The arrival of Danny Hoesen (32) to FC Emmen is not yet satisfactory, for both himself and the club. With eight games to go, the attacker hopes to play an important role. As long as the body allows it.
Danny Hoesen played in the United States for no less than six years, an adventure that led him past San José Earthquakes and Austin FC. His children were born there, life was good on the other side of the ocean. But last winter, the Limburger decided that it would have been nice. Time for a return to the Netherlands. Time especially for his family, whom he had seen far too little in the past six years, partly due to the corona pandemic.
‘I thought: why not?’
“The United States will always feel a bit like home,” says Hoesen. “Because my children were born there. We had a very nice time there and will certainly return, but it is also nice to be with family here in the Netherlands. When we returned at the beginning of December, it immediately felt familiar again. Most of the family lives in Limburg, but my sister in Utrecht. She now comes to watch every game. Awesome.”
After weeks of keeping his condition up with the promises of Ajax, the club for which he played for almost two years in the past, the attacker signed a contract in mid-February that bound him to FC Emmen until the end of this season. . Of course in the hope of making minutes and looking further from there. “I had a great time working with Dick Lukkien at FC Groningen. When FC Emmen called, I thought: why not?”
‘I hope to be important’
Although Hoesen praises the club and its people, the adventure in Drenthe has been disappointing so far. Due to physical discomfort, the attacker only played 104 minutes in four games for the red and white. He came in three times, once he started in the base. In total, he only sent a pass 11 times. “Of course I was out for a long time. I notice that now, in combination with playing on artificial grass. Too bad, but that’s the way it is.”
Hoesen kept his condition up at Jong Ajax, which turned out not to be much. “Sometimes we were six or eight people. Then we mainly did small jobs, fortunately on real grass. That does make you fitter, but at the same time you don’t run long distances. A nice bridge towards a new challenge, but it was not ideal. I am now doing my very best to get fitter and hope to be important for FC Emmen.”
‘We had chances to win’
On Saturday evening, the relegation cracker against SC Cambuur is on the program. An excellent opportunity for the people of Emmen to say goodbye to that damned sixteenth place, which at the end of the ride is good for a place in the play-offs for promotion / relegation. This is followed by an extremely challenging program with NEC, Ajax, SC Heerenveen, FC Twente, AZ, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht as opponents. Hoesen knows it all too well.
“It is difficult to say where we will end up,” says the Limburger. “The games we have played so far since I joined the club, we had chances to win. Take the duel with FC Groningen, a direct competitor. I had the feeling that we were heading for a win after the break, but that red card threw a spanner in the works. Or visiting FC Volendam, another competitor. We were much better in the first half, but we gave it away. Shame.”
‘Then it can get interesting’
Despite the difficult end of the competition on paper, Hoesen sees opportunities. “I know from my time at Ajax that matches against clubs like FC Emmen were not the easiest. Players often give that little bit extra or a team digs in. That makes it more difficult. Moreover, clubs like Ajax are used to winning. So if it stays 0-0 for a long time or they are behind, it can get interesting. Football remains football, stranger things have happened.”