Stijn Schaars: pure passion

Marcel van der Kraan
Friday 19 December 2008

(AD) - Stijn Schaars is back.

And how!

AZ are top of the table in the Eredivisie and have their own version of Liverpool's Steven Gerrard.

During the interview on the eve of the match against FC Utrecht not once does he mention the word 'leadership'.

But the zeal, the love for his trade is omnipresent with Stijn Schaars.

He's a winner.

Maybe not in words, but on all other things he is indeed the leader at AZ.

Like Liverpool has Steven Gerrard, AZ Alkmaar have Stijn Schaars.

Not a boy from the city, but he motivates, reigns in midfield and guards the atmosphere in the dressing room.

Schaars resembles the Premier League top player in several ways.

Just like Gerrard the 24-year-old international needs to be slowed down at times as his fanatic approach got him injured in the past.

"The coach Louis van Gaal thought I was too reckless in my first year. He said: 'Stijn, you're too wild. I did not believe him. Because I thought I'm a good player. In the end he was right. I would challenge thoughtlessly. Challenges of which I now think I shouldn't have done it. 'That player does not have the overview, control the ball and then I'll take it from you'. When you just rush in you get injured. At some point it was a problem."

Besides the club's ambitions Schaars has his own, personal ambitions.

For the first time ever he wants to get 30 games to his name this season.

He thinks it amazing that had 24 he has already underwent surgery four times.

"Apparently I am vulnerable for top sport. That is why I am training to gradually get stronger."

All of last season he has been fighting to get back to the to of professional football in Holland and with the same mentality he plays with he threw himself into the recovery process of his sore ankle.

AZ are now seizing the fruit of his hard work, but also from the fact that during his absence from the pitch he interfered in the battle to save Louis van Gaal for the club.

Everything had to go to maintain the unity and discipline in the squad.

Some will call that maniacal, but in his eyes it is an attitude that is key in sports at top level.

"We are 'only' AZ. We shouldn't belittle ourselves, but financially we are less than the bigger clubs. Ajax and PSV have a lot more money to invest and they have more quality. So where can you beat them? Purely team-wise. Invest in each other, make sure everything is perfect. Everyone should know what are the plusses and the minuses of the other players. It's called team building. The coach keeps emphasizing it. It's our only possibility to make the difference."

Pointing at the locker room he says: "But of course we have quality ourselves as I believe we have 15 internationals."

His readiness to sacrifice is unmistakable.

Ever since he came through the youth ranks at Vitesse Arnhem he has been prepared to serve others on the pitch.

"I always put the team first. The best compliments I get are those saying that I let others play better. That may sound strange, but I love hearing that. Of course I want to play well myself. But when I am capable of letting others stand out that's okay with me too."

In the year he was injured he avoided publicity, but he was at the club every day.

"When you play all the time you start to think that it's normal to be a professional football player. Sometimes it is good to be out for a while and to realize that you have one of the best professions in the world. It was a conscious decision to recover here at the club. If we would lose it would also affect me. They are my mates, right?"

Schaars has an outspoken opinion and dares to speak his mind everywhere within the club.

Fortunately for AZ he also did it when things were going bad last season and Louis van Gaal threatened to leave the club.

"Some are introverted, I am extrovert. I express myself when needed. But look at Maarten Martens. He is much more introverted, but he also puts the team first, wants to play our passing game just as much and wants to win just as much as I do. The fact that I speak my mind more often does not make me more important than others."

Had Schaars and his team mates David Mendes and Kew Jaliens not spoke their minds last season then Louis van Gaal would perhaps no longer have been the coach of AZ this season.

"No, I'm certain he wouldn't have been our coach any longer. I know what we did was unusual in football. But we wanted a top mentality at AZ and this coach to my opinion suited that mentality. Otherwise we wouldn't have gone upstairs."

"As the three captains of this team we felt we were failing the club had we let the coach depart. Van Gaal fits with the ambitions this club has. It was just that the squad then was unable to deliver what was needed. "

"It wasn't right what was happening. How can you just jettison the one strong force of the club? That was just not acceptable for us. Of course new coach would have come. Let's put it this way: Van Gaal wasn't holy. The coach is still just an auxiliary but to us he was a very strong auxiliary."

It has made AZ the winter champions and that would be a confirmation of Schaars vision of football, but he also believes it was Van Gaal who took most risk.

"He had half of Europe to choose from, but he stuck out his neck. He could have said: 'To hell with it. I'm off to a big club that play in the Champions League. Don't forget he would have been in an awkward situation had we lost the third game to PSV... That is how close things are in football."