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Demy de Zeeuw fights for his position

May 20th, 2008 | By: Jan | 18 Comments »

Musical chairs. That’s what it looks like to AZ midfielder Demy de Zeeuw. And although he is looking forward to the dance, he is not a hundred percent sure of a starting position.

He knows he will have to show his best in order to catch that plane to Switzerland, let alone start in the team.

Three men will be sent home. Normally, Boulahrouz is one of them. Leaves one goalie and probably one of the holding midfielders: Gio, Landzaat, De Zeeuw, De Jong, Engelaar.

De Zeeuw made that little calculation as well and knows he will have to demonstrate his form. ” Oh no, I don’t feel a fixture in this group. I have to fight hard to make it work. And that’s what I will do.”

Louis van Gaal’s discovery played 12 international games with Oranje and overall made a good impression. In March he played a lacklustre game against Austria. He was subbed at half time and Oranje turned the game around, being 3-1 down to a 3-4 win. “The manager told me my value in that game was zero, and that’s exactly what I felt. We were in the dumps with AZ then and I took that overall feeling with me into Oranje.”

He still has a lot of good memories though. “That’s what keeps me smiling. I know I can do it. I won’t compare myself with my rivals and I won’t even check what or how they’re doing. It’s not about that. I just have to do my utmost and then it will be fine. I need to concentrate on myself. When I give 100%, than that’s it. If it’s enough, great! If it isn’t, than apparently one of the other chaps is better and deserves to be in. But, the manager used me in 12 matches and was happy with me in 11 of them. So, I’ve got it in me. Now I need to let it out.”

AZ finished the competition on April 20. What did Demy do with his time. “I checked with Van Basten and consulted Van Gaal. I decided to take a two week break. Took a holiday. When I got back I started private training sessions to keep my fitness level. Then I trained with AZ in group training. I ran 7 kilometers every day in high pace around my home town. I feel fitter than I ever did this season.”

Slowly but surely, Oranje-fever hits the streets in Holland. “Yesterday I was at the supermarket and I saw my little De Zeeuw-puppet there (laughs). That’s so weird. But it did resemble me at least, so I should be proud.”

He can only guess what’s in store for him at the EC. He spoke about it with Stijn Schaars who was part of the selection for the WC. “Stijn told me that you can feel the vibe getting stronger every day. And that’s true. Now we’re here in Noordwijk, and I can feel the adrenaline go. The media, the fans, the group dynamics. I’ve seen it with Young Oranje but this is many times bigger and grander.”

When he made it into the final selection, he will spend time with the more experienced players to listen to their experiences. But first, he’ll need to make sure he will be selected.

“I would be highly disappointed if I don’t make it. Last year I was happy to be part of it and I wanted to let it last as long as possible. Now, I really want to play on the EC.”

Tags: De Zeeuw, Engelaar, Group C, Oranje, Van Basten

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Comments

By sphinx | May 20th, 2008 at 7:54 pm

For me Demy deserves to be in the last 23. Think, his presence in Orange during qualifying tally more than any of his competitors. Gio might have secured, Lanzaart and Demy are the same type of players and De jong and Engelaar have some differences. Possibly Basten will pick only one of that two.

Posted from Australia

By Ramy | May 21st, 2008 at 1:40 am

Somebody correct me if im wrong,, but i feel de jong has also had a good season at hamburg.. maybe not good enough, but at least to his own standards, he has improved a bit.
Definitely not a starter for me, but i do have a feeling he will go to switzerland this june.

Out of the bunch i honestly would like to see landzaat go.. although i did see him have a few good matches with wigan this season, i dont feel he is consistent enough. Plus we do have other holding midfielders with experience, so i dont think he brings much to the squad. He might only make it, if de zeeuw doesnt perform well, and VBasten feels he needs someone similar..

The way i see it, Vbasten is looking for stability and continuity among his ranks.. He’s already seen decent quality with Gio/de zeeuw.. I feel he’ll start tapping there for his first friendlies, and wont make changes unless it’s really not working out.

Posted from Canada

By goose | May 21st, 2008 at 1:54 am

@Ramy; i will (and have to) correct you on deJong… he hasnt played a good season..he was benched lots of times and when he played he had a lot of cards so he got suspended many times aswel
i do think that vBasten will take him… i rather have deJong than Engelaar

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | May 21st, 2008 at 4:29 am

Van Basten is surely a De Jong fan. I think by the way, if Marco would go on to do the WC2010, he would take De Zeeuw, no doubt. In order to develop him for the big one in two years. Now, Marco is only focused on getting short term results and might be persuaded to drop De Zeeuw in favor of experience (Landzaat).

Any comments to that?

Posted from Australia

By sphinx | May 21st, 2008 at 5:43 am

surely Basten will cite only on eu2008. but more likely to bring both.

Posted from Australia

By Lerkot | May 21st, 2008 at 6:16 am

I think De Jong is really good in the air so he’s kind of useful in a way, so I can understand how Van Basten is thinking. I think De Zeeuw is something of a question mark though. I’m not sure at all that he will be able to perform against heavy teams. Landzaat might be better up for the job though I dont want to see any of them in the starting lineup.

By Rob | May 21st, 2008 at 7:04 am

Better to take De Zeeuw to get some experience than take a player like Landzaat who won’t be in with a shout after this tournament. Helps that Landzaat’s garbage too.

Posted from Japan

By tiju | May 21st, 2008 at 8:49 am

if we want to through two players from this last 25
that should be timmer and any one of these three de jong,kuyt,landsaat
i will through kuyt(but portugal need him in to our team ha ha)
its pitty drenthe,castelen got dropped
our midfeild players are dwarf comparing to france and italian tall giants
ohhhhhhhhhh heaaaaaaaaaader goals
oh god save us from header goals

By Ramy | May 21st, 2008 at 9:51 am

That’s probably why Engelaar is such an attractive option tiju.. Although im not sure how qualified he is at this stage.. But surely he will be able to bother your italian and french giants more than say, de zeuuw or physical weakling Gio.

I dont know guys, i prefer de zeuuw out of the whole bunch of holding midfielders we have. he has more class, more potential, and more abilities.. He has more vision than landzaat or de jong, and is probably our best choice to get that build-up from defense going forward.

If only Van Bommel was among the lot, there would be no point in discussing this

Posted from Canada

By Peter vdL | May 21st, 2008 at 11:17 am

van Bommel’s build up play isn’t that flash. But yeah he is better than the others available.

By Igor | May 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am

i would be hugely surprised if de zeeuw didn’t go to the EC. marco has used him as a starter regularly in the last bunch of matches, whereas landzaat, de jong, and engelaar have hardly played in oranje in 2008. de zeeuw might not start if one of the other guys’ form is really good but surely he’ll be part of the squad because he’s more a known factor compared to de jong and engelaar, both of whom are largely untested in oranje. so which of the others will be dropped? tough call, this is the way i see it:

de jong: van basten seems to like him for some reason (because he’s an ex-ajax maybe?), so he’s got that going for him.

engelaar: large and physical, in contrast to the other options on his position (gio, de zeeuw, de jong, landzaat, or sneijder are all possibilites for the holding position and all are small players)

landzaat: marco knows what he can do, has experience, has been played in the team with most of the current players.

in the end, i’d drop de jong, but something tells me that marco will take him.

Posted from Canada

By goose | May 21st, 2008 at 1:12 pm

i have always seen Landzaat as an, what i like to call, ‘mooi weer voetballer (nice weather footballer)’.. it means something like a player whos great to have if everthing goes as planned; the weather is nice, the team is playing great and they lead the score….in THAT situation Landzaat is a great player to have on the team BUT you wont win any wars with him on your side

Timmer will be dropped for sure, the rest i really dont know… as long as vBasten leaves Kuijt alone

Posted from Netherlands

By Igor | May 21st, 2008 at 6:20 pm

well i’m certainly not saying that i’ll be sad if landzaat is dropped, he’s not really oranje material in my opinion. the truth is that we lack good defensive midfielders so whichever of the three (landzaat, de jong, engelaar) are chosen, they will be among the lower-quality players in the squad and probably won’t play that many minutes anyway.

Posted from Canada

By Rob | May 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 am

You know what - I’ve decided I want this Engelaar chap to play. I’ve never actually seen him play, but it sounds like he was the beating heart of this successful Twente team and he offers something different for Oranje. I think there’s always one player who comes from nowhere and makes his name at a big tournament - Engelaar could be Oranje’s wild card. The other teams won’t know much about him, might not even be expecting him - I say that, in a position where there aren’t really any great options, he should start. It’s a gamble, but it’s the sort of gamble that can work out really well.

Posted from Japan

By Michel-Olivier | May 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm

de jong used to play full(right back) back for ajax and the 2006 WC qualifiers, why is he playing MD?
de zeeuw should go to euro because the dutch NT is lacking defensive midfield players.

Posted from United States

By goose | May 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

@Michel; he already went to midfield in his las season at Ajax, at HSV he plays defensive midfielder, did he play rightback during the WC qualifiers? not sure..

Posted from Netherlands

By Rob | May 22nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm

De Jong would be a much better option at right back than Boulahrouz.

Posted from Japan

By Jan | May 22nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm

De Jong is originally a all purpose player. Like Davids. But he was used in so many spots that it became hard for him to profile as a midfielder. I remember Reiziger being used as left back once and he failed. Reiziger got the blame, while it was Van Gaal who actually deserved it (and he got it too ).

De Jong has that Aron Winter problem too. Apparently, Stevens and now Jol are very pleased with his progress. He has good lungs, is a strong header and hopefully he has grown up a bit. He used to be a cocky wiseguy at Ajax.

I do like Rob’s thinking with Engelaar. I think like that too. Engelaar is 29 years old. Has seen some action and has some mileage. Played abroad, had to go through “failure” (leaving Feyenoord) etc.

If he has a strong mentality (for Marco to judge) I’d say: give him a go. He is the man who can travel from box to box. Defending in our own box, distributing and supporting at their box.

Posted from Australia

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