Oranje’s future…

Oranje Under 17 had to make do with the second spot because the German sub Trings scored in the extra time with a Sunday shot via the post. But, silver at the EC Under 17 is a tremendous result and proof that youth football in Holland is doing well.

One thing in team manager’s Alfred Stuivenberg catches the eye: the number of Feyenoord players.
Seven players in total and the two most remarkable ones – striker Castaignos and winger Isoufi – are from Rotterdam. What does that mean? Do Oranje and Feyenoord now have a golden future ahead of them?

It’s not the first time the Under 17s do well in the world. Ruud Kaiser reached silver at the EC once in 2005 and went on to grab bronze at the WC in Peru. But how many top players did that team bring to the fore? Only Dirk Marcellis made it into the big Orange. Goalie Tim Krul (Newcastle Utd), Anita and Sarpong (Ajax) and Roorda (Heerenveen) still have to prove their worth. It’s hard to gauge where their ceiling is, but of most we can now conclude they won’t be reaching further than sub-top Eredivisie.

A ntational top team of 16 year olds normally delivers a lot of good Eredivisie lads with maybe one or two real top players and a couple of disasters. What does that say? Are we slack in further developing our talents?

Is it fair to expect that every talented youngster can make it to the big time? There’s only so many spots available, of course. There’s not a lot of room at the top. So let’s see which current top player was recognized as a talent in their youth.

Seven years ago VI did research into the quality of our development vs the number of recognized talents playing in Oranje. Internationals like Jaap Stam, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Bert Konterman, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Paul Bosvelt, Jerrel Hasselbaink, Edwin van der Sar never really made it into the Oranje youth teams. Most top internationals got their first call in Young Oranje.

Their talents were simply not fully developed. Cocu for instance played as a taciturn left winger in the youth and would grow out to one of the world’s best midfielders. Jaap Stam was a dynamic but limited midfielder in his days. Paul Bosvelt was a hard working destroyer in midfield, without frills or the Bosvelt shimmy. Hasselbaink couldn’t even get a contract in Holland and moved to Portugal. Van der Sar was seen as a talent but lacking of any personality or charisma.

These days, we fare a bit better. Rafael van der Vaart, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Mark van Bommel, Nigel de Jong, Maarten Stekelenburg, John Heitinga, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Gregory van der Wiel: they all did the youth stints in the Oranje teams. Only Ooijer (then Ajax), Kuyt (then Katwijk) and Mathijsen weren’t seen for what they were.

This means we apparently spot the talents better these years and their talents are being developed better, but it still doesn’t mean that every top player in the youth will be a top player at senior level.

Feyenoord and Oranje have another super generation in their youth-ranks, but it doesn’t mean necessarily that their future has a golden rim…