RIP Jan van Beveren

June 29th, 2011 | by: Jan |

This article is from February 2009. In honor of Jan van Beveren…

It doesn’t matter how many Ronaldinho’s, Messi’s, Gerrard’s, Pato’s or Biseswar’s we have to discuss, the 1974 Oranje team will always titillate us…

In 2009, we’ll keep on looking back to that ultimate WC in Germany, mainly because the Dutch played their best football ever then and there. One of Holland’s greatest, however, wasn’t there.

Jan van Beveren, the crucial absentee. Thanks to Harry Walstra of the www.wkfinale74.nl website. The Best Website on that one particular game, alas…all in Dutch (and German ).

Matty Verkamman writes: “He is the ultimate goalie, gracious and elegant. Athletic and stoic. Jan van Beveren was a gem to behold in the goal. Still, he’d never reap the fruits of his talent and the generation he was part of. Johan Cruyff, Piet Keizer, Willy van der Kuylen, Willem van Hanegem, Jan van Beveren…they’d never win a prize with Oranje…”

Jan van Beveren starts his career in Emmen, with the amateurs. Most goalies start out as players until they’re told they’re not good enough. “Try it on goal, matey…”. Not with Jan. He knew from day 1 that he wanted to be a goal keeper. “I’d seen photo’s of goalie who could glide horizontally to the bar to stop balls from going in. That was the ultimate. That was what I wanted.”

When 18 years old, he joins Sparta and Long John immediately pushes Pim Doesburg out of the Sparta goal. A year later, Jan would make his debut for Oranje. A star was born.

The 23 year old in an interview after having missed the WC1970 in Mexico. “We played England before 100.000 and we lost. And we lost because some players didn’t want to put themselves out. They were only talking about money money money. Why? If you play for your nation, who cares about money? The money will come. We had to qualify and with that fact, we could have taken care of ourselves financially. But no, some players refused. So here we are. Watching the Mexico WC on telly. Frustrating! I’m sure these same players feel that way too now, and I hope they will do their best to get us to the WC1974 in Germany.”

It’s clear who those players are. One Johan Cruyff deliberately missed a qualification game because he wants to go to Milan to buy shoes for his wife Danny’s shoe-store. Ajax would reach the EC1 finals in 1969 while Feyenoord would win the first EC1 ever for Holland in 1970.

Oranje could have done so well in 1970, with the following line up:

==========Van Beveren============
Suurbier===Israel===Laseroms===Krol===
Jansen===Van der Kuylen—Van Hanegem
Jan Mulder===Cruyff===Piet Keizer=====

Jan van Beveren moves to PSV Eindhoven and Oranje qualifies for the WC1974 against Belgium. Van Beveren plays the first leg, but is injured for the second. He’s replaced by Piet Schrijvers.

Van Beveren appaers to suffer from serious groin injuries. He’s still the big man in the classics of PSV against Ajax and Feyenoord, but after the game against Ajax in Amsterdam, the goalie almost crawls to the PSV bus in pain. The Ajax fans laughed at him, ridiculed him and called him a sissy.

Van Beveren is fit right before the WC. PSV plays a European game against Cruyff’s Barcelona and Van Beveren rules. When Michels selects Long John for a friendly, Van Beveren asks to be played one half only. Michels refuses and tells him he plays 90 minutes or he doesn’t play at all. Van Beveren keeps on making his point and The General sends him home. Cruyff and other Ajax players would criticize Van Beveren in the media for “not having what it takes to win prizes…”.

Van Beveren wouldn’t travel with Oranje to Germany and Jan Jongbloed is the surprise new goalie.

After the WC1974, Van Beveren is selected for Oranje again and plays some matches. However, when the PSV goalie openly criticizes the unique position JC has in the Oranje squad, a meeting is called. The Ajax clan tells Van Beveren to stop criticizing them in public. Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens play hardball. Van Beveren and Van der Kuylen go home, or we go home.

Van Beveren and Van der Kuylen go and despite a late rescue attempt by Voetbal International’s Cees van Cuilenborg, the rift is there to stay. Team manager Georg Knobel doesn’t want to interfere and Van Beveren’s Oranje career is over.

As off 1974, the fans in the west of the Netherlands (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht) boo Van Beveren when he plays there with PSV. Despite winning the EUFA Cup with PSV in 1978, he will never gain real popularity among the football fans. He does play one more Oranje game. Former Military Team manager Jan Zwartkruis talks the PSV goalie to return. In 1977, he defends the goal against Germany. Right before the WC1978, he decides to retire from international football.

Jan van Beveren in Camp Nou

In 1978, Studio Sport invites Jan van Beveren as their studio guest to co-commentate the Holland – Peru match. Van Beveren drives off to Hilversum, but once he’s there he hears about death threats on his family. “Don’t you talk negatively about Oranje, or we will burn your house down, kidnap your kids and kill you…”. Jan was willing to do the show anyway, but the NOS decided to cancel his stint.

When he contract at PSV was over, in 1980, Jan packed his bags and left for the USA. He would play there a couple of seasons and was the first goalie ever to be voted The Player of the Year in the US.

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By van den Berg | June 29th, 2011 at 10:01 pm

@Cameron. Fifa ratings are a joke. England to #4?? Why? How? Shake my head

R.I.P. van Beveren.

Koevermans and Torston Frings unveiled today as Toronto FC’s newest players.

By van den Berg | June 29th, 2011 at 10:13 pm

Some nice news on the Ajax website.(Thank you Google translate!)

Players, (including Stekelenburg) getting suited up in casual clothing for the coming season.

Jong Ajax players, Castillion, Rodney Sneijder… playing with the first team. Bergkamp coaching on the pitch… Are we seeing the beginnings of a new era of Ajax dominance?

By eric | June 30th, 2011 at 8:27 am

I have been impressed with PSV’s activities in the transfer market so far, although it must be stressed that they’re putting a huge wager on their future. With the financial they’re in now, the revenue from Doetzak transfer would have been better used to pay off debts, but instead they’re buying players with one clear objective: returning to Champions League (which will undoubtedly generate lucrative incomes to the club).

(If completed) I think the transfers of Wijnaldum and Strootman will make PSV’s midfield the best in Eredivisie, bar none. The two clearly are among the best young talents in Eredivisie. Mertens, although a bit older (24/25 y.o?), is very underrated. He is an influential player, especially in the Belgium national team. The likes of Lens and Toivonen are capable of dropping back and add quality to the center of the park. And don’t forget that the likes of Hutchinson, Wuytens and especially Labyad have plenty of rooms to grow. It will be interesting to see if/when PSV will acquire new forwards. They need a consistent goal-getter, in light of the departure of Koef, Nijland, Berg, and long-term injury victim Reis.

Twente is quietly sharping their sword as well. They lost Theo Janssen, but seriously.. making 3M for a 30 years old, fat midfielder with history of drinking and smoking, wow that’s a highway robbery!! In return, Twente gets former Dutch U21 Willem Janssen for free, who can play as a true no. 10. With Co Ad (a 4-3-3 loyalist) at the helmet, Twente in my book has the most dangerous attacking weapons. I can easily see Ruiz shifting to the flank and given freedom to cut inside. This is where he is the most deadly. The other winger can be Chadli or Bejrami, both are much improved player. The center attacker is Janko or Luuk De Jong. And the dark horse is Guidetti, ex-Man City player who not too long ago was dubbed as the Swedish Wayne Rooney. As a side note, I heard that Leroy Fer has agreed personal term to join Twente, but the negotiation is hung up on the exact transfer fee. If this happens, watch out people, Twente will take the title race to the last day again.

As of Ajax, I think they haven’t made themselves better at this point (Theo Janssen is no upgrade!). But, summer is still early for them, and a lot are still in the air at this point. They’d be stupid not to cash in for Stekelenburg, knowing that Vermeer is ready to take over. Ditto with Demy de Zeeuw, who can make the club 4-6M richer. Then, they need to get rid of the dead woods, El Hamd in particular, maybe Cvitanich as well. BTW, I don’t get their excessive lusts on the over-hyped, expensive forward (Sighthorson is the latest trend). IMHO Ajax needs badly a reinforcement at defense and a cover for Eriksen.

Posted from United States

By goose | June 30th, 2011 at 9:05 am

@eric; agree with your analysis.. PSV is spending their money well

For my team Den Haag things dont look that good;

vdBrom gone to Vitesse, looks like Utrecht will spend their money they got for Strootman and Mertens to get Toornstra en DeRijck and rumour is that Verhoek will go to Fc Twente

guess thats just the way it is for a small team; you play 1 decent season and you lose almost half your team..but still very sad to see; guess we will play bottem of the legueau next season again!

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | June 30th, 2011 at 9:16 am

ORanjeFan, most of these articles have been published here ( the wk1974 articles). I can repost if there’s interest.

As for Wijnaldum…. I’m shocked!

I have to say. Feyenoord is a club with character. Ajax is a club with class. Hell, even Twente has something, but a Feyenoord talent moving to PSV is simply not done!

For Fukc sake, why couldn’t he stay at Feyenoord a bit longer?? PSV won’t pay that much more. Where is club loyatly these days??

Wijnaldum will make a big move and become wealthy playing his fave game. Why would you want to do that in bloody Eindhoven?????

Strootman too! He was followed by Spurs for crying out loud. I think PSV has had it. It’s a boring club. I’m sorry guys, I’m not a PSV fan and I believe that a player with ambition should either move abroad or play for Ajax or Twente. And if they’re Feyenoord players, they should support their club and move away, but not to the competition.

Poor Wijnaldum will not have life in Rotterdam anymore and I fear for his family.

Idiot!

By OranjeAussie | June 30th, 2011 at 9:16 am

I agree goose it’s like the food chain for example as soon as a player performs at ADO he will get picked up by a team like Ajax and then once he performs at Ajax he will go to a bigger European club…

It’s very friustraiting I’m a Ajax man but unfortunately the whole Dutch league isn’t high on the football chain at the moment… Prime example Ricky and Schaars to sporting… Let’s hope Dutch teams perform in Europe next season and in the future… So we can be back in europes elite.

Posted from Australia

By Jan | June 30th, 2011 at 9:17 am

Oh, the 2006 comment on The Dutch team. This article is a reprint from 2009. I’m sorry….

By goose | June 30th, 2011 at 10:21 am

@Jan; bad day at the office? haha as far as i know theres not much hate bewteen Eindhoven and Rotterdam..Wijnaldums family well be fine! haha

your team has the same problem as mine; no money… if another team wants one of our players, they’re gone…

Posted from Netherlands

By Orangeismycolor (Miguel) | June 30th, 2011 at 10:41 am

So Platini says technology isn’t neded following the introduction of goal-lines assistants.

What do you guys think?

By OranjeAussie | June 30th, 2011 at 10:58 am

@goose the only reason the bigger Dutch clubs poach the best players from the smaller more cash strapped Dutch clubs is because the bigger clubs and the eredivisie as a whole can’t attract talented, proven players from other leagues as they can’t compete with money there…

I think the government should help out the smaller clubs to build the eredivise into a top league again…. The dutch national team is one of Hollands most well known things… I live in Australia if I tell someone that my mum is dutch the first thing they say is something bout the oranje or the Dutch soccer team.. If they put more money into the eredivisie I think it would help tourism… I know heaps of people the will go to Barcelona to go to camp nou or Liverpool to visit anfield..

Another thing is the Dutch youth system is one of the best if not the best in the world you put a bit of money so clubs can keep there talents I.e. Barcelona… and purchase a few foreigners before you know it we have EPL, Bundesliga, la liga, serie a and the mighty Eredivisie…

Sorry to rabble on but I think the success of the eredvisie can only be a good thing for the Netherlands as a whole….

Posted from Australia

By eric | June 30th, 2011 at 11:08 am

From a strictly neutral perspective (some of you may notice that I am a die hard fan of Oranje– not necessarily of a specific club)… I think Wijnaldum and Strootman are making an excellent choice if they do complete their transfer to PSV.

First– Strootman and Wijnaldum (and Fer) know that they have a realistic chance to crack up the Oranje senior, and possibly going to Euro 2012 next summer. Van Marwijk made it clear that all players need to have “international” experiences to be considered for Oranje. The fact that PSV (and Twente) are involved in the European league makes their decisions sensible.

Second– With PSV and Twente reloading, it’s more than likely they will be in the conversation for the Eredivisie title. This translates to more exposures, more scouting– which in greater scheme, increases the youngsters’ chance to get picked up by Van Marwijk and other top European clubs. Also, let’s not hide the fact that Utretch and Feyenoord are sinking ships, at least for the time being. I say this because their key players are moving out, or in the process of transferring out, with no noticeable players coming in. Utretch and Feyenoord are mid-tablers at best, and I don’t see them challenging for the title anytime soon.

Third– moving to Eredivise is much better than moving overseas. They know they walk right in the starting line up at PSV/Twente, but if they move to Spurs, for example, they may have to wait for their chances to shine. Not to mention it will take time to adjust with the culture, lifestyle, etc. Too many bad examples to mention where players are rotting in the bench simply because they didn’t get that opportunity to impress, or even if they did, the competition was too brutal to allow them playing week-in and week-out. All of these are detrimental to their careers. (Van Wolfswinkel, wtf are you doing?!?)

@goose– ADO has some great talents, but sorry to say, I think the club is one of those feeders club. Thus it’s to their advantage to maximize the transfer dealing so the club will have healthy financial. Verhoek was rumored to be followed by Aston Villa, a few days later Twente joined the bids. I personally believe Twente is a better destination for Verhoek. He is a classic winger who will suit extremely well with Adriaanse’s 4-3-3 system. I am very surprised that the news have been relatively quiet on Toornstra. To me he has a massive talent, and any of the top 3 (Ajax, PSV, Twente) could use his service.

Posted from United States

By OranjeFan | June 30th, 2011 at 11:27 am

Thanks for the comment Jan

– In regards to transfers within the Eredivisie… this situation is at least somewhat better than loosing talents to other leagues.

– I too am disappointed that Wijnaldum isn’t going to find his way to Ajax.

– How to make the Eredivisie bigger and more successful?
(Make maximum use of technology through Internet contact with your world-wide fan base: …then do everything possible to grow that fan base — special deals for specific live feed login’s for matches, sign up login’s to download completed games, bonus interviews (captioned for your language), contests to win travel packages to view games live in the netherlands, move a couple of league matches every year to other countries to build the brand, sign up youth teams (from anywhere!) to win packages to train with a famous coach for 2 weeks or to train for 2 weeks at the Ajax Acadamy etc. etc.) This would be one approach.

The other approach is to follow Alex’s idea and create combined league covering Belgium and Holland. Some Dutch clubs would disappear though, so the idea won’t be popular.

OFJ

By OranjeFan | June 30th, 2011 at 11:28 am

Oooops

OJF

By Eduardo | June 30th, 2011 at 1:35 pm

Ok is official for me…

Ajax is doing all he can to build players for Belgium and Dennmark nationals teams…but, Where are the duch young talents??

another foreing young player for Ajax

http://english.ajax.nl/News/Archive/Article/Rits-hopes-for-a-replay-of-debut.htm

By Keko | June 30th, 2011 at 2:13 pm

That’s right.

By Gerhard | June 30th, 2011 at 5:27 pm

Well, rest in peace Jan van Beveren. As a German I am glad he wasn’t there in Munich 74. As a kid I followed Dutch football in the early seventies with the great successes of Feynoord and Ajax but I was always stunished by the spectaculair saves of Van Beveren in his Eindhoven-years. I never understood why he wasn’t in the Dutch team.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rinus | June 30th, 2011 at 5:32 pm

This site is concerning the death of one of the greatest goalkeepers of all times and all of you are talking about Wijnaldum and De Zeeuw? I don’t understand.

Posted from Netherlands

By Steve | June 30th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

@Rinus – discussions are ongoing in the comments of this blog, sometimes they go in line with Jan’s posts and sometimes not so much – always discussing all things regarding Dutch players and teams (besides Srinjoys Denmark propaganda, haha)…

Posted from Canada

By OranjeFan | June 30th, 2011 at 8:59 pm

@Rinus
@Gerhard

– you are right, my posts have pretty much ignored Jan van Beveren. I will set that straight now:

I am sad at the passing of JvB and wish that I could both know more about him, and see more of him in action. The few youtube clips that I have been able to find show an extremely acrobatic keeper. It would be awesome to see a full match of his. For myself – I never got the chance to see him.

Jan’s article intrigued and quite saddened me with the suggestion that Oranje 74, and maybe even 78 could have been even better had Jan van Beveren been in the starting 11. Ego’s (and club loyalty) can be such a problem – the coach who can keep all of that stuff balanced and in check, is a true master of the craft.

RIP Jan van Beveren

OJF

By Jan | June 30th, 2011 at 10:56 pm

There was something sad about him. He was an elegant, stylish goalie and most certainly bowed for shear violence and aggro play. He couldn’t handle JC and the Amsterdam bravado boys and I believe he escaped to the US ( Canada first I believe), to get away from the “why weren’t you in 1974’s team?” questions….

By Jan | July 1st, 2011 at 4:25 am

Daniel de Ridder expects a contract at Grasshoppers in Switzerland.

By OranjeFan | July 1st, 2011 at 10:58 am

Jan van Beveren was much loved in Beaumont Texas – here is a wonderful tribute to the man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1H6hWwj7kk

OJF

By Srinjoy | July 2nd, 2011 at 5:36 am

Haha jan de ridder really has lost it hasn’t he…also u must be really worred looking at feyenoord’s current squad..relegation candidates at the moment

Posted from Bosnia And Herzegovina

By Pete | July 2nd, 2011 at 11:18 pm

Ojf: I can tell you this, saw Jan play many times for the Strikers in the states. He was very tall, lanky and bouncy..on his toes always. And he could fly…completey horizontal. I still can’t picture a keeper as quick to this day. R.i.P Jan!

Posted from United States

By OranjeFan | July 3rd, 2011 at 12:46 pm

@Pete

That was the impression I got from the few clips I have seen. An active keeper always moving, bouncing on his toes, and always ready to react – maybe this is a little bit like Tim Krul, I don’t know – but to me this seems ideal in a keeper, always ready and completely into the game. Whenever I see a keeper who is “flat-footed” or “unmoving” it just seems that they are already half beaten even before any shot has been taken. Jan van Beveren was not like this – he was always ready to challenge the shot.

RIP Jan van Beveren
OJF

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