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Twente’s success colors Oranje…

May 20th, 2008 | By: Jan | 10 Comments »

For the first time since Piet Wildschut in 1978 two Twente players have a chance to go to a major tournament with Oranje. Both Engelaar and Boschker are still part of Oranje’s squad as they meet together in Noordwijk today.

It’s the reward for an awesome season, in which Twente qualified for the CL qualification rounds for the first time in the history of the club.

Success coach Fred Rutten: “That would be great for the club. A compliment for the good work we all did and appreciation for the players.”

Theo Pahlplatz was the first FC Twente player to wear the orange jersey. The club icon made his debut against the USSR (3-1). The current Twente captain Engelaar is the 23rd Twente player to receive an invite. Fred Rutten, Twente’s coach, is one of them. He played one international in 1988, in November against Italy.

Most players who made their debut in Oranje left FC Twente quickly after their Oranje stint. Epi Drost is the most capped Twente player after Pahlplatz.

Van Basten will have damned the Twente players winning against his future employee Ajax, but as Oranje team manager he will probably be happy. Orlando Engelaar is the conductor of Twente’s success while Sander Boschker keeps the goal clean.

29 year old Engelaar is unmistakably the right candidate for the holding position on midfield. His physical strength, ball skills, intelligence and form of the day make his fit to start. For the position of third goalie, Boschker seems to have the odds in his favour, what with Timmer’s recent blunders against Austria.

The Twente fans sing: “Engelaar, Superstar show us today how good you are” followed by “Engelaar in Oranje!”. The ex-Feyenoord player: “I can only hope that the team manager has followed my progress.
I was out with an injury but I have found my rhythm now and I’m pretty happy with my performance.”

Although Twente produced 24 internationals, only two made it to the big stafe. Cees van Ierssel, product of the golden era in the 1970s was part of the 1974 squad but didn’t play a minute. Epi Drost was the designated center back for the Dutch team back then, but a serious injury stopped him from going to the WC. In 1978 Piet Wildschut, left full back, went to the WC29978 and started three times. He made his move to PSV right after the World Cup.

It’s the fate of provincial clubs. Players who make it to the big stages have numerous opportunities normally to make a big career move. Sander Boschker could be the exception to the rule. “I would like to stay at Twente till I’m forty years old.”

Tags: Add new tag, Dutch Eredivisie, Engelaar, Euro 2008, Group C, Twente, Van Basten

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Comments

By goose | May 20th, 2008 at 6:32 am

Boschker should be picked and not Timmer

I will say it for the last time; Engelaar is NO Oranje material…hes too slow ,sure he can hadle himself in the dutch legua but he will never play at a big european team cause hes too slow…..no dynamics, no action, no use

Posted from Netherlands

By Mario Rosado (Dutch admirer) | May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am

I haven’t had the chance to see Engelaar play so I can’t give my opinion about him. There are some players who are very slow but they know how to place themselves in the pitch so it’s not always a problem but as I said before I haven’t seen him play and I can’t give any reasonable judgement. Is Engelaar a leader someone with balls? haha because that’s what we’ll need.

By Caleb | May 20th, 2008 at 9:23 am

“In 1978 Piet Wildschut, left full back, went to the WC29978 and started three times.”

Holy shit! He went to the future?!?

Posted from Canada

By goose | May 20th, 2008 at 10:13 am

haha @Caleb

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | May 20th, 2008 at 10:15 am

@MR; well, you need to be a very good player like vHanegem… Engelaar has no dynamics,hes a decent player nothing more

Posted from Netherlands

By Ramy | May 20th, 2008 at 11:47 am

I dont think Twente deserved their Champions League qualification.. Ajax were more in control and threatening in both games, and obviously played more beautiful football. I agree with Goose on Engelaar as well, he’s decent but not more, i’ll doubt he’ll be able to fit better than Gio or de zeeuw at this point with the rest of the players..
In any case, if Gio and de Zeeuw can repeat their quality performance of the Croatia match for the upcoming month, i think we’d be fine.. At this stage we definitely don’t need an International rookie to tower our midfield and create the essential link between the defenders and attackers.
Let’s build on what we already have!!

Posted from Canada

By Igor | May 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

@caleb, well at least we know now that oranje qualified for WC29978, but i wonder how we did?

Posted from Canada

By Finnster01 | May 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Oh but you all forget one of the best Norwegian football players of all time, Hallvard Thoresen, plied his skill at Twente for years moving on to PSV and become team captain there. He is now under 17 or something coach for Norway (apparently a bad one, and a becoming a grumpy old man, but aren’t we all)

Nothing wrong with Twente in my book. Have developed a lot of talent over the years, but now I understand they are in a difficult economic situation?

Anyway looking very much forward to WC29978, but for that to happen I think a lot more money will have to go into medical research and I need to stop having too many beers on a regular basis.

Cann’t wait for June 7 and this thing to kick off. BTW, looked at the odds and there is a decent Holland bet to be had at 14 to 1 at some of them. I would not mind dropping a couple of hundred Euros on that. The other bet I like is Russia at 33 to 1 . They have old Guus and we all know what he does in a tournament. 33 is a lot, and given Zenith’s UEFA win, I think Russia will be a huge surprise. That was not a shabby team, and granted there are quite a few foreigners there, there are some damn good Russians too. Wouldn’t mind taking them to reach the semis, but not sure what odds I would get on them.

Anyway, go Oranje!!!!!!

Posted from United States