Best goalkeeper…

I like these kind of challenges… Makes you go back in time, and re-visit all those massive games…

For me, it’s clear and has always been clear… There was no better goalie than Jan van Beveren!

The man played for Sparta Rotterdam and PSV Eindhoven and was unbeatable in terms of reflexes. He had a beautiful style and was technically perfect, albeit a bit hesitant with crosses… They’d call him Dracula in England, I guess. Jan the Man never made it big in Oranje. In 1974, on the way to the WC in Germany, one Johan Cruyff thought it would be better to have a goalie that could rule in the box rather than a typical line-goalie. Furthermore, van Beveren was from Eindhoven. And JC didn’t like players from Eindhoven. Feyenoord players were ok. They could fight and had that same alpha male energy as the Amsterdam-gang. But PSV Eindhoven….no…

Another big boy to me was Joop Hiele. Similar to van Beveren but much more courageous. Played in the Feyenoord team that won the championship in 1983, with a certain Johan Cruyff. Joop was a young gun when he started to keep for Feyenoord. I guess he was 20 or 21 years old. Never made it big in Oranje because there always was Hans van Breukelen, or Stanley Menzo or something or other…

Piet Schrijvers was a very big and strong and menacing goalie. Played for FC Twente and Ajax. A beast. Not fast. Not athletic. But poweful. Fearless. And mean. Not my type of chap, but he was good.

Eddie Pieters Graafland was a goalie from the 60s. Lots of style and charisma, but hard to compare with the current boys…

Hans van Breukelen was a bit of a character. And he had lots of character too. If Joop Hiele or Jan van Beveren would have had half of De Breuk’s spirit, they would’ve been the best goalies ever… Breuk was technically mediocre. But he had some sort of spirit, some sort of madness… And a big loud mouth.

I liked Menzo a lot. Very skilled and athletic goalie, but mentally not so strong. Had to endure a lot of racist stuff as well, so… But he was quite a sight for sore eyes…

Ruud Hesp was probably one of the best Dutch goalies too. Never made it big in Oranje due to the fact that 1) there were other good goalies and 2) he stayed with Fortuna and Roda too long. When van Gaal moved to Barcelona, he picked Hesp up for nothing and Hesp at last was with a top club. He did well in Spain, was popular, but didn’t stay too long.

Ed de Goey was a great goalie. He had it all, bar charisma. He was a bit of a laugh, really. I don’t think people took him seriously. But he took the craft very very serious and was a fine goalie for a long time for Feyenoord and Oranje. And Chelsea.

Vitesse had a goalie, who was one of the best ever as a youngster. But he never made it big in Holland. He made the move to Man United to become stand in keeper for Schmeichel. He played quite some good games for Man Utd but would always be second goalie. He played for another English team later on and came back to Holland last year – he’s 40 years old now – to semi-retire, until his old team mate – and now coach – Roy Keane contacted him to come and keep again in England. And he did. But I’ll be buggered if I can remember his name….for crying out loud

Your turn!