In the AD Voetbalpodcast, presenter Etienne Verhoeff discusses the football weekend with reporters Mikos Gouka and Maarten Wijffels in four statements. From Latvia to the takeover of Newcastle United, the shortage of right wingers and the Nations League.
The match against Latvia taught that the Orange is not quite there yet. ,,The field is sometimes completely open with the Dutch national team. Even the smallest teams can get through. That has not yet been resolved at Orange”, analyzes Maarten Wijffels. ,,Normally, a team like Latvia has to gasp after seventy minutes”, Gouka adds. ,,But the Orange squad played at a slow pace and didn’t really have an alternative at hand.”
But the Orange squad won and will meet Gibraltar in the Kuip tonight. The final score is not the most important for Maarten Wijffels, who assumes a victory for the Dutch national team. ,,The only goal against Gibraltar is to keep all the players whole. Virgil van Dijk must step off the field without injury and report to Liverpool. Instead of being out all season. Whether it will be 4-0 or 7-0 is irrelevant.”
Petroleum Dollars for Newcastle
In England Newcastle United has a new owner: Mohammed bin Salman. The controversial prince of Saudi Arabia. With the abuses in the country and also the lack of freedom of the press, for example, the question is whether such a figure should be able to take over an English club. “Mikos wrote a while ago. Football has already sold its soul to the oil countries. Are we going to say it’s not allowed”, responds Wijffels to the statement.
Mikos Gouka: ,,It is always a difficult discussion. If you look purely at football, I think it’s nice that there is a club that is pumping money into it. If they don’t want to become champions within a year, but at least put in good policy. That is good for the Premier League, but ultimately also for Dutch football.”
The AD Voetbalpodcast is available every working day from 06.00.
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