Jasper Cillessen is hopeful that he will return to the Orange squad under national coach Ronald Koeman. The 63-time international asserted himself against his old club Ajax on Sunday with a number of fantastic saves (1-1).
“Of course that’s nice, but that’s what I stand for”, 33-year-old Cillessen modestly opposed ANP. “All those balls apparently came within my reach. But it’s nice that it turned out this way.”
Cillessen was the celebrated man in De Goffert. He was voted man of the match and even received compliments from Alfred Schreuder and Dusan Tadic, Ajax’s trainer and captain. Moreover, NEC’s lucky supporters kept chanting his name.
The goalkeeper was ready for a success. He chose NEC last summer with a view to the World Cup, but Louis van Gaal did not take him to Qatar. The departed national coach preferred Andries Noppert, Remko Pasveer and Justin Bijlow. That hurt Cillessen. A lot of pain.
Cillessen did watch the World Cup matches of Orange. It was also a surprise to him that Andries Noppert defended the goal of the Dutch national team. “But he just did a really good job,” he acknowledged. “So all compliments to Andries.”
Cillessen has not yet put Orange out of his mind. The experienced goalkeeper from Groesbeek hopes that he will get another chance in the national team under the new national coach Ronald Koeman. “I’m still a fan of Orange”, he said.
“I have not spoken to Koeman yet, but I will have a conversation with goalkeeper coach Patrick Lodewijks next week. That is also to see how things have gone in recent months.”
Orange will meet again in March. Then the World Cup quarter-finalist will start the qualifying tournament for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. On March 24, the Orange will face France. Three days later, a home game with Gibraltar awaits.
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