The Kitchen Champion Division will have an unprecedented apotheosis on Wednesday evening now that four clubs still have a chance to win the direct promotion ticket to the Eredivisie. Excelsior would also have loved to claim second place or at least want to participate in the play-offs, but the Rotterdammers grabbed everything, to the sadness of right back Siebe Horemans. Still, he still has something to play for in the final round. The back, together with Sam Beukema of Go Ahead Eagles, is at the top of the Team of the Week standings with nine elections each and their teams play against each other.
By Thijs Verhaar
“On a personal level, it went very well for me, but as a team it was a little less”, 22-year-old Horemans summarizes the season very well. Excelsior is disappointingly ninth and must patiently watch how De Graafschap, Go Ahead Eagles, Almere City and NAC Breda decide on the last round of play who will be promoted directly behind champion SC Cambuur. The Super Farmers are in the best position with two points ahead Kowet and Almere, while NAC only has a chance if none of the above three clubs wins. If it is up to Horemans, in any case Go Ahead will not take off with a necessary three-pointer. After all, he can almost certainly write his tenth election in the Team of the Week on his stomach.
“I was in it once or twice when we didn’t win as a team, but of course my chances are much better if we beat Go Ahead Eagles. Beukema may still be able to get promoted if they win the match, so he will also be fully motivated. It can be a fun battle ”, predicts Horemans, who has not yet had contact with his last remaining competitor for the honorary prize. “I don’t know him personally, but maybe I should talk to him about it before the match. It gives a nice extra to the game and I want to do everything I can to keep him from that prize. It would be a very nice reward if I finished at the top of the rankings. ”
The Belgian right back grew up at KAA Gent and worked towards a breakthrough in professional football, but a shoulder fracture and later a serious cruciate ligament injury caused the counter to stop in three games in the main force. He was sidelined for more than six months and was surprised in the final phase of his rehabilitation with a call from Excelsior. The Rotterdammers did not care that he was not yet fully fit and offered him the opportunity to let him get into competition rhythm in the Netherlands so that he could return stronger in Belgium. However, the collaboration went so well that he was definitively recruited in the summer of 2019 and the counter has now reached 79 performances for the Kralingers.
“I am very grateful to the club for that. I feel a lot of confidence here and at my age I just need a lot of play time to grow. Especially this season I have hardly missed a minute ”, Horemans jubilates. Trainer Marinus Dijkhuizen is the first to put him on the match sheet and knows that it is all right. “He indeed gives me a lot of confidence and luckily I was able to pay it back with goals and assists.” This season, the offensive-minded back was good for three hits and he prepared five, although in his view there should have been a lot more. “I was unlucky a few times with a post or crossbar and crosses were not always completed, but the most important thing remains – after the result with the team – that my direct opponent does not score. Fortunately, that almost never happened this season. ”
Horemans describes himself as a ‘reasonable all-rounder’. Indeed, he provides positive impulses on both defensive and offensive levels in almost every match, which means that he Opta has already emerged nine times as the best right back of the round. “I don’t know if I am the best right back in the league. I find that difficult to say about myself, but I like it when people think I would be one of the best in my position. ” He also owes the fact that he is right back this season to Dijkhuizen, because at Ghent he played centrally in a three-man defense. “I was often even the most left of the three, so I can handle quite a few positions.”
Earlier this season, Go Ahead Eagles and Excelsior drew 0-0 in Deventer.
At Excelsior, however, Dijkhuizen wanted to make more use of his speed and sharp crosses. “The trainer indicated that I could help the team to get through a bit more offensively on the flanks, but I also took center stage a few times. It may be that I will be more needed there next season, but I think of myself that I should be a bit fiercer in the duels ”, it sounds self-consciously. Furthermore, it is now quite easy for him in the Kitchen Champion Division, so the 22-year-old was eager to get promotion to test himself at a higher level. “In my first season I was able to experience the Eredivisie as a mercenary for a while and that was great. Unfortunately, we could not continue that at the time. I still signed a contract here because I wanted to play a lot and that works, so I’m on schedule. ”
Only ninth place means that he can no longer achieve his most important goal for this season. “We can talk about that long or short, but we just should have qualified for the play-offs. I’m not sure what went wrong. I think we have had quite a few chances against competitors who have now qualified, but we gave it away too often. It just wasn’t for us, ”says the former Belgian youth international, who would have liked to have exchanged the lion’s share of his Team of the Week nominations for a place in the play-offs. “Still, it is an enormous honor to be designated as a star. That’s why I’m going to give everything again to get that tenth nomination and end the season well. ”
And after that? Horemans would happily stay in Rotterdam for another season, but at the same time does not close his eyes to a possible follow-up transfer. “I am ambitious, so I am open to that if it is a win-win situation. I only go if Excelsior can and wants to get a nice amount and if the club is also to my liking. ” The Eredivisie or the Belgian Jupiler Pro League are preferred. “Maybe I can also join the Belgian youth teams, because I have not been there since my cruciate ligament injury. Last year I was in the pre-selection again, but then I just lost against players who are active in larger leagues. That was a shame, but in the end it is not the most important. Football wants to make me happy and I can do that at Excelsior. On to that tenth nomination! ”
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
Click here for exclusive interviews, talent scouts, current positions and the program on our Kitchen Champion Division page.