McClaren: Second Choice Becomes Second Coming

Meet Joep Smeets, if you haven’t before. He’ll be joining us with more regularity to keep us abreast of all things Dutch soccer.

The last day of Eredivisie games before the winter break was cut short because of the near arctic conditions plaguing the Netherlands these days. The top three teams in the league didn’t play, resulting in a surprising Herbstmeister (a term that actually means something in Germany but really doesn’t in Holland).

FC Twente, of Enschede, has been a steady beacon of quality for all of 2009. McClaren’s team has done surprisingly well replacing departed star players Eljiro Elia (HSV) and Marko Arnautovic (Internazionale). Both wingers are hardly missed due to the arrival of Chelsea-loaned Miroslav Stoch and Costa Rican Brian Ruiz. The latter has scored a stunning eleven league games straight, tying an Eredivisie record. Ruiz will no doubt be the next Twente player to make a move to a bigger club somewhere else in Europe.

Behind these two, local boy Wout Brama has finally fulfilled his promise and has become the director of a solid Twente midfield. Calm on the ball, Brama uses a one-touch short passing game to keep possession for Twente, which has earned him his first Oranje call-up.

The biggest surprise of the season, however, is the gap in points between this year’s leader at the winter break and last year’s champions, AZ Alkmaar. In seventh place, AZ has managed a mere 28 points from 18 games, to Twente’s 47 from 17.

Throughout the season, a major source of unrest has plagued AZ. Chairman Dirk Scheringa, the sugar daddy who made AZ to what it is now over the course of 16 years, was forced to step down. Founder and chairman of the DSB Bank, Dirk became persona non grata in Holland after his bank completely collapsed, leaving thousands of clients in debt – a development that many economists in Holland saw coming from miles away.

While AZ is yet to suffer financially because of this, their results did suffer enormously. While they started with nearly the same squad which won the league last year, they have sorely missed its two big departures, coach Louis van Gaal (Bayern Munich) and midfielder Demy de Zeeuw (who now stars at rival Ajax). AZ hasn’t managed to play its possession-based attacking style that van Gaal demanded and de Zeeuw was integral to, and is now relying on Belgium national team coach Dick Advocaat to at least secure a UEFA League spot.

PSV and Ajax remain Twente’s closest competition. PSV fields one of Hollands strongest midfield with Affelay, Bakkal and Engelaar, all of whom are internationals for Oranje. In Eindhoven, like in Enschede, PSV relies on two out-and-out wingers, Balazs Dzudzak  and Danko Lazovic, to feed their center forward.

Ajax now has a strong core with Belgian central defenders Verthongen and Alderweireld, the aforementioned de Zeeuw and striker Luis Suarez, who has scored a ridiculous 18 goals in 17 league games, and 30 in all competitions. Marko Pantelic, the much-criticized acquisition made by new head coach (and former Spurs man) Martin Jol, finally seems to have developed an understanding with Suarez and supplies plenty of assists.

AZ hasn’t just done poorly in the Eredivisie; they also crashed out of the Champions League, not even securing third place after Liege goalie Sinan Bolat’s 95th minute equalizer in their last group game. The current numbers 1 though 3 in the league, though, are still active in the UEFA League, but have all drawn tough opposition. Ajax, especially, will find it difficult to reach the next round after drawing Juventus, in a rematch of the infamous 1996 Champions League final. PSV and Twente will both face tough German competition with HSV and Werder Bremen, respectively.

The winter break, or more specifically the winter transfer period, however, can make or break a Dutch club’s title aspirations – usually break. While foreign clubs try to panic-buy their way out of trouble with the star performers of the Eredivisie, it remains to be seen what the last half of the season will bring.