Glenn Loovens ready for the EPL

Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams played 60 times at Wembley Stadium. He is the ultimate record holder in the history of English Football. He won the FA Cup thrice as a player and won it again as assistant coach at Portsmouth, defeating Cardiff City 1-0.

That Adams saw a disappointed Glenn Loovens lurking outside the dressing rooms. The former England international walked over to the defender and said, in Dutch (!): “Hey kid, how are you? You played well. Fantastic job. Sorry for the loss.”

Adams’ respect was a mere consolation prize for the former Feyenoord defender, but it did express what most football fans felt: this kid is ready for the EPL.

In front of 90.000 fans and 400 million tv-watchers in 161 countries, Loovens demonstrated that he has grown. The 24 year old has an ongoing contract with Cardiff but in his current form the strong center back could be of value for most EPL clubs.

Cardiff manager Dave Jones: “Yeah, it’s going to be tough to keep Loovens in Cardiff. Glenn always plays for me and he was instrumental in our success.”

Cardiff – number 12 in the Championship – was obviously the underdog in the FA cup final but it gave Portsmouth a good run for their money. A mistake of the Cardiff goalie resulted in Kanu’s match winning goal. Loovens almost scored the equalizer. Twice. First he scored with a nice and subtle Bergkamp like volley, but he had touched the ball with his arm just before he scored. Goal disallowed. And in the second half, his header bounced right over the bar.

“That’s so typical. I scored the most beautiful goal of my career and then it’s disallowed. The former Feyenoord defender also cleared a ball of his own goal line and played a tremendous game.

Loovens: “The bigger the pressure, the better I play. That’s new to me too. But I have gotten used to the atmosphere here. Full stadium and top strikers. What more can you ask for, to develop yourself. With Feyenoord I played in front of 80.000 man in the Champions League, now I played for 90.000. It really affects you, in a positive way. I wasn’t stressed, but focused.”

“I really love it here. And our fans are so loyal. This season, we lost one time 5-1 and still they applauded us when we left the pitch. That’s different to what would happen in Rotterdam.”

Although Cardiff won’t promote into the EPL this season, it does seem lilely that Van Persie’s former team mate will make a move. If that happens, Bert van Marwijk may want to keep an eye on his former youth player. Loovens will be 26 years old when the WC2010 is on in South Africa. I think we could use a center back with those qualities…