Football-Oranje’s James Rowe sat down with Dordrecht midfielder Gino Boers to discuss his debut with the club last season, Euro 2016 and his thoughts on the current state of the Dutch national team.

  • By James Rowe

boers dordreThe 21-year-old has worked his way through the Dordrecht youth system and was handed his first-team debut last season in a 5-0 win over Fortuna Sittard. He is set for a more prominent role this season as Dordrecht look to return to the Eredivisie.

Below is a transcript of Boers interview with James Rowe.

JR – ”You were born in Dordrecht and you made your debut for FC Dordrecht against Fortuna Sittard. What were your feelings when you played your first professional game for your local club ?”.

GB ”I was really happy and it felt like a massive reward I have been with FC Dordrecht for 7 years since the age of 13 and when I made my debut I remembered all the times I spent on the way to training with the youth team and you do that with the hope of making your debut for the first team ”.

JR ” This Jupiler league begins this coming Friday what are the expectations and goals for FC Dordrecht this coming season ? ”.

GB ” The most important thing is to stay in the Jupiler league as relegation is possible for Jupiler clubs as of this season but I believe that a club such as FC Dordrecht must have the ambition to want to get promoted back to the Eredivisie the quickest way is to be champions but I do not think that is realistic maybe we could obtain it through the promotion play-offs. We have a very young group and a lot have players left but we must target promotion”.

JR ” What do you believe is the main quality that a player must have in order to be able to play well and make an impact in the Jupiler league ? ”.

GB ”An interesting question I believe that the Jupiler league is a league for players who harbor ambitions of playing at a higher level. A lot of players in the Jupiler League play with those intentions and in order to make that happen they have to work really hard and have stamina and persistence also with the impending threat of relegation for Jupiler league clubs I believe that we will see a lot of teams fighting hard to stay up look at Euro 2016 and the playing style of the teams they do not play freely. They play with a closed defense then attempt to score and then after that do all they can not to concede”.

JR ”Did you enjoy Euro 2016? Were there any players that impressed you or perhaps unknown players that you were not aware of before the tournament ? ”.

GB ” Not really in terms of players but I must say countries such as Wales & Iceland surprised me with their team ethic some countries may have had more individual quality but you could see what can be achieved if you work together as a team and that is something much bigger than any individual. I also thought the Croatian left back Ivan Perisic played a great tournament I also enjoyed watching Dimitri Payet but of course he was well known due to his exploits in the Premier League ”.

JR ” As a professional footballer are there other leagues around Europe that interest you or leagues that you like to keep an eye on? ”.

GB ” Yes I watch a lot of different leagues the Premier league and Bundesliga and of course the Eredivisie and I like to keep an eye on all of them. I have also been to matches in England I went to Newcastle & Manchester City and they were great experiences. Also due to the commercialism of clubs in this day and age and games being played all over the world it’s as if the clubs have become companies. What I do not like is for example how easy Bayern Munich can become champions in Germany with a 20 point lead over the team in 2nd place. I prefer to watch a team in mid table or one that is in form in a particular league ”

JR ”When you were growing up did you have football idols that you wanted to emulate? ”.

GB ”I had so many football posters on my bedroom wall I really enjoyed watching Ronaldinho. In my youth, I was a big Feyenoord fan and I had a season ticket for 6 seasons my favorite players were Paul Bosvelt & Shinji Ono who I thought was an amazing footballer. Zinedine Zidane and Ruud van Nistelrooy were fantastic players too  ”.

JR ” What are your hopes as a Feyenoord supporter this season . A good run in Europe perhaps ? ”.

GB ”I believe that Feyenoord have done well in recent years, yes there is still a gap between them and Ajax & PSV but with players such as Elia, Kuyt and El Ahmadi they are players with experience that know what it takes to play well not only in the league but also in Europe. All in all, I believe that Feyenoord is slowly becoming a great club again. I must also say that it is striking that Dutch clubs are struggling in Europe. I watched Heracles Almelo against Arouca in the Europa League. I was aware where Arouca was from but you see how difficult it is for Dutch clubs against certain European teams at this moment in time whereas in the past the gap between the top European sides and other counterparts was a lot bigger. Times have definitely changed in that respect  ”.

JR ” The Dutch national team where not present at Euro 2016. What do you think as a Dutchman and a supporter of their chances of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia in 2018? ”

GB ” I thought it was a great pity that we did not qualify and that it was disingenuous of Dutch football. The Netherlands belong at such football tournament with the history that they have. In the qualification for Euro 2016 they got their just desserts and their opponents were better. If you look back at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 we had big players from the old guard Sneijder, van Bommel, Kuyt they were then on top form and I believe that period is now over. We must also be realistic at the moment we have players playing for the Dutch national team that play for Dutch clubs if you do well for Ajax or Feyenoord then you are in principle called up for the national team, previously the players were all playing for top European clubs. Coincidentally I watched the Dutch under 19’s play in Germany at the youth championships against France in that game it appeared to be men against boys even in such an age group with the physical attributes of the French. I believe that in the youth teams in the Netherlands we are far too soft and we must be harder and more strict and we must demand more from the young players but that is difficult in this day and age because lots of people interfere in terms of opinions about appropriate rest, school and other eventual recommendations in other countries it’s about being fit and ready to play. You see the consequences from us only focusing on the game and not our shortcomings as they are now being exposed in Europe”.

JR ” Finally you are still young player just starting out in your career. Are there any particular stadiums either at home or abroad that you dream of playing in ? ”.

GB ” In the Netherlands, I would love to play in De Kuip as a Feyenoord fan. I believe that is the football stadium of the Netherlands and abroad I would love play in the Vicente Calderon in Madrid where Atletico Madrid because of their supporters and how Diego Simeone gets them fired up and the atmosphere that they create ”.




James Rowe (696 Posts)