Ruud van Nistelrooy is resting. He’s kicking the pro footballer life. But the fan in him wakes up. “I won’t miss a minute of this EC. Whenever I had to watch a tournament at home I was grumpy but this time I will enjoy. Like a supporter.”
His career was like a rollercoaster, but so was [...]

This pic sums up Van Nistelrooy: committed, strong-willed, successful and focused.

Yesterday, Bert van Marwijk did the decent thing. He called former Oranje striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. While every normal person in Holland is considering where to go on a summer’s break, Bert knew Ruud was telling his kids they’d probably go to Ukraine.
Van Marwijk knew [...]

Well, you know the traditional start of these articles by now. “Every couple of seasons a new striker emerges on the horizon, blablabla…”. We had Geels, Cruyff, Koolhof, Kist, Kieft, van Basten, Bosman, Gilhaus, Van Loen, Mols, Houtman, Van Nistel, Kluivert, Haisselbaink, Makaay, Huntelaar, Van Persie, Luuk de Jong, Van Wolfswinkel…
And some time back, [...]

During the EC 2008 in Austria and Switzerland tragedy presented itself in the life of Khalid Boulahrouz. His wife delivered their beautiful baby girl Anissa – three months early – and the little child passed away in a Swiss hospital. “I was totally broken….”
Only three days after this tragic death, the Cannibal decided to play [...]

Arie Haan vs Tony Schumacher….
Aaaah…finally another Holland-Germany.
The Ajax-Feyenoord ( or Barca – Real, AC Milan – Inter, ManU-ManCity, Arsenal-Spurs) of international football.
It’s been a while. The last one I remember is from 2004! That’s seven years and the hurt makes you feel alive ( thanks Johnny Cash) if we loose and the joy seems [...]

I read this article on AD.nl and can’t agree more. In a series of tremendously talented and loveable players (Luc Nilis, Jari Litmanen, Brian Laudrup, Andrej Jeliazkov, Stefan Petterson, Josef Kiprich) Bryan Ruiz was another one…
When Bryan Ruiz walked into the fanshop of FC Twente to buy some jerseys for friends and family, he immediately [...]

Dennis Bergkamp’s 3-1 is a beaut!
Yep…. It’s hard. The most beautiful goal. I always scored them at practice. And that’s the essence too: a great goal in a insignificant match is not that cool.
Gio’s drill against Uruguay, was in a World Cup semi finals!
Marco’s volley was in the EC finals!
Dennis’ ballet was in the World [...]

Kuyt believes in it…and slowly Afellay takes off….flapping his wings and he is airborne…
When Hungary scored the 3-3 in Amsterdam, Bert van Marwijk could be seen kicking and screaming at the sideline in total anger with this team’s shabby performance.
Two late Dirk Kuyt goals ( one after a brilliant Afellay move and the second maybe [...]

Wesley Sneijder, Theo Janssen and Dirk Kuyt skipped the first training with Oranje in the run up to the Austria friendly. The three did some simple practices in the sports hall of the Oranje hotel but will be able to start coming Wednesday.
Sneijder and Kuyt both played with their teams while Janssen played a full [...]

Bert Dijkshoorn! My favorite columnist. This one is too good .

I can’t put it out of my head. He said it after Ajax – PSV. Fred Rutten said: “PSV needs to be horny for the goal.”
He basically said much more. Something about initiative. About the run of play. Some players were not in position. [...]