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Farewell Match Phillip Cocu

July 9th, 2009 | By: Jan | 20 Comments »

He was seen as a talent in AZ’s youth development system, but maybe a tad too taciturn. Too dreamy, the lanky left winger. Good vision, good skills… But would he ever make it big. The big clubs checked him out but it was Vitesse which signed him on. That was a step up, in the olden days, and Phillip Cocu was able to make that leap, showing the world what his skill was. And he became a dedicated, hard working midfielder in the process.

At PSV, the winger was formally turned into a midfielder and since those days, he played on almost all positions, bar goalkeeper. Shadow striker? Cocu can do it! Holding midfielder? Sure. Playmaker? No worries.

Cocu grew from taciturn dreamer the consistently smart engine of the team and at Barcelona he was one of the few Dutch players under Van Gaal who wasn’t criticized.

The ideal player, almost. Very coachable. Always alert and hardworking. Smart in his position play and the team always comes first. In his last match as a pro for PSV he scored the winning goal, which fittingly gave PSV the championship.

Cocu, the hero for the connoisseur.

On Saturday July 25 Phillip Cocu will get his farewell match at PSV. Many an old team mate has penciled the game into his diary, to play with Cocu’s mates team against the current PSV equip.

Guus Hiddink will act as Cocu’s coach. The Russia team manager will have Mark van Bommel, Jefferson Farfan, Wim Jonk, Arthur Numan, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank de Boer, Ernest Faber, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Michael Reiziger, Jaap Stam, Jan Vennegor, Chris van Weerden and Jan Wouters at his disposal to assist Phillip Cocu.

At the moment the 38 year old is working as assistant coach at PSV. He’s one of Bert van Marwijk’s assistants at Oranje as well. He played for AZ, Vitesse, PSV, Barcelona and Al Jazira.

Tags: Bergkamp, Cocu, Group C, Hiddink, Jonk, Stam

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Comments

By ferenc | July 9th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

great article Jan about one of the most sympathetic and polyvalent dutch players of the last two decades. he was a hero and a very intelligent player who was always able to read the game.

Posted from Hungary

By Igor | July 9th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

I second ferenc’s comment. if ever there was a player that i wish i could play like, or that i try to copy, its definitely Cocu.

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | July 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Shadow striker & Centre Back for Holland (apart from midfield) he was able to play anywhere. Usually first name on the team sheet at Barca. But Ohhh when he hit the bar against Portugal in 2006……but then, only He was able to get into that position.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | July 9th, 2009 at 7:40 pm

@goose – Yeah I know de Zeeuw is not the SAME as Sneijder,however having watched a few of the AZ games reminded me very much of Sneijders style. Always wanting the ball, moving forward and always wants to score when near the penalty box. They are very SIMILAR but not the same. If Sneijder gets an 8, I would give de Zeeuw a 7. However performances this year at club level were more in de Zeeuw’s favour.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | July 9th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

Ajax is making a play for De Zeeuw… Or did someone mention that already?

By mohamed | July 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pm

it seems huntelaar will go to Stuttgart
all fan websites and marca say that ,
bad news
anyway , i wont get worried about huntelaar , he will play at least 50 games in the next season , and he will be ready for the world cup

By Felipe | July 9th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

My beloved Carlos said what I wanted to say:

Phillip was pretty important!

But that ball on the bar against Portugal three years ago…

By Tiju | July 9th, 2009 at 11:21 pm

For me philip was a very very very much hardworking,intelligent,committed,teamplayer for me.Along with davids he gave the balence for the team in last generation.A great player the real model for the current generation.he too lacks trickery skills like kuyt but thats not his fault,GOD gave him other talents only.but we need to use these kind of players in the right positions never use them as a shadow striker or striker.then we can avoid tragedies in the big event.
The poor thing is he too had finishing problem and doesnt know how to take penalty.As carlos and felipe said “only he can hit to bar from that point of the pitch”the WC2006-Portugal.but i think players like znijder and kuyt could have won the match if the they played with at least some skills and unselfishness.

Posted from India

By bobotoh | July 9th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

Huntelaar should move to any clubs that play in the CL. That will make him ready for the World Cup. Will Stutgart participate in the CL?

Posted from Indonesia

By Mario | July 10th, 2009 at 1:31 am

Guys:
World Cup and Cocu´s shot was not going to make any difference even if we would have beaten Portugal the team would not have been able to go further because of van Basten´s problemas with top players like Ruud or van Bommel. Cocu always showed commitment and he always took responsability in big games and of course you can fail at times but his succeses were more common than his failures…he was even captain of Barcelona for a period and captain of the Dutch national team too. I don´t see a player in Oranje now with the attitude and determination to win that is even close to the one Cocu always showed. At first when I saw him play he was not my favorite player but after some years watching him he became one of my very favorite Dutch players because he had style and always performed excellent no matter what kind of game was being played.

Can anyone take his place in the national team?.

By Mario | July 10th, 2009 at 1:32 am

I meant to say that at the past World Cup Holland played awful and Cocu´s shot….

By Carlos | July 10th, 2009 at 1:45 am

Dear Mario – Stijn Schaars can – believe me !

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | July 10th, 2009 at 1:55 am

Agree with Carlos! I also believe that Cocu was a prolific goalscorer for a midfielder. He scored regularly for PSV and Barca. Distant strikes, headers, you name it. I think Cocu was pretty skilled (he was a left winger!) but like Davids kept to simple football whenever he could.

By vince | July 10th, 2009 at 7:10 am

As a lifelong PSV fan, Cocu has always been my favorite. The hardest working man on the field without all the glamor. If you need to know how dedicated he was, find the video of him slamming hard into the goal post at the quarterfinals of Euro 2000. If I remember it well Holland was playing (then) Yugoslavia and leading the game handily (I think it was at least 4-0 or 5-0 at that point) but he still gave his all to protect the 0, that is something you will never ever see from the likes of C. Ronaldo.

Posted from United States

By OranjeRules | July 10th, 2009 at 8:14 am

I think Cocu should make the All-Oranje Squad. Super-sub, able to come on and have a positive affect no matter where he was put!

Class guy too!

By Caleb | July 10th, 2009 at 9:41 am

Great player! He was so darn useful and flexible, and certainly scored his share of goals for a midfielder. And of course, a fantastic attitude. I won’t begrudge him hitting the bar in 2006, everybody makes mistakes and we certainly didn’t have nearly as good a shot of winning the WC as we did in other tournaments.

I’d love to see that testimonial match… I wonder if it will be up online somewhere.

Posted from Canada

By Miguel Rosado | July 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am

Great player, great mentality and a very consistent player.

He’s a natural leader and I won’t be surprised if he becomes one of the best coaches of the world because he’s a very determined person who works, works and works.

He was a reliable player. I remember when Kluivert got a red card against Belgium in WC ‘98 Cocu took his place for some games and he was magnificent!!!.

@Carlos: I haven’t seen Schaars that much but the little I’ve seen him play I’ve liked his style. I hope you are right about him.

By Mario | July 10th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Carlos…I have seen Schaars just a couple of times but if he manages to do that then Holland can have a great leader for the future.

By Jan | July 11th, 2009 at 2:48 am

Im a Schaars man too. He’s constantly aware, is a great mover and a good passer. He does resemble Cocu in his style I’d say.

By ferenc | July 11th, 2009 at 5:43 am

good article on robben’s performancs in 2008/09:
http://www.goal.com/en/news/2466/goalcom-50/2009/07/09/1370830/goalcom-50-arjen-robben-44

Posted from Hungary

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