Many weeks after the PSV championship, club icons Willy and René van de Kerkhof were able to cheer once again. The brothers are very happy with the promotion of neighbor Willem II and call it well-deserved. “Volendam should have scored five times in that first match, but they did well in the second match,” said Willy in the Willy and René Podcast of Omroep Brabant. “Great, at least we will have a Brabant derby again next year.”
The brothers could also live with the other big play-offs showdown at Ajax-Utrecht. “I would have liked to give it to Utrecht,” says René, “but Ajax was just a little better. Only that Weghorst… The only thing he did well was score that penalty. He really shouldn’t go to the World Cup.” René was also annoyed with the referee that match. “I think the 1-0 was offside and he wanted to take over Lindhorst for the entire match. It’s not a Lindhorst, it’s a lindworm! You don’t see a good referee.”
Brother Willy also wants to share an annoyance. “It strikes me this year that many players, even when nothing is wrong, roll ten meters further, then look at the referee to see if he whistles and if he doesn’t whistle, they get up again and keep walking! That’s happening again and again. And that asks for a yellow card for an opponent… That’s what Rosa from Ajax did yesterday. A referee then has to say: Do you really want a card? Well, here you have one yourself!”
“Fuck off, Graveyard!”
All in all, the brothers look back on a wonderful football competition. “I just hope that it will be more exciting next year. It was fun for us, but you will never forget such a denouement as the year before with Groningen-Ajax, right?”
The brothers are never averse to bullying Ajaciedje. “Sjaak Swart invited me this week to the Champions Lounge in the ArenA. I said: But that has changed with you, right? What do you mean, he says. I say: from now on it will be called Conference Lounge, right? He says: Fuck off, Kerkhof hahaha.”
Now that the competition is really over, all attention is focused on the World Cup and the injuries that occur at the Dutch team. “I would really only bring fit players,” says René. If Depay really gets fit again, you have to take him with you and otherwise leave him at home. Too bad then.”
For Willy it matters what kind of injury it is and who it concerns. “If Frenkie de Jong sprains his ankle, he simply has to come along.”
“Virgil deserves a farewell with that cup.”
Willy and René have quite different opinions about the prospects for the Dutch team. “I read that Virgil van Dijk will probably say goodbye to the Dutch team, he just deserves a farewell with that cup,” says Willy. Although he is also very happy with a place in the last four. René sees things a bit more gloomy. “I think we’ll be home much earlier. I’m hoping for a place in the last sixteen.” The brothers can also regularly be heard in their own podcast during the World Cup.
