To the casual observers and those looking to make a tidy profit out of the game, it is just one of those days but to me, the defeat to Spain in the World Cup finals isn’t just a moment where I will just put the Oranje aside and await for club football to begin: it is the agony of heartbreak once more through my eyes and that of my descendants who witnessed the pain of 74’ and 78’. It was a full circle watching this game: My first football hero now serving as assistant manager (Frank De Boer) who also got me into the game while playing for the Oranje and Ajax Amsterdam, the first club that I fell in love with (even before Newcastle United came along). My modern idols were there on the field as well as Rafael Van Der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder played their hearts out while Arjen Robben tried his darnest to penetrate through the defence and it didn’t matter if Van Der Wiel was from Ajax and Van Bronckhorst from Feyenoord, whether Van Persie and Sneijder were not seeing things eye to eye. All of that internal issues were cast aside as we fought as one but Fate was never kind to us. Not to the 16 million strong population of The Netherlands, not to those who fell in love with Total Football and not to the players aiming to vanquish the demons that held us back for all these years. That photo may mean nothing to some of you but to me, Sneijder’s tears represent the agony of a nation as this grown man cried in front of his television screen at 5am along with the rest of the nation that takes pride in its football
View Separately

To the casual observers and those looking to make a tidy profit out of the game, it is just one of those days but to me, the defeat to Spain in the World Cup finals isn’t just a moment where I will just put the Oranje aside and await for club football to begin: it is the agony of heartbreak once more through my eyes and that of my descendants who witnessed the pain of 74’ and 78’. It was a full circle watching this game: My first football hero now serving as assistant manager (Frank De Boer) who also got me into the game while playing for the Oranje and Ajax Amsterdam, the first club that I fell in love with (even before Newcastle United came along). My modern idols were there on the field as well as Rafael Van Der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder played their hearts out while Arjen Robben tried his darnest to penetrate through the defence and it didn’t matter if Van Der Wiel was from Ajax and Van Bronckhorst from Feyenoord, whether Van Persie and Sneijder were not seeing things eye to eye. All of that internal issues were cast aside as we fought as one but Fate was never kind to us. Not to the 16 million strong population of The Netherlands, not to those who fell in love with Total Football and not to the players aiming to vanquish the demons that held us back for all these years. That photo may mean nothing to some of you but to me, Sneijder’s tears represent the agony of a nation as this grown man cried in front of his television screen at 5am along with the rest of the nation that takes pride in its football