World

Europe

Netherlands

A look at Ryan Babel

May 14th, 2006 | By: Mike | 38 Comments »

This morning I was surprised to see Ryan Babel’s name on the list of 23 players making their way to Germany to represent the Netherlands. He was chosen over Romeo Castelen and Klaas Jan Huntelaar for a striker spot. I know that he’s talented, there is no doubt about that but what was it that made Marco van Basten write his name down on the team sheet? Here’s what I came up with after a little sniffin’ around.

Ryan has been at Ajax for two seasons getting 34 starts and 20 substitute appearances. He scored 13 goals in that time. He’s made four appearances(three of them substitutions) for the Dutch side, scoring twice. He’s not yet twenty and makes up part of the younger contingent of players going to Germany.

And now some videos for your viewing pleasure. Here’s one, another one, and then one more. He is very quick and handles the ball well but I also noticed that he is very calm and composed in front of goal; I think that’s a very important quality especially in a players so young. I look forward to seeing his best form in little under a month.

Tags: marco van basten, Netherlands, Ryan Babel

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 38 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Lyle | May 14th, 2006 at 9:36 pm

there is no way this guy can score against Serbia and Montenegro… too little, too slow, doesn’t think fast enough, just too little of everything.

Posted from United States

By alaa | May 14th, 2006 at 9:44 pm

lyle,who is your team? lyle do you remember the famous 6_1 in euro 2000? or you wanna maybe remember the 2_1 in the world cup 1998:)? that goal of davids in the last minute:)

Posted from United States

By Kyle | May 14th, 2006 at 9:46 pm

ah here comes lyle,

Lyle that’s why we have specially for you at a nice price mr. Vennegoor of Hesselink. He’s job, to jump up, hit ball into net, get over those towering Serbians and Montenegros.

Again not dissing your team, it scares me quite alot, but at the same time Van Basten did specifically say he got Vennegoor of Hesselink for the specific purpose of beating those big defensive teams.

Posted from Canada

By Kyle | May 14th, 2006 at 9:48 pm

alaa we don’t wish to scare the poor S&M fan away. Remember he keeps us grounded for a good reason, if failure somehow happens we can all blame it on lyle.

Posted from Canada

By Mike | May 14th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

Lyle also injects a certain amount of humour into our discussion while keeping us fairly grounded.

Posted from United States

By Jan Roskott | May 15th, 2006 at 1:12 am

Maybe this question doesn’t belong here, really. But with the World Cup fever lurking -Oranjekoorts in Dutch – I was intrigued… How come you guys all love Dutch football so much, but yet you all live in the US, Canada or Oz?? I am a Dutchie, I emigrated to Australia. How bout you guys?

Posted from Australia

By Daniel | May 15th, 2006 at 9:42 am

Same for me. I’m a dutchman living in Louisville, KY..

Hey, Jan. How are the Aussies taking to Guus Hiddink? Do most Australians even care about the World Cup yet?

Posted from United States

By Mike | May 15th, 2006 at 9:45 am

My parents immigrated, spoke Dutch in the house, lived in a predominantly Dutch area and I went to a school that was predominantly Dutch farmers.

Will the Aussies be giving Hiddink free airfare for life is they make the quarter finals?

Posted from United States

By Daniel | May 15th, 2006 at 10:06 am

Wow, a predominantly dutch area? That sounds pretty cool. In the States or Canada?
There are few Dutch people here in Louisville.. (Of course there’s a german town and there are tons of Irish guys..)

I hope Hiddink can do with Australia what he did with South Korea. One of my co-workers is from South Korea and he was telling me about the impact that Guus Hiddink made upon Dutch-Korean relations. They’ve even erected Guus statues in Korea..

Posted from United States

By Mike | May 15th, 2006 at 10:58 am

Ya, in Canada; southern Ontario.

On the FIFA Fever DVD they joke that if Hiddink were to run for public office he’d likely win by a landslide.

Posted from United States

By Kyle | May 15th, 2006 at 11:12 am

I blame my lack of cheering for a Canadian squad. I grew up enjoying watching the Oranje, and well once on the bandwagon I can’t get off it. Even in bad years I’ll cheer the Dutch. I may not have the Dutch heritage of all of you, but sooner or later I’ll learn my Dutch and immigrate into Holland.

I’ve just grown up to enjoy watching there soccer style, and well I could cheer Brazil, but there is no fun with that, and well I look Dutch so frankly I fit in just fine.

Posted from Canada

By Mike | May 15th, 2006 at 11:19 am

My last name is de Vries….that’s all I have to say really.

van Basten has already made his mark as Dutch manager but how much of a role do you think Johan Cruyff plays in the Dutch side? How close are van Basten and Cruyff? Does van Basten ever ask him for advice maybe?

Posted from United States

By Daniel | May 15th, 2006 at 2:24 pm

Van Basten is one of Johan Cruijff’s pupils. As is Frank Rijkaard. I bet they call each other every day.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out later that Cruijff was coaching both Holland and Barcalona by proxy.

Posted from United States

By Mike | May 15th, 2006 at 2:36 pm

That would be interesting wouldn’t it? Is it possible that we will see Cruyff take over the job should things go wrong at EURO 2008? I don’t know why he hasn’t taken the job already.

Posted from United States

By Daniel | May 15th, 2006 at 3:21 pm

I know what you mean. He was a great coach at Ajax and Barcalona.. You would think that he’d have given it a shot.

But now, I really don’t think he’ll ever coach the team himself. He’s officially retired. (I definately can’t see him take a team to South Africa..)

But if you read cruijff’s blog entry from today you get the feeling he was at least consulted.

I could be wrong…

Posted from United States

By alaa | May 15th, 2006 at 3:32 pm

the guy from australia asked how come we all live in u.s.a and canada and we are big fans of the dutch football team,then he asked if we’re dutch.
well,i am not ducth,i am lebanese but am an immigrant to the united states, so i have no dutch origins at all. but you know guys it is all about the love of this game. i loved the dutch in 1988 when they won the title,that time i was only 7 years old, and since that time my love for this team was very big because i always thought they have the most fascinating style of soccer.
so you don’t have to be dutch to love the dutch team:),right guys?

Posted from United States

By Daniel | May 15th, 2006 at 4:23 pm

Alaa, No way. You don’t have to Dutch to be a fan. My friend from India is also a big fan. The attacking style draws people in. I totally understand.

I really think there’s only one rule: Make sure you never cheer for Germany regardless of whom they play.

It’s impossible to be a fan of both teams. They are mutually exclusive.

Posted from United States

By alaa | May 15th, 2006 at 8:58 pm

@daniel
oh man, i totally agree with you. you’re a dutch fan, so you won’t like german football because their style is completely different than ours. actually they care only about the results while for the dutch playing good football comes first.

Posted from United States

By Jan Roskott | May 16th, 2006 at 2:08 am

Wow guys, thanks for your reactions! That was a fun read.
To go into some questions:
Yes, Basten and Schip are close to Cruyff. He mentored them when they were 15 year olds at Ajax, when he was Ajax manager. Cruyff was consulted by the Dutch Football Federation in 2004 after Dick advocaat’s folly in Portugal. The Federation wanted Adriaanse, Cruyff suggested Basten and Schip, who were then youth trainers at Ajax. They talk regularly, like Cruyff indeed also mentors Rijkaard a bit.

As for Guus (Hoes they call him here in Oz), he is The Man already, pulling that qualifier stunt, with Oz vs Uruguay. He is cool and collected and the ozzies love that. The way he didn’t want all the attention after the match in Sydney against Uru, the fact he made Viduka – the rebel – important by making him skipper, all these things. Lots of Ozzie journo’s already went to Varsseveld, hometown of Hoes, to come back with stories about Hoes’ old school, his first kiss, etc etc. Pathetic .

Hoes is not so highly revered in Holland as he is in S Korea or Australia. Funny eh?

Most Dutchies prefer Willem van Hanegem, for instance. Or Co Adriaanse.

BTW, do you know when Cruyff was really close to coaching the Dutch team? You guys know that 1990 horror story? Let me know, ok?

Posted from Australia

By Mike | May 16th, 2006 at 7:02 am

It says so much about the man, Cruyff that he is still such a huge influence on the three teams he defined himself with: Ajax, Barca and Oranje.

Posted from United States

By alaa | May 16th, 2006 at 10:21 am

@Jan
no, but i think more than once he was close to coach the dutch team.

Posted from United States

By alaa | May 16th, 2006 at 11:28 am

what was the 1990 horror story? actually i felt in the wrld cup 1990 that there were too many problems inside the team itself.

Posted from United States

By Jan Roskott | May 17th, 2006 at 12:49 am

Ok, here’s the ‘90 story, although this post could be buries somewhere, for noone to find.
After ‘88, every one in Holland thought we’d have a got at the grand Cup in ‘90. Great players, all matured a bit more, etc etc. But the Dutch Federation (KNVB) decided to put Thijs Librechts up for the coaching job. God knows why. Anyway, it didn’t click with the team, and once he was overheard saying that “naturally dark players like Gullit and Rijkaard are lazy” the team decided to talk to the KNVB and wanted Thijs out! The KNVB listened to the demands (they wanted Cruyff), Rinus Michels was put forward to select the best coach from Cruyff, Leo Beenhakker or Aad de Mos. A vote went Cruyff’s way for 90% (some wanted De Mos). Michels bypassed Cruyff, ignored the players and installed Beenhakker. Something snapped within the team. They felt betrayed. And Beenhakker is a good guy, likable, but very oldfashioned in his approach (the thunderspeeches and macho-talk), not a great tactician (?) and it was a bit of “been there, done that”. (Beenhakker failed to coach the team to Mexico in 86). Then, someone decided to do the preparation for the Tournament in some isolated castle in Yougoslavia (?) and there all hell broke loose. The team was bored shitless, and even put on a tropical roster, because the team doctor thought it would be very hot in Italy… That all failed. The team needed to get up at 7 am for intensive training, there was hardly any R&R and the players didn’t “buy” Beenhakker. Mayhem. We know the results.
Michels later even called Cruyff ” a psycho, I would never give him the coach-job”.
Howbouthat?

Posted from Australia

By Ayl18 | May 19th, 2006 at 5:18 am

hi all, its good to see support for the dutch outside of their boundaries and even their heritage. i live in oz but my heritage is dutch and i travel ‘home’ as often as i can… Normally its a simple decisions on who i root for in a match- either the netherlands or australia, but what will i do on june the 14th? what a great problem to be in… its win win

Posted from Australia

By Ayl18 | May 19th, 2006 at 5:21 am

Sorry, i meant June the 4th… the friendly b/w Ned and Aus

Posted from Australia

Comments are closed