Wim Meutstege

Willem Jan " Wim " Meutstege ( born July 28, 1952 in Lochem ) is a Dutch former football player. He was active for Excelsior and Sparta Rotterdam and for AFC Ajax from Amsterdam in the Eredivisie and has been deployed in the national team.

Club career

Meutstege played as a teenager at his home club Sport Club Lochem and up to the age of 19 at the Go Ahead Eagles, where he was last employed in the second team. In 1971, he began training at the Rotterdam Sports University Academie voor Lichamelijke Opvoeding and moved as a professional to Excelsior Rotterdam. There, the defender, in his first season 35 games. His first goal in the Eredivisie, he scored in the following season on 20 August 1972. Through the only goal of the game with a header over Pim Doesburg away, Excelsior won for the first time in its history when local rivals Sparta. As Excelsior were relegated at the end of the season, Meutstege received a contract with the Spartans. Five years he stayed with the traditional club, before his coach Cor bromine followed to Ajax Amsterdam in 1978. Here signed " het professortje " for three years. "The Little Professor " he was called because of its little hard, soulful playing style. He described it later: " If was not my thing. I have always had respect for other people - even before my opponents. I had to sit down with my speed and my overview ... I played from your opponent, took him from the ball and passed this to my teammates. The fans came not because of me into the stadium. But for the team so I was quite valuable. "

With Ajax Leo Beenhakker took over in 1979 as coach, who sat rather hard types in defense, as in the first leg of the European Cup semi-finals in 1980 at Nottingham Forest, where the powerful offensive forces Francis Birtles and Robertson had to be kept in check. Piet Wijnberg was preferred to Meutstege; Ajax still lost with 0:2. In the return match Meutstege returned to the team, but had to be replaced after a knee injury. Although the 28 -year-old still hoped in September 1980 that he would be able to play after the winter break again, put this injury after 272 games with nine goals in the Eredivisie the final point behind his footballer career.

Stations

  • Sports Club Lochem (Youth)
  • Go Ahead Eagles (Youth)
  • SBV Excelsior ( 1971-73 ), 67 games ( 3 goals ) in the Eredivisie
  • Sparta Rotterdam ( 1973-78 ), 145 ( 5) in the Eredivisie
  • AFC Ajax ( 1978-80 ), 60 ( 1) in the Eredivisie, 12 ( 0) in the European Cup

National

Thanks to his good performances in the Eredivisie Meutstege 1974 was first appointed to the junior national team. With Jong Oranje he played at the Junior World Championship 1976, where he attracted the attention of Bond coach George Knobel up. Knobel invited him to training camp the senior team that prepared in Zeist on the European Championship finals in Yugoslavia. Meutstege should belong to the European Championship squad, but could not fly with the team and remained as a stand-by players in the Netherlands because of an upcoming exam at the sports university.

After losing the semi-final against Czechoslovakia, however, some players were locked or injured, neither Cruijff still Neeskens or van Hanegem could play. Knobel was Meutstege and Kees Kist meet to Zagreb. In the third place match against the hosts on 19 June 1976, he appeared as a substitute after half-time break for Wim Jansen. He was then six more times to the " Bank pushers " of the Oranje Oranje, but came to no further use. The 3-2 win in the " small final " from Zagreb remained Wim Meutsteges single international match.

After the active time

After the end of playing career Meutstege worked as a sports teacher, PR - manager of a sporting goods manufacturer, the editorial board of a television program, manager of a swimming pool and in the management of the Sports Centre of the University of Amsterdam. Since 1990 he was employed by the Hague city council. Later he worked for three and a half years as an archivist at the Dutch embassy in Georgia. After his return to the Netherlands he worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; In February 2009, he worked at the embassy in Sudan. He was also temporarily coach the second team of Excelsior Rotterdam.

Achievements

  • Dutch champion: 1979, 1980 (Ajax Amsterdam)
  • Dutch Cup: 1979 ( and finalist in 1980, Ajax Amsterdam)
  • EM- third in 1976 ( Dutch national team)
S.B.V. Excelsior 1979–80 European Cup Nottingham Forest F.C. Trevor Francis Garry Birtles Johan Neeskens
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