Elia wants to fly on the wing…

June 5th, 2009 | by: Jan |

Eljero Elia came up with an amazing confession after Oranje’s last training: “I’ve never been to Oranje before.” The press almost commented “we know you’re a debutant” until they realized Elia meant as a supporter… The Twente winger – developed at Ajax and maybe returning to Amsterdam – is likely to be one of the few to grace the Orange first as a player and maybe later one day as a supporter.

Developed at Ajax and sent away at Ajax. To hard to coach, was the statement. But thanks to former Twente coach Fred Rutten, Elia knows what it’s like to see the sun set in Iceland. It was Rutten who told Elia to look further than the ball for a change. Elia’s world suddenly expanded. “For me, it was actions actions actions and ball ball ball. I thought every player was like that, but Rutten was so critical. He said I was good with the ball, but horrible in the passing and even worse without the the ball. He demanded that I developed myself as a person. I never read a newspaper. Rutten made me. And assistant coaches Ten Hag and Pahlplatz were even worse. They kept yelling at me and scolding me whenever I did something wrong. But I never did anything wrong with the ball. Only without it. It took them to make me understand you play most football in a game without a ball.”

Rutten is the man who gave Elia his breakthrough chance. Elia drifted from Ajax to ADO Den Haag. Coach and former Feyenoord striker Lex Schoenmaker gave up on the young talent. And today, the winger is wearing the KNVB track suit. Oranje’s new face and new hope.

“Fantastic,” Elia says with a sparkle in his eyes. “Here I am with lads I only know from tv. Robben, Van Persie, Van Bommel and also Cocu and Frank de Boer. I was nervous when I first met them. I had to refrain from asking autographs.”

He was selected as the talent of the year after a sensational season with FC Twente. A new step in career looms, now he developed into a complete and unstoppable force on the wing.

He already negotiated with HSV – with Jol still at the helm – and Ajax wanted to sign him last winter already. One and one is two, in football as well.

“No no, it’s all still open.” It’s the only thing he says when asked about his future. “HSV is still an option, and so is Ajax. But so is FC Twente.”

But he really would like to work with Martin Jol. “All players want to work with Jol. Ask the players here. They love him. And he’s from The Hague, like me. My brother even had gym lessons from Jol’s brother, Cock Jol.”

Last winter, he could have gone to Ajax, but Twente blocked the transfer. “Joop wanted more money,” he says, referring to Twente chairman Joop Munsterman. “He wanted to keep the team together. He said, if Wielaert goes, we’ll sign Wisgerhof. But Elia stays.”

The winger renewed his deal in Enschede but was able to negotiate a clause for an exit for 10 million euros. And something really odd needs to happen if there isn’t a club somewhere in Europe that wouldn’t pay that laughing. Elia is a rarity. A fast player, with skills and vision. And the selection in Oranje is only logical.

Until now, his career was haunted by doubts and scepsis. Not just at ADO Den Haag, but also within the KNVB. Elia never made it into the representing teams and Ajax sent him back to Den Haag after two season in the C-youth. “With Amrabat (PSV) and Lens (AZ). They said I didn’t make a difference to the team. But I never played as a winger, always as midfielder or full back. I even played center back. When they told me I could go I was devastated.”

So the scenario of Elia back in the red-white of Ajax is real. “It would be fun for me. They’d pay 10 million now while they sent me away for nothing. But the Ajax jersey looks good on me.”

“I walways wanted to be an Ajax player. Walking around with the Ajax logo on my bag, you know? I can handle that Amsterdam arrogance well. The jokes, the bluff…it’s like on the streets. And making your opponent crazy, yeah…the best there is.”

Oranje is the big reward, Elia thinks. “If I play one minutes I’d be ecstatic. Whether it’s against Iceland or Norway. I am going to enjoy this fully. And then we’ll see where it ends. Anything can happen.”

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 32 comments.

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By Caleb | June 5th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

Lozo – you’re right! Thanks for the heads up!
The Netherlands vs. Norway game on Wednesday is on Gol TV as well.

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | June 5th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

Totally OT but interesting – Holland Cricketers did a “baseball” in the cricket WC and beat the host country England at the Mecca of cricket LORDS in the opening game. It was suppose to be an opening showcase for England to thrash the unrated Dutchies but the Orange Machine whipped them clean. Hahaha.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | June 5th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

Really!!??? WOW… I do think Dutch cricket is on it’s way up!

I’d love to see the Oranje games in Oz on tv but I don’t think we’ll get it.

By sonneveld | June 5th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

justin.tv is where the id recomend looking for the game online then

By Andrew | June 5th, 2009 at 6:32 pm

@Lozo, many thanks for the info re: the broadcast. @Finn: well, you have two arms, why not a Norgie on one, and a Dutchie on the other…;) I don’t get Setanta, so I think I’ll enjoy the weather and then enjoy all the good reports and comments from this blog. (By the way, Jan, when I Google “Netherlands, World Cup” this blog is the first site on the list. Pretty good, I’d say.)

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | June 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm

@Andrew: With the timing it is a perfect Saturday afternoon out in New York. Bring the girlfriend along, pretend to have a conversation whilst watching the game unfold on a big screen. Score points for being considerate and take her out when she knows it is a big soccer day etc. I might even get laid big time after that!!!

Can’t really beat that my friend.

However, I have been known to be wrong before….

By finnster01 | June 5th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

BTW, that last comment was the 13th…

Doesn’t bode well for the day out does it?

By finnster01 | June 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

The cricket thing is amazing:

http://www.skysports.com/cricket/match_report/0,19822,11066_15954,00.html

First it was beating the Dominicans in the Baseball classic.

I guess the next thing will be beating Canada in Ice hockey, Norway in cross country skiing and New Zealand in rugby.

By alaa | June 5th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

guys help with this?? where can i find the oranje game tomorrow? i am in the u.s, espn 360 does not have this game, so please tell us where we can order the game, i pay money for it , i dont care , i am excited to see some elia and robben action at the same time(hopefully van marwijk will not deprive us of seeing both on the pitch at the same time for like 30 minutes or something).

By finnster01 | June 5th, 2009 at 10:02 pm

@Alaa: It is on Setanta (which is carried by any decent sports bar) at 8:30 pm EST.

In other words, it won’t be live, but you can at least watch the game in it’s entirety. Just find yourself a decent sportsbar/Irish pub, stay away from the internet and this site if you don’t want to know the result beforehand, and you should be fine.

By Carlos | June 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

I am not sure if Alaa is of drinking age ?
Anyway you have a computer – there are a dozen “live streaming” channels available worldwide. Like MyP2P.eu and more. Just google the words “live streaming” and see what program you get the best reception.
Sometimes there’s good reception but no sound (who cares !) But there is no reason why you can’t get it online. I watched the last 2 online it was great. Tonight again I watch online, but Wednesday’s game is shown live here.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | June 5th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

From the practice sessions it looks like the starting line up is the same as the Scotland game except for heitinga i/o vd Wiel. Rest is the same.It don’t matter to me. Once this one is won, we should experiment a little (Elia/Braafheid/vdWiel/Schaars etc) maybe even try vdV to see if he still has it.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | June 5th, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Here’s the link to P2P for ALL the football games and any other sport game you want to see on this planet.

http://www.myp2p.eu/competition.php?&competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football&myp2pSurvey=SEEN&allowedDays=7&p=2

Posted from Singapore

By Caleb | June 5th, 2009 at 11:35 pm

^ Yep, that’s the one I always recommend as well. I’ve used that site to find streams to watch many oranje games so far. I’d recommend getting sopcast (a program for streaming) though, lots of links are for sopcast.

By alaa | June 6th, 2009 at 12:12 am

thanks carlos for the link:).

I am not of drinking age though, i just hate when the streaming is bad
and the quality is poor that I can’t distinguish between robben and
elia:)

By Carlos | June 6th, 2009 at 12:46 am

I think I got it off you Caleb some time ago Buddy…..

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | June 6th, 2009 at 12:47 am

alaa – simple to distinguish between those too… One is only left footed !

Posted from Singapore

By finnster01 | June 6th, 2009 at 1:00 am

@Alaa: Sorry, didn’t want to get you into any trouble. Didn’t know you were that young, you post very intelligently.

Just leave the bars to me and Carlos

By finnster01 | June 6th, 2009 at 1:02 am

The other way to distinguish between the two is that one has to be substituted in the 43 minute with an injury.

By Tiju | June 6th, 2009 at 2:55 am

@finni you witty man……….
@jan @carlos
In 1983 the worst thing happend to my country.ie we won the bloody worldcup of asshols game.till 1995 we were good in football.we beat some good teams and we held some great teams into draw.
After that the stupid indian brain started working.ie we were forced to see this game minmum of 9 hrs a day.Out of 365 days our country will play atleast 150 games per year.so think 150*9 hrs=1350 hrs in an year we are seeing this stupid game.Obviously people will like if they see the game continuously and finally they will become blind and will become impotent in other games.
Once you start playing this game you will under stand the stupidity of this game.no channel will show the ICELAND game.i wont get th update news of ICELAND game. but they showed the yestredays T20game of Holland VS England.

Posted from India

By Tiju | June 6th, 2009 at 3:00 am

Today india will meet bangladesh in T20.But my full mind is in Rayjawik.wat to do……….i hope tomorrow morning ,i will hear the news”Marching of the dutch army to SA.”
But i wish india/Pakisthan/Srilanka/Bangladesh to win the T20 cup.Coz if These teams win the cup,cricket will not spoil other countries.(This is called Mourinho Tactics)

Posted from India

By Jan | June 6th, 2009 at 4:27 am

Question all: with that livestreaming football, can you actually let it download and then watch it later? Like with YouTube? Or do you need to watch it live? In my case, that will take 11.5 hours!

By sonneveld | June 6th, 2009 at 5:52 am

i think at fbtz or something you can download full matches but they might tell you the score of what your downloading

By Sol | June 6th, 2009 at 8:05 am

Any tips on getting the streams that are blocked to certain area’s because of copyright claims working?

Whenever I use that myp2p.eu site I end up losing the link and getting a copyright message. On top of that, I’ve installed sopcast and it won’t work somehow.

Occasionally I can get one of those Justin channels working, but they are often not that good, and sometimes after a while I get the copyright message again. Very annoying. I use bet365 now which seems to be working OK, but again, that one blocks access to certain games based on your location (which are usually the european qualifying matches I’ve noticed the last time I think).

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | June 8th, 2009 at 9:41 am

@Jan – sorry, you’ve got to watch it live, you can’t let it load like youtube unfortunately.

@sonneveld – fbtz.com is a great site, there are so many matches available for download there. They don’t tell you the score before you download it either, they have strict rules about spoiling matches (because nobody likes having a match spoilt for them before they can watch it). They often (but not always) have the Netherlands matches there, but you usually have to wait a bit before they are available.

@Sol – sorry buddy, I can’t give you any tips on that, I’ve never had any copyright messages… maybe your internet service provider is unusually strict or something? Maybe try one of the other p2p programs, like tvants or ustream or something like that?

Posted from Canada

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