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What if: who should Van Marwijk have called?

September 7th, 2008 | By: Jan | 14 Comments »

The UEFA gave Van Marwijk and Stekelenburg their answer during the second half of the friendly against Australia: Stekel can play against Madedonia but will be suspended for the next friendly.

This raised an interesting question: who would Van Marwijk select if Stekelenburg would have been suspended? The 37 year old Twente goalie Sander Boschker? Or Jong Oranje goalie Kenneth Vermeer? He is Ajax’ third goalie…Or a young and inexperienced Eredivisie goalie like Michel Vorm or Piet Velthuizen?

It was clear to all that Van der Sar’s retirement would be felt, but at least we had his logical successor ready and waiting. He may have his lesser days, but he has the potential to become a great keeper, still. After the friendly against Russia, Van Marwijk said: “I liked how Stekelenburg played. He has charisma.”

But the gap behind the 25 year old is enormous. Henk Timmer, Stekelenburg’s replacement last Saturday, has always been a question mark.

The 36 year old Feyenoord goalie has wonderful reflexes and a great personality for a sportman, but he shows his weaknesses when off the line. After his dramatic performance against Austria, many felt the goalie shouldn’t even be going to the EC.

We do have a couple of young talents in Velthuizen, Vorm and Vermeer but none is a mainstay for now at the top. PSV uses foreigners, Heerenveen trusts a Belgium player with the job and at AZ it’s a duel between an Argentine and a Australian. Van der Sar is the only Dutch keeper playing at international top level every week.

Next Wednesday, Stekelenburg will offically be Sar’s successor. “I won’t be bothered by that red card Wednesday. Something like that can happen, it’s a simple as that. I’m not going to allow that to disturb my preparation. Wednesday is a different game altogether. Losing against Australia was a bummer, but nothing more than that.”

The joker last Saturday wasn’t Stekel of course, but John Heitinga. “It was my mistake. Simple. I didn’t hit the ball right. That was bad. Can’t say anything really to defend myself. And it was in particular sad for Maarten of course.”

Tags: Ajax, Feyenoord, Heitinga, Holland, Marwijk, Oranje, Sar, Stekelenburg, Timmer, World Cup 2010

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Comments

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 12:43 am

Where’s Westerveld these days?

By ferenc | September 8th, 2008 at 3:09 am

there is a dutch keeper at newcastle,i don’t know his name…

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 3:18 am

Tim Krul. He is like Velthuizen and Vorm, not really up to it yet, I think.

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 3:19 am

To give you an idea of the extent of the problems in terms of goalies in Holland: Feyenoord recently signed Rob van Dijk as Timmer’s second. Rob started his career at Feyenoord. He is 39 years old!!!!

By futbol | September 8th, 2008 at 4:08 am

39 years old? OMG! How can it be?

Well I hope Johnny Heitinga perform normally against Macedonia this Wednesday. Any mistake in defense could be fatal!

Posted from Taiwan

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 5:54 am

Feyenoord has a solid goalie in Timmer and a very talented 19 year old. The second goalie – can’t remember his name – is 25 years old but he wanted to play so Feyenoord sold him or rented him out. Rob van Dijk is a decent stand in, but it goes to show…39 years old…

There’s something wrong in our youth development. Or did we mention that already 1000 times??

By Lilly | September 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am

I say bring back Van der Sar – agree????

By Caleb | September 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am

Last week I was able to see a show on Setanta called “Premier Classics”, or something like that, where they show old classic matches from the EPL. The match I saw was from the 1999-2000 season, between Chelsea and Manchester United, and the interesting thing is both teams had Dutch keepers (with similar names). Chelsea had De Goey and Man U had Van Der Gouw. What’s the story on these players? Didn’t De Goey used to be an Oranje keeper? I’d heard of De Goey before, but never Van Der Gouw (he was Man U’s back up keeper who got an extended run in the 2000 season).

Another interesting thing about the match was a very young looking Van Nistelrooy sitting in the stands watching the game

Posted from Canada

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

Haha…. De Goey. Outstanding goalie. Had everything: extreme reflexen, good on crosses, good outside of the goal area and a reasonable kick (not like Sar, but still)… He played for Sparta, then came to Feyenoord and made it to the Dutch team (WC1994). Sar was second goalie then. De Goey went to play for Chelsea and probably still plays somewhere in England. He missed one thing: personality. He was like those guys that live with their moms till they’re 40. He drinks milk with a straw and eats sandwiches with cheese made by his grandma. And cookies and milk before bedtime . I’m exaggerating of course. I liked him as a goalie, but people blamed him for the loss against Brazil in 1994 and Sar replaced him.

Van der Gouw was one of the many great goalies in the mid 90s but he never got a break at top level in Holland. If Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV have their goalie, then it’s hard for top notch goalies at Vitesse, Heerenveen or Utrecht to make it big. Van der Gouw was pretty good and he did have that charisma as well. When he was 30 or so, Man United wanted him as second goalie behind Schmeichel. His choice was: staying at Vitesse for ever or taking his chance at Man U. He went and became a popular player in Manchester. He played some outstanding games. Not a lot, but still. He became pretty close to Roy Keane and now works with Keano as keeper-trainer or assistant coach or something in the EPL.

By Lights | September 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Hahaaaaaaaaaa…Jan,i like this keeper Ed De Goey.His reaction is really fast n excellent with crosses.The thing i like most is his bunny teeth.He looks cute.haha^0^

Below is him

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=272952956

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | September 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm

True ). He is endearing, isn’t he?

By jason | September 9th, 2008 at 1:02 am

I’d like to see Vermeer get groomed for the number two spot.

Posted from Canada

By Caleb | September 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

Thanks for the information Encyclopedia Jan

Posted from Canada

By Lerkot | September 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

I think he would have picked Velthuizen or Boschker. Decent keepers. I dont think we’ll see another Van der Sar for many years, but it looks decent even in the future at the keeper spot. Velthuizen, Vermeer, Stekelenburg…

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