Dutch Football: Koeman inspires Feyenoord revival

11Feb 2013

Eredivisie

Ronald Koeman is overseeing Feyenoord's title challenge thanks to an exciting generation of graduates from the club's Varkenoord youth academy, reports Ben Lyttleton...

Last season's title race in Holland went right down to the wire and it looks like the same story this season. After a dramatic weekend of action, PSV Eindhoven are three points clear of Feyenoord and Ajax and four ahead of FC Twente.

PSV went into their game at Vitesse Arnhem on the back of scoring 20 goals in their last five games and, along with Barcelona, as the only side in Europe's top eight leagues to have scored over 100 goals this season (Chelsea joined that exclusive club this weekend). Their match finished 2-2, Vitesse's Wilfried Bony scoring twice on his return from Ivory Coast duty at the African Cup of Nations.

Ajax were only able to draw 1-1 with Roda, in a match in which Isaac Cuenca made history as the only player to have been picked by Pep Guardiola and Frank de Boer. And FC Twente missed the chance to move into second place by drawing 1-1 at FC Zwolle, which meant that the biggest winners were Feyenoord, the only top-four side to win, who beat AZ 3-1. PSV remain 1.88 favourites to win the Eredivisie title, with Feyenoord 8.2, Ajax 3.05 and Twente 9.2.

Feyenoord had finished tenth in 2010-11 Eredivisie season when Ronald Koeman was appointed coach. Last season, his first in charge, he led them to second place and this year is aiming to go one better. The three scorers against AZ showed how Koeman has brought the best out of his young squad: Jean-Paul Boetius (18), Jordy Clasie (21) and Tonny Trindade de Vilhena (18).

"If we keep this group of players together for a long time it is conceivable that we will really challenge for the title," he said last week of the generation of talent that also includes recent Holland caps Stefan De Vrij, and Bruno Martins-Indi, both 21. "Next year we will probably no longer make the same mistakes we are making now."

Clasie has been outstanding this season, and last week formed a young midfield trio in the Holland side that came within a minute of beating Italy 1-0. Along with Kevin Strootman and Adam Maher, Clasie started in Louis van Gaal's youthful line-up and his diminutive size, and position in midfield, have led to comparisons with Xavi. "I can make the play and pass and all that but I love to tackle and work for the team too. I need that kind of game. People call me bossy. I need a lot of touches of the ball to be happy and the holding mid role does exactly that."

Stanley Brard is head of the academy that has produced all these talents: "Jordy was always consistent, working hard to get to the next level. He wasn't tall or strong but he was smart. Like Wim Jansen and most likely Scholes and Xavi, he had to be smart as he would be out-muscled by bigger players."

The rise of Boetius, whose uncle is Urby Emanuelson, sums up the current strength of the Varkenoord academy. He scored on his debut against Ajax earlier in the season, becoming the first player since Harvey Esajas in 1993 to score in the 'Klassieker' derby. Boetius has kept his place in the squad ever since - Koeman said "it would be stupid to send him back to the reserves" - and he is one of seven youth academy graduates in the Feyenoord side challenging for the title. Koeman's next challenge will be to keep them all at Feyenoord next season.