De Nooijer hopes to repeat World Cup success

New Delhi: Four-time FIH World Player of the year Teun de Nooijer has a date with destiny. Having won the World Cup once before — at home in Utrecht, way back in 1996 — he's now hoping to double his tally at the Hero Honda World Cup in New Delhi.

Now 34, de Nooijer has been the dominant player in the game for over a decade now. Having made his debut in 1994, he is also the world's longest-serving player and holds the record for number of appearances with 416 caps.

It's been a stellar career, where the Dutch legend has everything the game has to offer, including two back-to-back Olympic gold medals, four champions trophy titles and a European Nations Cup gold. But he's still hungry for more.

"Two World Cup titles are twice as good as one, isn't it?'' he asks disarmingly. He is also aware that time is running out, so while he is still fit and playing as well as ever, he knows that it would be unrealistic to expect to play another world cup in four years' time.

Different roles

"My best memory yet has been winning the World Cup at home. It was a great feeling to perform and win in front of friends and family. But that was at the start of my career,'' he says. "Who knows, if I win here, it might be even more special.''

De Nooijer has had several different roles. Starting out as an out-and-out striker, the curly-haired player from Egmond aan den Hoof in the north of Holland took on a more creative role under former coach Roelant Oltmans.

Shifting to midfield, he pulled the strings and created space for the Dutch forwards to score. It was in this position that he won most of his World Player of the Year awards.

Restored

Now though, with his former Bloemendaal club coach Michel van den Heuvel in charge of the Dutch side, he has been restored to his original position at the head of the attack.

Asked to choose between creating goals and scoring them, the Dutch skipper would like to have his cake and eat it too: "I enjoy making goals for others. It's a great challenge and very satisfying. On the other hand, nothing compares to scoring,'' he says.

One thing's for sure. If de Nooijer is on the top of his game, the Dutch will be a mighty good bet to win the Hero Honda World Cup.