Kenneth Vermeer believes that the Dutch national team has the qualities to win the European title, the FC Cincinnati goalkeeper said in a video interview with Football zone. The five-time international of the Dutch, who managed to keep ‘zero’ in all his international matches, also spoke about the somewhat surprising return of Maarten Stekelenburg to the national team, after an absence of several years.
“It’s a bit of a different story, isn’t it”, Vermeer refers to the comeback of the Ajax goalkeeper at the Dutch. “But he came back to Ajax and nobody expected that he would play so many matches. But he has always been a top keeper. Of course he also experienced some lesser moments in his career.” That Stekelenburg has done so well recently comes as no surprise to Vermeer. “Keepers only get better as they get older. He has experience, of course, he has played a European Championship (in 2012, ed.) and played enough international matches. So that was nothing special for me. He is a top goalkeeper and he has that just show it.”
Listen to the entire conversation with Kenneth Vermeer here
Vermeer also looks with great interest at the functioning of Frank de Boer, with whom he worked for several years at Ajax. Several national championships were celebrated together. “He brought clarity to the way of playing and we were on the rise as a team”, the experienced goalkeeper looks back on his Amsterdam period. “All that mattered was the championship,” said Vermeer, who does not want to make the fact that De Boer made some mistakes at press conferences in the run-up to the European Championships bigger than it is. “He has also been under a bit of a magnifying glass lately. He may not have had the best years, although his first year at Atlanta United was not bad. I have no doubts, he has also grown again in coaching .”
Praise for Justin Bijlow
The Cincinnati goalkeeper also kept for some time at Feyenoord and then had to deal with Justin Bijlow, who he considers good enough for a future role with the the Dutch squad. “If you see how Justin has developed, not normal. I think Justin certainly has the potential to become the first goalkeeper of the Dutch national team. He is just a very good goalkeeper, he is all-round, footballing strong, good at one against one, he dares to come out. Justin is a very good one, a topper.” Vermeer also saw the capricious side of Bijlow, certainly in the initial phase. “Irregular in the sense that he became angry with himself very quickly. He has not normally improved that well. He has become much calmer in that and he radiates that. It is just a resting point in the Feyenoord team. “
Despite the distance, Vermeer tries to follow the European Championship as best as possible and he was also shocked when he heard the news about former teammate Christian Eriksen becoming unwell. “I woke up, opened the internet and saw it everywhere. Vurnon Anita texted me: ‘Have you heard from Christian?’ I was a bit in shock, I saw the images the same day and I thought: wow. It’s someone you’ve played with for years. So that comes extra hard, of course you don’t wish that on anyone.” Vermeer also saw the tears of Daley Blind on Sunday evening, who was hit hard by the incident with Eriksen. “Of course he has also experienced it himself and he knows the feeling yourself too. Then it’s extra extra.”
A day after the whole Eriksen event, the the Dutch squad started the European Championship with a 3-2 victory over Ukraine. Vermeer hopes for a few successful weeks for the Netherlands, with the European title as the ultimate culmination. “I experienced it myself with the youth European Championship in Portugal at the time (in 2006, ed.)”, said the goalkeeper active in Major League Soccer. “Nobody cared about us and we also lost the first game against Ukraine. But after that we were growing in the tournament and we eventually won. People always predict the big countries like France, Portugal, you name it. But sometimes it is it’s nice to have the underdog and sneak away with the overall win.”
the Dutch as European Championship favorite
“But the Netherlands just has a good team with good players. I think the most important thing is that the players themselves believe it. It is difficult to predict. Of course I hope for the boys that they will get as far as they can, but it’s just hard to predict. It’s still early.” Vermeer finally ventures a prediction about the winner of this European Championship. “I’m going for the Netherlands, I’m going for it. I know those guys of course and I have faith in them boys. And as I said: they are growing. Before the tournament everyone was negative about them, but things are starting to get more positive. As long as they believe in it and do everything they can, it is possible,” said Vermeer.
Kalum of Oudheusden is a full-time video journalist, presenter and program maker at Voetbalzone and makes exclusive interviews and various programs.
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