A place in the selection of Orange for the global final round. That was at stake for the 70-year-old Sieger van der Goot from Nieuw-Buinen today. He tried to convince national coach Hans van Breukelen to select him for the World Championship Walking Football in Alicante, Spain, but others were preferred to Van der Goot.
Van der Goot owes that he was allowed to work on a special selection day in Baarn today to an advertisement. “I saw it on Facebook a few weeks ago. You could register and I thought: well, let’s go crazy. I had no idea what it would yield, but to my surprise I received an email from the KNVB last Friday with an invitation.”
The KNVB had prepared a course for the walking football players, with ten exercises with and without a ball being finished. And the selection day ended with old -fashioned parties. “I had a very nice day in itself. But I saw around me that there were others who could better play football. So I am in peace that I was not there.”
With former goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen there was a real European champion along the line in Baarn. It is by no means the only trophy on his honors list, on which, among other things, six national titles, three KNVB cups and a European Cup I – the precursor of the Champions League – appear.
They are performance that most participants in the selection day can only dream about. “I am a member of vv Gasselternijveen all my life,” Van der Goot responds. “When they played in the third class, I was pretty close to the first team. But that just didn’t work.”
Yet there were also other big names in Baarn. “The team already has a captain, that’s Kees Kist,” says Van der Goot. The goal machine of yesteryear is best known for AZ’67 that became the national champion in 1981. “So there had to be some players. Not only men, because ladies also participated.”
Van der Goot looks back on a beautiful day. “I have experienced this once and I know what it is like. And the atmosphere was very relaxed all day, everyone spoke with each other. It was really a bit Old boys currant bread. ”
Will the resident of Nieuw-Buinen make an attempt to get into the Orange selection in the future? “I just talked about it with my wife, but I leave it here. I hope that the Netherlands will get very far at the World Cup.”
As Walking Footballer in the shirt of VV Gasselternijveen, Van der Goot can take his experiences to his own club. “There are veterans and veterans in the team. Wednesday morning between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. we are going to kick a ball. Also yesterday again, despite the scorching heat.”