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Rotterdamers win cup for Van Marwijk,
next Dutch national coach
From: Mercopress.com
By Patrick Watts
Bert van Marwijk, soon to succeed
Marco van Basten as coach of the Dutch National team,
went out on a winning note when his league team Feyenoord
convincingly won the Dutch Cup final on Sunday, beating
Roda JC by 2-0.
In the managerial merry-go-round
in Holland,van Basten will quit coaching the National
team after the forthcoming European Championships which
will be played in June in Austria and Switzerland. He
will the take over at beleagured Ajax of Amsterdam who
failed to lift a major trophy this season.
For van Marwijk, Sunday's victory over Roda compensated
for a generally poor season for Feyenoord who finished
the Premier division a distant 6th behind PSV of Eindhoven.
A capacity crowd of 45,000 packed the noisy Feyenoord
Stadium where the Cup Final is traditionally played.
Roda brought around 14,000 fans from the southeast of
Holland.
Fears that the unfashionable side who have won the
Cup twice before (while
Feyenoord have 10 wins) would be over-run, were quickly
endorsed as they went behind in only the 7th minute.
Bruins broke clear down the left wing and crossed the
ball low for the onrushing Denny Landzatt, and the Dutch
international player smacked the ball past a despairing
Bram Castro, the Roda goalkeeper.
Roda were undaunted and put together several attacks,
maninly through the dangerous Belgium player Roland
Lamah, but they were unable to break down the Feyenoord
defence.
In the 35th minute Feyenoord virtually sealed victory
when Jonathan De Guzman beat 3 defenders inside the
penalty area and slotted the ball neatly into the net,
to make it 2-0.
The Rotterdamers dominated the 2nd half and came close
to scoring on several occasions, particularly when Seaijs
hooked the ball clear from under his own cross bar with
his goalkeeper stranded, but the Roda JC defence somehow
managed to avert any further goals.
In his first spell as Coach at Feyenoord, Bert van
Marwijk won the UEFA Cup in 2001. Back again for a year,
he has added the KNVB Beker (Dutch Football Association
Cup) to his achievements, but the real test for him
will start in the autumn when the Dutch National team
play their first qualfying games for the 2010 World
Cup competition in South Africa.
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