Me with Terence in January of this year.
It’s about 4 PM, and the training session of Feyenoord just ended. It was an open session (like always except once a week), so I attended, like always at least once a week. I was sitting in the lobby of the Maasgebouw, the office building of Feyenoord that is connected to De Kuip.
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It was allowed, because it was a bit cold outside and I wanted to greet the players who were walking to their cars. Only two walked by, since all the others took the (brand new) team bus for Groningen, for the Eredivisie match against the FC. The first one was Bilal Başaçıkoğlu, and then Terence Kongolo, who quit training a bit before the rest of the team. I spotted him leaving the pitch, and I hurried to him, asking if he could play tomorrow. He replied: I don’t know. I will hear it soon.
And there he was again, carrying a training attribute for home, not on the bus, so not in the team. Apparently, he could not drive his car, so he called long-time injured team-mate Rodney Lopes Cabral, who was in the neighborhood, to get him home in Barendrecht. He knew that it would take a while, so he sat down for a talk. Here, you can read a selection of Q&A’s:
Q: So Terence, you had number 5 this season, but you are a left-centre back. Will you switch to 4 next season?
A: Maybe, if Joris (Mathijsen) leaves, he might stay you know. You know that in foreign football, the allocation is totally different. They give the number 3 to the left-back.
Q: Not to De Vrij. (who is a right-centre back and had number 3 at Feyenoord and now at Lazio)
A: (laughs) No, not him yes.
Q: A pity that you won’t be in the team tomorrow, I will be in Groningen tomorrow.
A: You do? Are you going to every away match?
Q: (laughing) No guy! If I do, I need about your salary to pay the train and stuff! But there will be a lot of taxes and stuff.
A: Yeah… 52% (the highest income tax percentage in the Netherlands)
Q: (laughing) Okay, now I know your income is above € 57.586! I’m studying for legal assistant, you know, but I failed taxes a couple of times, so I studied a lot about that.
A: You do? Where?
Q: Next to the Central Station.
A: Nice!
Q: You’re still 20 right? I’m older than you, I’m 21. You’re still avaiable for the U21’s!
A: Yeah, you’re not!
Q: (laughing) True! Well, I’m not using this word quickly, but it’s actually a huge shame that we failed to qualify for the Euros and most of all the Olympics.
A: Yeah, Rio…
Q: I was present at your debut in Oranje, against Ecuador!
A: You did?
Q: Yeah!
A: How did you get your tickets?
Q: Wheelchairs need to fill in a form and send it to the KNVB, then you pay and then you get your tickets. How is Rodney doing?
A: He’s doing better and better. He gets stronger indoors, he will rejoin the team this Tuesday. (for the first time this season)
Q: Nice! You also deleted your Facebook and Instagram, why is that? JP (Jean-Paul Boëtius) did it too!
A: Aah, it’s only distracting guy!
Q: That’s true. If you see what’s always commented on pictures of Kenneth Vermeer…
A: Yeah, indeed!
(Lopes Cabral arrives)
Q: Okay Terence, get well soon! You will be back when we take Vitesse?
A: Yeah, 100%!
Q: Nice! See you soon!
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