Jasper Cillessen is confident he will return to the orange team under national coach Ronald Koeman. The 63-time international prevailed against his old club Ajax on Sunday with a series of fantastic saves (1-1).
“Sure it’s cute, but that’s what I stand for,” 33-year-old Cillessen modestly objected ANP extension. “Apparently all those balls came within my reach. But it’s good that it did.”
Cillessen was the celebrated man in De Goffert. He was voted man of the match and also received compliments from Alfred Schreuder and Dusan Tadic, coach and captain of Ajax. Furthermore, the lucky supporters of the NEC kept chanting his name.
The goalkeeper was ready for success. He chose NEC last summer in view of the World Cup, but Louis van Gaal didn’t bring him to Qatar. The former coach preferred Andries Noppert, Remko Pasveer and Justin Bijlow. This hurt Cillessen. A lot of pain.
Cillessen watched Orange’s World Cup matches. It was also a surprise to him that Andries Noppert defended goal for the Dutch national team. “But he just did a great job,” he acknowledged. “So all kudos to Andries.”
Cillessen still hasn’t got Orange out of his mind. The experienced Groesbeek goalkeeper is hoping for another chance at the national side under new national team manager Ronald Koeman. “I’m still an Orange fan,” he said.
“I haven’t spoken to Koeman yet, but next week I’ll speak to goalkeeping coach Patrick Lodewijks. Also to see how things have gone in the last few months.”
Orange will meet again in March. Then the quarter-final of the World Cup will start the qualifying tournament for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. On 24 March, the Oranges will face France. Three days later, a home match with Gibraltar awaits.
