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Once in Oranje: Frank “Pico” Berghuis

January 4th, 2009 | By: Jan | 12 Comments »

They wore the Orange jersey only once. We checked out Andre Pinball, Barry van Galen and Edwin Vurens. Now it’s time for the old-fashioned rebel left winger Frank “Pico” Berghuis. Developed at PSV who played for VVV, PEC Zwolle, Volendam, Galatasaray, SK Lommel and Cambuur.

The brilliant but inconsistent pretty boy on the left wing was a huge talent when still a youngster in mellow Eindhoven. When life caught on with the enfant terrible, he demonstrated his wonderful skills as much as his antics. Lazy, obnoxious, hard-headed and skilled… He wore the orange once against Brazil.

It’s been 19 years, but 41 year old Berghuis kan remember the situation in which he made his debut against Brazil in december 1989 as it was yesterday. The KNVB celebrated their 100rd anniversary with a game against the Devine Canaries. “Many players, like Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard, were injured. Lots of new players were tested, like Frans van Rooy of PSV. But when he also had to say no due to injury, I came into play.”

Berghuis was accustomed to top football in his early years at PSV, but at that time played for Volendam. The was introduced into the law of top football pretty quickly. “Man, Jan Wouters led the warming up. Unbelievable, the pace. He was a monster. I was totally knackered before the actual training started.”

Although Pico had to work hard at the training, team manager Thijs Libregts gave him a starting position. “I felt I would start the day before. Just the way Libregts instructed me. He told me to play my own game. Take on opponents, be adventurous. He told me he had all the confidence in me.”

The current coach of Vitesse C2 wasn’t able to fulfill the expectations. “I don’t know, I think I lacked the courage to really go for it. Brazil played with their topnotch players. I wasn’t the only one in troube, almost all players were in awe. My direct opponent was Jorginho. I think I ran after him most of the time. Embarrassing… These guys were good man. I sprinted with Alemao for the ball. I had a headstart and I was fast in those days. But he overtook me as if I wasn’t even there! That Brazil was absolute world top!”

Although Brazil dominated, Careca only scored after 55 minutes. That was Libregts’ signal to try something else. Pico Berghuis was subbed by John van ‘t Schip. Oranje presses back but fails to score.

The end result was flattering, says Berghuis. “Brazil played thrifty and business like, winning only 0-1. They didn’t fire on all cylinders, clearly. If they played 20% “more” they would have beaten us 0-4 or something. But it was a cold night and cold and Brazilians don’t mix, hahaha…”

After the game, Berghuis was too shy to switch jerseys with one of the Brazil players. “I didn’t dare too. I walked straight into our dressing room with my orange jersey on. Adri van Tiggelen grabbed my by the arm and pushed me to the Brazil dressing room. He said: “A Brazil match jersey, man…you won’t get the chance soon…”… Romario picked me up and got me Julio Cesar’s jersey, number 13.”

He’s not sorry that he didn’t hang on to his own shirt. ” I do have some from Young Oranje, but instead of my own, I now have a Brazil shirt. And Julio Cesar is proud to have mine, no doubt…”.

Stats:

20 december 1989, Stadion Feyenoord, Rotterdam, friendly

Nederland – Brazilië 0-1 (0-0).
Score: 55. Careca 0-1.
Attendance: 28.864

Line up Nederland: Van Breukelen; Sturing, Ronald Koeman (46. Laamers), Reekers, Van Tiggelen; Van Aerle, Wouters (69. Blind), Ellerman (21. Winter); Latuheru, Kieft (78. Van Loen), Berghuis (58. Van ’t Schip).

Tags: Berghuis, Careca, Group C, Kieft, Koeman, Oranje, Romario, Schip, Van Tiggelen, Wouters

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Comments

By finnster01 | January 4th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

Cambuur, now there’s a blast from the past. Forgot about them. How are they getting on?

If I am not mistaken, Jaap Stam played there early in his career (early nineties)

By goose | January 5th, 2009 at 9:40 am

wow ; a first .. NEVER in my life heard about this guy

thanks for the info Jan!

btw ; are you sure Reekers was in the line-up?? wich Reekers was that?? not Jan Reekers??

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | January 5th, 2009 at 9:43 am

@finn ; thats right, Stam played i think 2 seasons before moving to WillemII and then PSV

Cambuur is in lots of financial trouble (like Eindhoven, Fortuna Sittard and some other 2nd division teams) .. few people watching, few sponsors

its esp. hard for them since Heerenveen has become such a powerhouse in Holland…thats what they really dont like

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | January 5th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

@Goose: Thank you for the Cambuur update. I am not up to date on Eredivisie, so never mind the lower divsions. Sounds like there are a lot of teams struggling real bad with finances everywhere, including Eredivisie and even the EPL (Portsmouth, Blackburn, West Ham etc.).

I think there will be quite a few clubs changing ownership in 2009, including Liverpool. Their loan is up with Wachovia soon and needs to be refinanced. Not sure if Wells Fargo (new owners of Wachovia) will let them do that in this climate. Could be some Dubai money coming in to kick-start Stanley Park as well.

It is not a bad investment to buy a solid Prem club if you believe that the new Media deal (which is up 2010) will continue to increase. In fact, it is one of the higher yield investments you can make these days if you have the horsepower to organize the funding. Rates in the US are as low as they will ever get, so I can see a few hedge funds and private equity firms make a gamble. They can’t make a decent return in the current market, and next year they have to outperform to continue to have their investors. Speculating on the EPL seems less risky to me than many other options. The only risk you may have, is getting relegated prior or at the end of 2010…Obviously not a concern for Liverpool, but the other ones carries that risk.

By goose | January 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pm

@finn ; call me a socialist but i really dont like all this foreign money ; once it starts other team need to follow or fail … i reckon football could do with less money involved

i mean ; Liverpool should always be in english hands … not owned by some crazy dessert idiots

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | January 5th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

@Goose. Couldnt agree more. Money is destroying the sport we love. Unfortunately it has already happened. In fact, if we look at the Prem the following are foreign owned (and I probably missed a few):

Liverpool (American)
Chelsea (Russian)
Man Utd (American)
Aston Villa (American)
Arsenal (Still majority controlled in the UK, but Russians are drooling)
Portsmouth (Serbian)
West Ham (Icelandic)
Stoke (Icelandic)
Fulham (Egyptian)
Man City (Very rich Arabs)

By Felipe | January 5th, 2009 at 7:25 pm

Hey everyone! I’m back! (Now at my first whole year in NWCB…)

I was desperately hoping for these “Once in Oranje” piece. After all, it was an Oranje-Brazil match!

Funny to read Berghuis making compliments to our side. Brazil from 1990 WC is “hailed” as one of our worst ever… and we didn’t played good at that December 20th, 1989. But Careca… wow, what a goalscorer!

Brazilian line-up, by the way, was Taffarel; Jorginho, Aldair (Julio Cesar), Mozer and Ricardo Rocha; Branco, Dunga (Silas), Alemão and Valdo; Romario (Bebeto) and Careca (Muller). Sebastiao Lazaroni was the coach.

By Andrew | January 5th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

@Felipe, Good to see that you are back. (What is “NWCB”—a college?) Question about Brazilian futbol. What is the story about the Porto Allegre teams. I know Scolari is from Gremio (they were a hard bunch when he was there) and I know Ronaldinho is from Internacional. Every time I see a match or highlights form there, that huge bowl is packed. Is the support there more intense than other regions?
@Finn, Are the Icelandic owners going to be able to hold on to those teams. I have good friends in NY, husband is Icelandic, and I know they were more than a little concerned about their family in “Island.”
@Jan, keep these articles coming, more great stuff. Many thanks.

Posted from United States

By Felipe | January 5th, 2009 at 11:05 pm

@Andrew: NWCB = Netherlands World Cup Blog.

About Gremio-Inter rivalry: first of all, there’s a mistake. Ronaldinho also came from Gremio. No problem with me - I support Corinthians -, but, if you had said it to a Gremio diehard fan… well, maybe there’d be no problems, as Gremio’s supporters hate Ronaldinho.

And, yes, their rivalry is probably the most intense in Brazil. There are others, like Flamengo-Vasco on Rio de Janeiro or Corinthians-Palmeiras at Sao Paulo, but, in Gremio-Inter case, the supporters are more like Argentinian ones, so the intensity of the passion. I’ll give you an idea of the rivalry: when Gremio lost the 1995 Intercontinental Cup to Ajax, many Internacional fans bought cans and cans of Ajax (the household cleaner). Just to provoke Gremio’s fans!

By Andrew | January 6th, 2009 at 12:04 am

@Felipe, oops two mistakes, really. The NWCB and Ronaldinho’s origins. I appreciate your correcting me—wouldn’t want to have said that to the wrong Gremio fan—especially one wearing a “Pitbull” jersey. The story about the fans purchasing the Ajax cleanser is hysterical.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | January 6th, 2009 at 2:36 am

@Andrew; Regd Icelandic owners, I think Stoke is actually fine but West Ham’s owner is literally bankrupt (he was the largest shareholder of Landesbankki, the largest bank in Iceland which ended up going under and also had another tech firm go belly up on him). Rumours have it that he needs to liquidate his assets over the next 3 months, which include West Ham. Look for several of their decent players to be sold this January.

By Andrew | January 6th, 2009 at 4:14 pm

@Finn, thanks for the info. re the owneres of West Ham. Explains why the announcers of a recent game were talking about the tension between the current coach and owners over transfers.

Posted from United States

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