Krol and co enter the restaurant, a pandemonium ensues. The restaurant owner, his staff, they’re all there to meet and greet and within 5 minutes a reporter enters the space for some questions, while the maitre’d joins with a phone, explaining the local radio station wants a live interview. No one gets how this news spread. Bruscolotti: “This is Naples. Don’t try and make sense of it. Won’t work.”

At the border of the Gulf of Naples, with Vesuvius in the background, Krol delves into his memory. “I wanted to leave Ajax, for a while already and there was more interest from Italy. In the 1980s, that was one of the major leagues in the world of course. But there were issues with the Italian federation and the possibility for Italian clubs to sign players from other countries. I even had a pre-contract with AC Milan but that was null and void when the approval didn’t come for this. And AS Roma wanted to sign me and that bounced for the same reason. Torino wanted me too but I didn’t feel it with them. I did tip them to see Van de Korput and he ended up playing there.”

But it was time for Krol to move on. He’d won everything he could with Ajax and played two finals in the World Cup for Oranje. Ajax ruled in Europe and of that golden generation, Krol was the last to leave. In earlier seasons, Real Madrid, Paris St Germain and Arsenal made him offers but Ajax refused to let their captain go. “In hindsight, I stayed with Ajax too long. I had this ambition to repeat our successes with a new team and boy did we get close. We reached the semi finals of the Europa Cup 1 again but were beaten by Nottingham Forest. That was a blow. I was always fully motivated for these big matches, but I lost my drive in the Eredivisie. And would you believe it, just when I signed a 4 year deal with Vancouver, the Italian federation gave permission for foreign players. I thought an adventure to Canada would be cool. And I was hardly there for a week or so and suddenly a Napoli director – Juliano – was on my doorstep! This was on a Monday. He said “Rudy, you gotta play for Napoli on Wednesday. I’m here to get you, we’re flying tomorrow. He said he’d go and sort it with the Whitecaps. So I went. To the airport, waiting to board. No Juliano in sight until the last call. He came running and a deal with Whitecaps to sign me had failed. They allowed a loan deal for seven months.”

Ruud returns to Naples and is hailed as a club icon

Juliano, Napoli and Vancouver Whitecaps would get in strife with another, seven months later. Vancouver wanted Krol back but Napoli didn’t wanna let Krol go back. Juliano flew back to Canada and eventually returned with a deal.

With a journey of 27 hours in his legs and jetlag, Krol made his debut on Wednesday for Napoli against West Bromwich Albion. A week later he played first competition game for Napoli vs Pistoiese and since that first game Krol-mania ensued in Naples. In the last minute, he demonstrated his speciality, with a pass over 50 meters, reaching sub Pellegrini who scored the winner for Napoli. From that day on, Ruud’s life had changed. “The next day I was strolling through the city, and entered a fashion store. I adored the Italian fashion, and within minutes I was crowded by a shop full of people. The shop owner had to call the cops to get me safely out of there. Later I strolled to the harbour and a boat full fishermen returned that moment. And what I learned then and there: Napolitans show their affection pinching your cheeks. So within minutes, I had dozens of fishermen’s hands on my cheeks and I stank all afternoon of rotten fish, hahahaha.”

Krol continues: “Since then, it only became worse. I became a celeb. I was doing tv-shows with Claudia Cardinale, I wasn’t able to walk through the city, I had police escorts where ever I went. This adoration was embarrassing, I had a great life, made good money while all these people gazing at me were poor as… I got presents and food and free stuff from people who’d have nothing to eat… I received for a full year of pasta and wine from a complete stranger. It made me so humble and small. I thought “what the f is happening here…”.

The language barrier was there in his first season. Bruscolotti almost chokes on a piece of squid thinking about the coaching of Krol. “Whenever I wanted the defence to push up, I would yell FIORI but the proper terms is FORI”. Fiori means “flowers” so you can imagine their bemusement whenever I wanted to press… So I went to study Italian a bit harder.”

Once Krol got the language he went to talk to his coach Marchesi. “We were conceding too many goals. We conceded 6 goals in two matches vs Ascoli and Inter and we needed to change our game plan. I suggested to use a wing back on the left with a false left winger who’s join in midfield to form a block and a more defensive role for the actual midfielder. I started to coach this on the pitch myself, like a typically vocal and headstrong Dutch guy, hahaha. But it started to work, we started to play so well that we became a title candidate. The people here didn’t know what was happening. I can remember training sessions with 30,000 people watching!”

Ruud coaching Tunesia

By then, Krol also demonstrated his typical rigid mentality to Napoli by almost committing sacrilege. The jersey numbers in those days in Italy were fixed. The full back had #2 and #3. The #4 was the defensive mid and the libero had #6 (Baresi, Scirea, Picchi) and the man marker was the #5. But Krol was superstitious. The Jersey #5 had always been his and he demanded to play with his lucky number. It took some debating, but Napoli gave in.

Krol also experienced the other side of life in Naples… In 1980 the city was hit by three earthquakes: 2,500 dead, 8,000 people injured and 250,000 people homeless… “We played away in Bologna when it happened. When we returned I couldn’t believe what we say. As if a huge bomb was dropped on the city. Despair, grieve, destruction, pain…it was terrible.”

“I followed my instincts and went into the city. It was immense, 1ooos of people on the streets, working, clearing, helping others. Everyone pulled their weight. And I will never forget our first home game, a weekend later. I figured no one would be bothered to think about us or football. But boy was I wrong, the stadium was fuller than ever, they literally broke down the fences to get in. The people needed us, the football, to process all the grieve and pain.”

This balm for the soul worked better and better as the season went on, as Napoli was competing with the Old Lady Juventus (with Zoff, Bettega, Tardelli, Gentile) and with AS Roma with Bruno Conti and Falcao. Napoli ended third that season and Ruud Krol was voted as the Best Player of the Serie A.

Bruscolotti: “It was huge that a player with his reputation would play for us. Two World Cup finals, three European Cups. And when he actually lifted our club up to the top, the whole region became under his spell. You’ll see tomorrow how important Krol is for us. Still. What Cruyff was for Barcelona and George Best for Man United, Beckenbauer for Bayern, Krol was and is this for us!”

Ruud Krol, Napoli chair De Laurentiis, Gianfranco Zola

The next day, off to Stadio San Paolo and Krol wonders what to expect. He hasn’t been back for 32 years. “I think the old fans and the old hands at Napoli will remember me.” How wrong he was. When Krol gets out of the car, the crowd on the square is moving in, there’s whispers, people pointing, his name is being chanted. The first fans fall in his arms and hug him. People come from all angles, no matter how big or small, or what age, they want a hug, a handshake, a touch. Even the local cops join in. People press their toddlers in his arms for a photo-op. When Krol can finally make his way into the stadium he mutters that he can use a bit of peace of quiet now, but no rest for the wicked(ly talented). Another ex-Napoli player is in the stadium, waiting to meet Krol: “This day is awesome already,” says Gianfranco Zola. “And believe it or not, I was just talking about you! Someone asked me what kind of player would be needed at Manchester City, and I literally said: the City of today would need the Krol from Napoli, hahaha. True story!” Krol smiles and responds: “Ok Gianfranco, it’s a deal, but I’ll start with 45 minutes ok? Not sure about the knee.”

The Napoli chairman has arrived and Krol is directed on, towards the presidential offices of De Laurentiis where the mayor of Napoli joined the party. Big hugs, smiles and flashes of cameras. And then the next directive: “Ruud, you are required on the pitch!”

Krol and Zola walk to the tunnel to enter the pitch. Napoli’s current star, Marek Hamsik is standing in the circle and the 1000s of fans on the stands chant his name “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy”… There is a massive sweat spot on his back and goosebumps on his arms. Hamsik offers him a current Napoli jersey, with his number 5. Krol puts the jersey up in the air, with his right hand on his heart and walks off the pitch with a big grin. On the touchline he mutters “this is just too good to be true…” But then he lands back on Earth and says to the coach “And now it’s time to give Roma a cookie!”

Stopped in the streets for handshakes and hugs

The result of the Roma game, in any season, will determine how the weather will be in Naples. After a win, the sun shines, the world is beautiful… After a loss, it’s gloomy, misty, autumn… Grey. “We had games here that we lost. Once 1-4 vs Roma, well you had to run for your life. They’d find whatever was loose in this stadium and throw it at you… I used to drive past this laborer every day I returned from training. I’d stop if I’d saw him to give him a free ticket for the next game. He loved it. But when we had lost, he’d see me and turn away. Gesticulating me to piss off. “Come back when you play well!”.

Krol ended his career at Napoli in a painful manner. The last game of the 3rd season, Napoli was fighting relegation and got seriously injured. His knee. The next season, Krol missed for three quarters as a result and when he was finally fit to play, it took him a while to find his usual level. In the last weeks of that season the technical director wanted to talk to Krol. “He visited me at home. And he was direct and straightforward: we want to take that next step to the top. And we want to sign a marquee a player, another superstar. We want to sign Diego Maradona and as a result we don’t think we can afford you anymore. That was a blow. But in hindsight, a wonderful decision for them. I had to swallow it but they did what they had to do.”

Krol has another anecdote about that last season. “We lost away, 4-1 at Udinese. The normal Italian response is: trainings camp. But the coach had a different idea. He wanted us to see this entertainer. And he was some sort of magician. A whole thing and lots of talk and suddenly he grabs a pair of scissors and starts to take cuts of hair from several players. Including mine. And then he started to have personal conversations with us. To me, he said I was not vocal enough anymore. He said: the players need your leadership. And I actually thought about it and thought, he’s right! I stopped doing it because by now the players should know it all. But they needed it. So in the next game, this magician was there and at the start of the game he walks to both goals and flicks the hairs he collated from us in the goal! And we won that game, vs Torino. And we started to climb up and it flowed again. Crazy. But I used similar techniques myself later in my coaching days in Egypt and South Africa. This was the first time I experienced it though and I just allowed it all to happen.”

Current star Hamsik with former star Krol

His time in Italy changed him. Enriched him. The adventurer in him was awoken. Krol lived like a nomad ever since, playing in Cannes for two years in France until his knee forced him to quit. Then a coaching career which led him to Belgium, Switzerland, Egypt, Holland (Oranje and Ajax), France, Egypt again, South Africa, Libya, Tunesia and Morocco. “Of all these adventures, the one in Naples is dearest to me, in all honesty. This is God’s city, with all the trials and tribulations and this is God’s people and the football club offers a temple in the midst of it.”

When we drink something in the hotel bar in Napels, Rudy starts to hum along with an Italian crooner. The waiter grabs his chance. With trembling hands, the youngster comes to the table. “Mr Rudy, is this really you? I am fan of yours from when I was little. My dad, he is a huge fan and stuck a poster of you on my wall in my kid’s room. I didn’t even know anything about football but I grew up having you as an icon on my wall. I never saw you play, but you were a part of my upbringing. I will tell my dad I met you and I served you a drink. He’ll never believe it!”

Krol goes back inside, re-hashing memories… He sits up: “Oh! You know who I remember now… The kit man at Napoli. What a guy. He’d wait for me in the morning and first thing he did was serve me up an espresso. He knew how much I loved it. And he’d prepare my boots. The way he treated them, his fingers on the leather. As if it was the cheek of a little baby. That image is symbolical for Naples.

March 23, 2017March 25, 2017 by Jan

Update: Oranje back in Action!!

Well, the Janssen-Dost debate is settled. By the flu!! It seems Kevin Strootman and Vince Janssen exchanged some saliva maybe?

The Spurs bench-warmer stays in Holland and Luuk de Jong is ordered to come to Sofia to be the designated pinch hitter (behind Bas Dost and Jeremain Lens, who arrived late from Suriname).

The key question now is: will Stefan de Vrij be fit enough to play?

And it doesn’t look like it. Which means, Oranje will most likely play with a debutant as center back: De Ligt or Hoedt.

De Vrij has had a big knock and an internal bleeding in his leg. Yesterday, he wasn’t able to move his feet. But, as Blind said at the presser: “These things can improve massively overnight, so we’ll see.”

More Danny Blind: “I don’t like to play with two left footed players centrally (Hoedt and Martins Indi) as the build up will be slower than when you have a left and right footer. But it is an option.”

Blind: “There’s always something. First Van Dijk and Bruma and now De Vrij. But luckily Strootman is completely recovered. It seems Janssen has it bad, a throat infection and high fever. Not good at all.”

As for Dost: “Well, it makes my job easier when players fall away, in terms of decisions, but I rather have it hard. I want to have all our positions doubled up. And Dost is a different striker than Janssen, so we’ll need to make some tactical changes.”

Gini Wijnaldum was asked about the knock on his head: “It’s all good. I can head the ball, I am painfree, no dramas. And yes, it’s a bit disappointing dealing with all the injured players but we can’t keep on moaning about it. Other players will need to step up, it’s as simple as that.”

Blind: “I do have a very good feeling about where we’re going with the squad. I’m confident, even with those injuries… It’s simple: we need to get six points in the coming two matches. We know what we need to do and I’m confident we will.”

The last training session did not give a lot away in terms of set up.

It will be a 4-3-3:

Zoet

Karsdorp – De Ligt – Martins Indi – Blind

Wijnaldum – Strootman – Sneijder

Robben – Dost – Promes

Some Bulgaria stats: Holland lost the so-called farewell match in 2012 (before that dreadful Euros) under Bert van Marwijk at home against the Bulgarians. An omen of what was to come… This actually was the first and only “farewell” match before a bit tournament that the Dutch lost. Jetro Willems made his debut in that game, at 17 years old. And now has 22 to his name and if he goes on as he does, he might well become the Dutch record international.

Humphry Mijnals made his debut against Bulgaria as well by the way and was the first “coloured” Dutch international back in the 19whatevers.

Holland played Bulgaria 10 times and only won 4 matches…

Tonight’s game is played in the Sofia Savili Levski Stadium. Oranje never won a match there. The Dutch only “didn’t win” more matches in one other venue: San Siro in Milan. We played there five times and never won.

Bulgaria is tough to beat anyway. They didn’t lose at home in 14 qualification games! The last country to win in Bulgaria were the Czechs.

Bulgaria’s biggest claim to fame was reaching the semi finals in the WC1994, beating Germany spectacularly in the quarter finals. Current NT coach Hubchev was in that team.

Currently, Daley Blind has as many caps for Oranje as his dad Danny. If he plays tonight, he’ll surpass him and will have 43 international games for Oranje.

Bas Dost is 2017’s top goal scorer. He has 15 already, this year, with one Lionel Messi on second spot with”only” 13 goals.

Our Dutch Lions are up for two matches in the coming week and strangely enough, the first match is the WC qualifier vs Bulgaria and three days later we have a practice friendly, versus Italy… That really confuses me? Why would you program this? Isn’t it logical to do the practice game first and then the official one? Must be me.

And we do live in confusing times… I will not go into Trump vs Hillary, Trump vs Putin, Erdogan vs Wilders, Wenger yes or no or anything like that.

We have our hands full with Dost vs Janssen and who-will-be-our-goalie…

The AD newspaper poll says 90% of the people voting, feel that Dost should start. The former Heerenveen striker can’t stop scoring in Portugal and will well be on his way to bigger things, if he keeps going like this. Janssen scores as many minutes in the first team as Dost scores goals per month.

But super striker (and also super sub) Pierre van Hooijdonk, who knows what it is to be in the “Bas Dost Position” remarkably say: “stick with Vincent”!

Pierre: “You pick a certain style of playing and for this you need certain players. Janssen is different to Dost, and if using Dost means you have to change the whole tactical plan, I’d say: don’t do it. Use Dost for additional power coming off the bench.”

Van Hooijdonk had to endure Kluivert and Van Nistelrooy in pole position. Easier to swallow for sure. “Yes, the difference between them and me was different to the Dost-Janssen situation, I can see that. But Blind sees Dost in training, he follows him in Lisbon… And Dost failed against Luxembourg. That will count too. If he would have left a smashing impression, it would be different now.”

It does seem like Blind is on the same page as the former Feyenoord man. The mantra is: let Janssen do it in Oranje, until he fails in Oranje. As long as he doesn’t, leave him be.

Blind: “I am sorry but I don’t take the public’s opinion into account. If I would do that, because I can limit the criticism on myself, I wouldn’t be worth this job. I would have to be polling and checking twitter trends daily to make a line up. That is not going to work, of course. And as for the striker, I have made up my mind. I don’t see it as a hard decision to make, it is what I call a luxury decision.”

Blind also has hard data to use for fitness purposes. “I can easily see if a player is mentally and physically fit. We measure this and we have data from the clubs. And Janssen is top fit. He trains daily and hasn’t had major injuries, so that is not a drama. He lacks match rhythm, that is all. But we all know that Janssen and Wijnaldum probably have the most demanding physical programs of all Oranje players. They’re top fit!”

Van Hooijdonk: “The key thing is, will all this have an effect on Janssen’s style of playing. If he plays, I’ll watch his behaviour closely. If he gets through for instance, and has a chance but Karsdorp is totally free before goal, what will Janssen do? He’ll need to pass it to Karsdorp, but sometimes strikers under pressure will go for their personal glory. No matter how big the desire for some success, he’ll need to think of the team.”

Matthijs De Ligt on the left

By the way, Dost will only join Oranje today, as he was at the funeral of his grandfather this week. Same as Jeremain Lens who is in Suriname as his dad actually passed away. He will join Oranje Thursday as well.

Today, Stefan de Vrij and Gini Wijnaldum left the practice early with some issues. De Vrij with a sore ankle, and Wijnaldum got a boot against his head. Robben trained in full despite some smaller issues. Kevin Strootman spent his days in bed with the flu.

Danny Blind: “Everyone is fit, it seems, at least for the game starts. The usual little knocks and things. De Vrij’s knee is dry, as the medical staff calls it. He’ll play and I have options next to him of course. Martins Indi is doing well at Stoke, Hoedt plays next to him at Lazio, Viergever can play in that role, Daley as well. And Promes can play on the wing, on the #10 but also as striker. He plays at a very high level and luckily Memphis is playing really well as well. We’ve got choices again.”

Blind won’t say much about the goalie choice. “We have good goalies and I’ve made up my mind, but you’ll need to wait for that one.”

Stefan de Vrij is back!

Martins Indi left the Oranje squad after his red card vs Iceland. Is the relationship Blind – Martins Indi repaired? Blind: “Well it was never broken. We have discussed this immediately after Iceland. And when he returned to Oranje we have had a good conversation as well. He’s playing now, he’s got rhythm, he’s making the move from Porto to Stoke. All good. And it’s good to have choices. We’re missing Van Aanholt, Van Dijk, Bruma, Kongolo… But we don’t have to panic as we have options.”

Blind is mostly impressed with Wijnaldum’s development. “Gini is becoming a very important player for Oranje and I don’t want to mis-use him like I had to do vs Belgium, when he played right wing back almost. I need to use him like Liverpool does, in that key role in midfield. He’s been excellent.”

Matthijs de Ligt will make his debut in the Oranje squad. A lot of people criticised Blind for that selection. “I know him, I have spoken with him. I’ve spoken with Peter Bosz and Marc Overmars. He’s very mature and learns really fast. I think he will be a full fledged Oranje player and probably a top class defender. But he won’t start. He needs to listen, learn and digest. People felt I should have gone with Van der Heijden (Feyenoord) but I have enough lefties in defense, I really need a right footed player behind De Vrij and that is De Ligt.”

Wesley Hoedt battling with Janssen

It would make sense for Wesley Hoedt to get his debut in Oranje. He plays next to De Vrij at Lazio and faces top teams and strikers every week. “I think I earned my spot in Oranje, based on the 52 matches I played in the Serie A. I have definitely become a better defender compared to my time in the Eredivisie. And here with Oranje, I feel good too, even though it’s my first time. But I do know some of the lads of course, so that helps.”

Next week, Oranje faces Italy, with a number of players Hoedt faces weekly. “Yes, I played against Belotti last week. I think people in Holland look down on the level in Serie A, but the teams in the top half are really good. And Juventus is a class apart even. The way they are organised. A player like Chiellini for instance. I’m sure he would never make it through the Academy at Ajax or Feyenoord. They’d send him away. But in Italy, they see defending as a pure quality. I like that.”

The friendly vs Italy is 5 days before the Classic, which will most likely decide the title. Blind: “I have not made any agreements with the clubs about the players and how I use them in the Italy game, no. They still have 5 days to recuperate. This is professional football.”

Debutant Wesley Hoedt

About the strikers: “I have three good options. Lens can play centrally as well. Dost is hot which is great. I think we have a luxury issue, which is nice for me. A couple of good strikers, I can’t complain about that!”

Arjen Robben came later to the Oranje camp with a swollen foot. “I thought OH FUCK there we go again, in bed after the Gladbach match. But it all came down nicely and I have no problem. Saturday, I’ll be 100%. I want to show everyone I’m still here but I won’t do anything silly or over the top to prove myself. But I feel shit that I have to cancel many matches due to injuries. Last time vs Luxembourg I was back and again had to leave the pitch injured. I am so done with that! I really want to play every second for Oranje but I’m 33 years old. I do have to monitor my fitness but as long as it feels like I can, I will….”

Yesterday, Oranje had a so-called open training day at Quick Boys in Noordwijk, but a closed off training session in De Arena today. On Friday, they fly to Sofia with a practice session and press conference in the late afternoon.

On Saturday, the match. Sunday, flight back with late practice at Ajax’ youth centre (closed off again) and on Monday a partly open session in the AZ Stadium in Alkmaar, with another presser. Tuesday evening we take on the Italians in a friendly, in the Amsterdam Arena.

Memphis is happy again

February 24, 2017 by Jan

Dutch company goes all Moneyball on Football!

Most of us will have seen the movie Moneyball, with Brad Pitt? Based on a true story, a baseball team in the US picking and signing players purely based on specific qualities, which together would form a winning team. The club would sign a miss match of cheap or even unknown players, causing frowns in foreheads of other managers, thinking: what are they smoking? But it worked. For a spell. We do need to add that the club actually never won the World Series, so it’s not like it’s a guaranteed recipe for success, but they did get attention.

A Dutch company seems to step into the shoes of Messrs Pitt and co. to revolutionise the way we look at new players and valuable players. In these past week, clubs, managers, scouts, players were busy trying to sort deals in the winter transfer window. Busy times for Giels Brouwer as well. Who? Giels Brouwer: the founder of SciSports, a Dutch company keen to make the difference: “I believe it with all my heart: math will be the foundation of football!”.

So what do they do?

SciSports uses date to generate new insights into football. They have developed three products:

1. BallJames; allowing them to use real-time images into 3D data
2. SciSports Intelligence; develops algorythms to make this data visual
3. DataScouting is a virtual football consultant and talent scout

SciSports is located in Enschede (East of The Netherlands, where FC Twente is) and employs 45 people. Their database has stats of 300,000 players, up to the 2nd division.

He himself runs on Saturday afternoons along the sideline as left winger of Terschuurse Boys 4. “I can’t play, really”, the 27 year old says, when he joins Marcel Brands of PSV, or the Arsenal management or the technical committee of the Belgium football federation. Or when he travels to Silicon Valley on the invite of the European Union.

His company SciSports is seen as a potential unicorn. A company potentially worth billions in the future. “It’s so surreal. On Saturday arvo, my coach benches me because I’m not good enough, the next day I’m in San Francisco with a self driving car next to me at the traffic lights, or I’m presenting my products before the board of Man United.

Brouwer (left) with co-founder Babic

So please explain: Justin Kluivert is hot now. What do you know about him that I don’t?

“That’s too hard. He hasn’t played a handful of starting games. We need 15 to 20 games to make a good indication of a players’ potential. We don’t have a partnership with Ajax, so we don’t have his data from the youth academy. With PSV, we are at that point. Based on the youth data of PSV, I can tell you here and now that Kenneth Paal will be a top player for us.”

Who?

,,Haha. In our reporting, it appears that teams play better and get better results with him. He’s in our National Team of the Future. We help clubs identify players. A club can ask us: “We want a type of player like Memphis!”. Then we try to find players like Depay who are affordable. We have a database of 300,000 players and we can determine the impact of a player on a team. Not unlike Moneyball. Trying to find the new Kante or Vardy.”

SciSports offer more than data. “Clubs can also ask about negative aspects of a player. Was he drinking and driving? Has ie been suspended by his club? Did he injure a team mate. We have all these data. But it’s only a part of our service. Our core focus is the performance and statistics.”

In 2007, Brouwer commenced his studies at the Technical University in Enschede. Joop Munsterman, CEO of FC Twente opened his eyes during a guest lecture. “He told us about Twente’s technical management and how they did their transfer decision making. I was flabberhasted! I was a big player of Football Manager and I thought this was how it went in the real world. But Munsterman said it was all intuition! There are so many ways to scout a player, but FC Twente was doing it all in 1920 style. So I thought, I’ll build a Football Manager system, for the real world.”

In 2012, it all started for real. “I was in Ukraine for the Euros and I got a text message from a Twente scout. “Do you know a good player for us?”. And I thought, fuck it, I’m going to do this!”

Last year, SciSports assisted with 13 transfers, for Sparta, Vitesse, Twente, Heracles and Genk. At Heracles, they’ve installed 14 3D cameras which collate data for SciSports. “It’s all so basic still, but we’re moving fast. I hired 3 more people last month.”

What was the first big name player you found?

“Wout Weghorst. He was told FC Emmen didn’t want him anymore. But based on our data, he was excellent. Always scoring important goals, always on the right spot. The rest is history. SciSports brought him to Heracles and now he’s the new striker of AZ and no one misses Vincent Janssen. AZ is not his final station, I can alert you to that now.”

So the Dutch Eredivisie has a lot of potential still?

“Without any data to support this statement: Kasper Dolberg. But if you check the data results, Joey Groenbast of Go Ahead Eagles, the right back. And El Azzouzi of Sparta has potential. But the most influential player in the Eredivisie is Joel Veltman.”

Veltman??

“You wouldn’t think that, but yes, based on his stats. I would not have expected that either. But when he plays, Ajax doesn’t concede a lot and he’s always involved with the build up leading to goals. Our main question is always: what is the impact of a player on the team. That is key. Data will never replace the usual football processes of course, it doesn’t say anything about group dynamics. But it helps with generating insight to improve the game. It supports the coach. We help clubs by taking the noise out of the stats. It’s also confirming the ideas of scouts or giving them the devil’s advocate angle. I do believe that math can be the foundation of success in sports. It’s not perfect, but it’s less imperfect that the eye of the individual.”

Any tips for clubs?

“If any club is looking for a winger, I’d go watch SV Eupen in Belgium and sign Henry Onyekuru. A top player!”

SciSports is going like a rocket. But only a couple of years ago, it looked bleak. Two co-founders decided to leave the company and go for a job while Giel realised his savings account was as good as empty. In 2015, the turnaround came when Rapid Wien came and needed help finding a player. That made the penny drop. “We were focusing on the Dutch market but now realised we could easily expand internationally.”

Today, SciSports works for 50 clubs, from Heracles to Valencia, from Besiktas to Lazio Roma. SciSports offers monthly subscription for data reports and analyses to more than a dozen clubs, and counting.

“The Big Clubs such as Man City have their own data teams. They don’t need us per se, but lots of clubs can’t afford that so they are our target market.”

The Dutch National Team of Tomorrow (according to SciSports)

Then there is the captain of Heracles, Mark Jan Fledderus. He visits SciSports regularly to analyse the qualities of his direct opponent of the up coming match. The BallJames service focuses on details. Like the first touch of a player, or the power of the player’s headers, or the running patterns of teams… Ball James is still an infant, and a loss making activity. “But that will change, I’m sure. The potential is amazing and we are getting so many requests. all football clubs I talk to want it.”

Brouwer is now a player in the world of football. He has lunch with Bryan Roy, has weekly phone calls with Mark Overmars, receives signed jersey from Robin van Persie and rubs shoulders with Silicon Valley based investors.

“I didn’t start this to become a millionaire. It’s nice if it happens, but my aim was and is to make the football sports more beautiful….”

February 19, 2017 by Jan

Gini Wijnaldum: I feel stronger than ever…

Next month Georginio Wijnaldum will celebrate 10 years on the highest level as pro football player. But the Liverpool midfielder is only 26 years old! He might have another 10 years ahead of him, who knows. The AD interviewed him on Mersey-side.

The interview is executed at the Hilton Liverpool. The waiter comes checking on him again. Every couple of minutes. “Is everything alright sir?”. Wijnaldum has a wry smile. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you…” It’s probably Wijnaldum’s life motto.

It’s almost 10 years since we saw Wijnaldum make his debut. The 2006/2007 season. Feyenoord vs FC Groningen. Coach Erwin Koeman allowed the youngster (16 years and 149 days old) his debut. Now, he’s active in the top of the EPL (like his former Feyenoord coach, who’s assistant coach at Everton). He looks at a photo from his debut, in De Kuip. “Hey look, it’s Karim Saidi! And there is Lindgren…wow time flies!”

Making his debut for Feyenoord at 16

We’re 10 years further now. And between the first coach – Erwin Koeman – and current coach Klopp there were a number of other coaches of repute. Still, you feel Klopp is the best?

Wijnaldum: ,,Yes he is. He is so intense, so passionate. And he’s real. Authentic. He does make players and teams better. Not one or two. All of them. The way we play, with lots of movement, high press, creating space, the pace of the ball, you need to be top top fit! Our practice sessions are seriously tougher than the match. Literally, everything we do, we do at match-intensity.”

You worked under Louis van Gaal as well. But Klopp is better?

“Yes, but I didn’t work with Louis van Gaal at a club. It’s different. His practices were very good too. But I work with Klopp on a daily basis. They’re both real people, they both love their players. You can feel it. Van Gaal is simply amazing. When we started our WC campaign in 2014, he said: Gini, you might start in a controlling role in the team. Danny (Blind) says you are able to do it. I’m doubting it, but we will give it a go.”

Is that not a bit too honest?

“Why? I think it’s cool. He says what he thinks. And you could always debate him. I never saw him angry or pissed off. The WC in Brazil was special, unique. Before the match for the 3rd place against Brazil he called me out. He said “Shouldn’t you get on the score sheet now?”. And I did! I spoke about this with Leroy Fer. We grew up together. We’re very close. And we both scored at a World Cup. That is pretty special.”

With buddy Fer in Oranje U17

You say Klopp and Van Gaal are top coaches, and you immediately talk about their honesty?

“Well I have not worked with any coach that I couldn’t deal with, to be honest. And I am proud of the coaches I worked with: Erwin Koeman, Bert van Marwijk, Gertjan Verbeek, Leon Vlemmings, Mario Been, Dick Advocaat, Fred Rutten, Phillip Cocu, Louis van Gaal, Danny Blind, Steve McClaren, Rafa Benitez and Jürgen Klopp. Not bad eh? When Advocaat was coach at PSV, he once put Toivonen on my spot, the #10. I was pissed off then. I still am, hahaha. And I told him last summer at Oranje. But Advocaat followed his truth and was honest and open about it. I can accept that. Mario Been put me on the #10 role, that was special. Everyone in Holland said I didn’t have the vision, I was too individual but he saw it. And he took the risk with me and Leroy. Fred Rutten is like Klopp. The way he organises training sessions, patterns etc. But no one has the passion Klopp has. Wonderful.”

He’s German. Does this mean training really hard?

,,I think of all the players in Oranje, Vincent Janssen and I train the hardest of all. I spoke with Pochettino of Spurs before Liverpool came. It was a really good talk, lovely man.”

The Rotterdam-born midfielder chose Anfield over White Hart Lane in the summer, although strictly speaking there was no choice as Tottenham Hotspur did not meet Newcastle United’s £25m asking price, and has settled seamlessly into a team of increasing substance.

“I had great conversations with Pochettino and Klopp,” says the Dutch international. “But in the meeting with Jürgen we had a laugh and did not speak only about football. He was interested in my personal life and that was good for me. He was not only interested in Wijnaldum the footballer but Wijnaldum the person. When you’re not out on the football field you have to communicate as people and it is good if you know something about how the other person is. It makes things easier. So I didn’t really get an offer from Spurs, but I do speak with Vincent a lot. And he has had barely a day off at Spurs. I don’t think I had one day off from December 21 till end of January. I hardly give interviews, simply coz I don’t have time for it.”

So no comparison with Holland?

“No! In Holland we don’t really train. We simply maintain our condition. I didn’t realise this when I was in Holland. At PSV I sometimes complained but our physical coach Kiesouw said it always: you don’t train hard at all. If you go abroad, you’ll find out what training is.”

Could it be that some players will decide not to want to play for these types of coaches?

“Well, if you don’t want this, you should not want to be top. Then you need to play at a lower level. If you want to reach the ultimate, this is the way.”

Some people say: Liverpool and Tottenham will collapse in March/April. Injuries, fatigue. You guys didn’t start well in 2017 because you’re too tired?

“I don’t agree. I never felt this strong. Sometimes we have to run a kilometer in 3 minutes and 50 seconds. Then directly we need to go and play a match on a small pitch and immediately after that, another kilometer in the same time. And that goes on for the whole session. Trust me, you’re dead after that. But you need to be able to find a way to remain tight in the passing, to play the right ball, to pass with precision. Klopp tells us we can manage to control the last stage of the game.”

Things are looking up for you at Liverpool. How’s the National Team going now?

“I didn’t watch the Euros, I only watched the final. I wanted to spend time with my family and friends instead but, to be honest, I was done with football for a few weeks because everything had gone wrong. Personally it was a great year but when you don’t achieve things with your team, and especially if you get relegated (with Newcastle), it is hard. I was a little bit done with football but Moussa [Sissoko, of France] is a good friend of mine so I thought I should watch him in the final. The Euros was a really big disappointment but relegation with Newcastle was for me even bigger. Before I went to Newcastle I spoke with the manager and the people there and they had big plans to bring good players in and play for titles. I was really disappointed because I wanted to achieve something with Newcastle. Even if it was not a title I wanted to help the club get back to fifth-to-10th place to start with, and maybe get the club back into Europe again. Unfortunately it didn’t go that way. It went totally wrong. That was the biggest disappointment for me last season.”

Wijnaldum talks more Oranje: “I am quite confident we can build our national team up to a good level. We might not longer be the dominant force, or a title candidate, but with players like Robben, Strootman, Van Dijk, Blind and other, I’m sure we can make it hard for any opponent. We just need to have our key players fit. There is so much young talent coming through. And I know what Memphis is capable of. He’ll get back to good form, I’m sure!”

Four months into his Liverpool career and Wijnaldum has rediscovered the feeling he had during his final season at PSV Eindhoven when, as captain, he led Phillip Cocu’s team to their first league title since 2008. He will not say whether Liverpool can end a much longer wait for a league title this season. To do so would run contrary to everything Klopp demands of his players, indeed the entire club, in his quest for constant improvement, although the midfielder admits Liverpool have confidence they can win every game at present. “There is no chance of us getting carried away,” he says. “That comes from the manager. Even if we have played a good game he still wants to work on the things that didn’t go so well. Every time you have to give 100%. It’s the same every week and in every training session. Every exercise we do he asks us to do it at 100% and never less.”

Wijnaldum adds: “I feel like I did at PSV. The most important thing is to enjoy football because you don’t know how long your career is going to last, but it is difficult when things don’t go well. It was difficult to enjoy last season. You are losing games, everything is going bad, you don’t play well and in the end you get relegated. That was hard.

“This season I started to enjoy it as soon as I knew Liverpool really wanted to sign me, especially after the meeting with Jürgen. I came away from that with a really great feeling that I could train with a good manager, a really good team and make myself a better player. I’m probably enjoying it now more than I did before because I have seen the other side of football where I was losing a lot of games and got relegated with Newcastle and didn’t go to the Euros. These are better days.

Scoring on his debut, for Oranje
“Every training session we do is to improve you as a player. That’s different to what I’ve experienced before and I’m really happy with it. The manager gives you confidence. He’s not a manager who yells at you or gets angry with you whenever you make a mistake. He will only get mad if you don’t do the things you are good at so, for example, [Sadio] Mané is a good player who can dribble, [Philippe] Coutinho is a good player who can dribble and if they stop doing that there’s a chance he might get mad and upset because you are not using your quality. Against Southampton last week he wanted me to make a run. I did it but it was too late and he said something about it. But sometimes, if I lose the ball easily, I expect him to be angry and he’s not. You can hear his voice easily enough – he’s quite loud. He is really passionate and not only in the game. People might see him during a game and think that’s an act. It’s not an act. He’s like that in training. For me that’s a good thing because it keeps you sharp and, from his side, he is doing everything he can to make the team ready to win games. That’s a good thing.”

The Holland international has a more defensive role at Liverpool than at Newcastle, where he operated out wide or as a No10, but Klopp did not outline a specific role when they met in the summer. “He explained his way of playing and said that I would fit in. From that moment I was very excited,” says Wijnaldum who, for his part, neglected to mention inspiring Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat of Liverpool at St James’ Park in December. “At the time he still had to make me an offer so I thought it is probably best to say nothing about that game, although it was a good one for me.”
Wijnaldum admits that “in different circumstances” he would have “loved to have worked longer” with Benítez. “But I had my plans in my head and we both went our own way. He said he wanted to keep me to get promoted and that the right offer had to be made before I could leave. Once everything was done he said Liverpool was a wonderful club and that he hoped I’d enjoy it here.”

Big money move to PSV (to aid fledging Feyenoord) and with new look

A more formative influence currently resides across Stanley Park. Erwin Koeman, assistant to his brother, Ronald, at Everton, was the Feyenoord coach who gave Wijnaldum his debut in April 2007; the midfielder became the club’s youngest debutant, in a team featuring Pierre van Hooijdonk and Angelos Charisteas, Greece’s European Championship-winning striker, against a Groningen side featuring one Luis Suárez.

“The game was on the Sunday and he told me on the Wednesday that I would be playing,” he recalls of the elder Koeman. “That was a really special moment. I realised that not every trainer has the balls to let a 16-year-old play in the first team and things were not going so well for the team at that time so they didn’t want to take the risk with young players. I was 16 years and 148 days old. That is why I always respect him as a trainer, because he made a decision that other trainers would have been scared to make. He told me I could tell my grandma, who I was living with at the time, but asked me not to tell anyone in school. I was still at school and he wanted to keep it a secret. You know how it is with reporters. It was very difficult to concentrate on class.”

While Wijnaldum is effusive in his praise of past and present coaches, it is his grandmother Francina to whom he owes the greatest gratitude. As he explains: “I wanted to be a gymnast when I was young, I used to do backflips and all those things in the street and at home, but my grandma said it was dangerous and made me stop. Now my daughter is doing gymnastics and I’m a little bit jealous of her because she is doing all the things I wanted to do when I was young. I had to stop and concentrate on football but I’m happy about that now.”

First senior goal Wijnaldum