Edwin van der Sar: mental doping for Oranje

June 20th, 2008 | by: Jan |

Peter Wekking wrote this excellent column in the VI, some weeks before the tournament:

Edwin van der Sar. A child of Noordwijk. Hsving spent his youth on a bike, riding against the wind to his training sessions. Washed through the waters. And at 37 years old, he won the mental battle of the spotkick for his club Manchester United in the Champions League. Dancing like a derwisj on the goal line, making himself broad, trying to peek into the brain of the Chelsea players. It was late, 1.30 am, when the Kozak choir spontaneously sang the Hallelujah. “This is my Van Breukelen moment!”, the former Ajax goalie chanted… And thus goes to show how sport victories can mess with your ratio. A goal keeper with such a career, who won the Champions League already and personally won the second one including the status of club icon and living legend as a Mancunian shouldn’t compare himself to Van Breukelen!

Lev Yashin, yes. Gordon Banks sure. But not the talking wiseguy from PSV Eindhoven?!

But, Van der Sar meant to say that his career as a keeper is over and his new career as saint has begun. I spoke to him two years ago, at home in England. The Christmas tree was out and Van der Sar had a dream. His cupboard shelves were full with prizes, medals, cups, honors and God knows what, but Van der Sar wasn’t satisfied. “You know what’s missing? Not so much a prize, but that one decisive safe! Making the difference on the international stage, you know. As a keeper, it’s a rare thing. Everyone remembers the goal scorers. Madjer in that FC Porto finals, Trezeguet in Euro 2000, Dennis against Argentina. And all good of course, but that deciding safe is like scoring goal for a keeper. Jerzy Dudek had his, with Liverpool, at the end of the CL finals. Or Gordon Banks with that Pele attempt. Man, I thought these balls were in, but both goalies did the unthinkable. Those goalies are part of history.”

The glory of a goalie is determined not by the number of cups he has won, but by those all encompassing saves. At the WC1998, he got close in the penalty shoot out against Brazil, but no cigar. Francesco Toldo was the hero of Euro 2000, while Sar couldn’t stop one.

But in Moscow, with Man United, Sar finally had his deserved place in the eternal sunshine. Beaming and oozing happiness the Oranje captain reported to the Oranje camp, some days later. The keeper seemed to radiate success and when he entered the room, all internationals got up and applauded their skipper. A goal keeper this good and with that legendary status behind his name brings peace and harmony to any team and can serve as doping for his team mates.

Van der Sar winks, and says: “Wonderful to have reached that point in my career. Now I want to win the European title with Holland too!”

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Comments

By alaa | June 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

do it for all the oranje fans all over the world van der sar!

Posted from United States

By bunchapooha | June 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

vaaaan deeeeer sar van der sar van der sar, van der sar van der sar van der saaar.

Posted from Netherlands

By dirk v.d.berg | June 20th, 2008 at 8:12 pm

Anyone want to try to call the score and scorers for tomorrow?

I saw 4-1, Sneijder, van der Vaart gets 2, van Persie, and Arshavin

Posted from Canada

By bunchapooha | June 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

I’m afraid that if I predict the outcome of this match, the opposite will happen.. Somehow that (nearly) always happens to me. Prior to the EC I thought we were gonna lose all out group matches, maybe draw against Italy and/or Romania. Look where it got us.

I hope (!!!) we will win this 2 or 3-1, Nistelrooy or the Russians open the score half way through 1st half.

Posted from Netherlands

By Carlos | June 20th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

Holland 3-0
Robben 2,RVN 1
(but hoping Boula 1 too)

Posted from Singapore

By Van Basten | June 20th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

Edwin van der Sar is a Legend. That is an undisputable fact! I’ve grown up watching him with Ajax when he won the Champions League. But that following year, I was disappointed with him for not making any saves against Juventus. Also in the Euro 2000. He always guessed the right side but he could not save any. For years on, it was always the same story. Great goalie but cannot make the decisive stop in a penalty shootout. But somehow now he has undergone a metarmorphosis. He makes breathtaking saves in the games, and finally in the Champions League he wins on a penalty shootout when it mattered the most. I still hope he remains the goalie until after South Africa 2010. I am still not sure with the penalty shootout. That’s our “achilles’s heel”. I hope we will win without resorting to them!Van Basten said he already has his top 5 penalty kickers.
So that means in any penalty shootout, he is certain we will win.
Thank You, Van der Sar. Thank You!

Posted from United States

By Mario Rosado (Dutch admirer) | June 21st, 2008 at 1:55 am

Holland 3 Russia 0

Van Nistelroy (2)
Van Persie

By Alexey | June 21st, 2008 at 2:22 am

Bunchapooha, keep on predicting, please!

Posted from Russian Federation

By Jan | June 21st, 2008 at 2:44 am

Bunchapooha says: ok, Alexey: I say Holland Russia 0-4

Jan says: a very tight victory with bad football and a late Sneijder goal from a free kick, that wasn’t really a foul…

By Carlos | June 21st, 2008 at 2:56 am

For those in Singapore, come and watch the match at Vino Vino Mohd Sultan.
We have brown, black, white, yellow and green (with envy) supporters enjoying some great football.

Holland 3 – Russia 0

Posted from Singapore

By Lorenzo | June 21st, 2008 at 3:20 am

on my job I said 6 – 1 for Holland… and offcourse they laughed at me, so go ahead laugh everyone
I think it will be a festive score, but we will see

Posted from Netherlands

By Footysip | June 21st, 2008 at 3:32 am

Check out this compilation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0×4xm65PZa4

By Sol | June 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am

Van Basten: I wouldn’t be so sure about winnine a penalty shootout, yes, van der Sar is excellent, the last time we had penalty-shootouts he was also in the zone, but that’s the only reason why we won that penalty-shootout. The reason why we always loose at penalty-shootouts is because our players don’t take them the right way, they didn’t last time around, and we were just lucky van der Sar was so good.

Look at the Italians if you want to know how to shoot penalties. Like Pirlo’s penalty, but they all shoot them the same way, high and close to the crossbar, that’s why van der Sar couldn’t save any in 2000, the Italians can shoot the penalty in such a way that no keeper in the world can stop them, that’s what the Dutch don’t train for I think, seeing how they were shooting the penalties against Sweden last time.

Posted from Netherlands

By bunchapooha | June 21st, 2008 at 6:24 pm

“Bunchapooha, keep on predicting, please!”