Sherida Spitse is asked before every tournament whether it will be her last trick. The answer from the record international is also no for the World Cup. A conversation about criticism, extra training and her future. “I don’t feel like I’m trailing behind.”
Yes, she is 33 years old. And yes, she is the oldest player of the Dutch team. “But we have several people who are 30 years old or older. I feel like it’s always just about me,” says Spitse a month before the World Cup in a hotel in Horst aan de Maas.
Just before her seventh final tournament, Spitse knows that the questions will come again when she takes a seat at a table with three journalists. Is this your last tournament? Can you still come? What do you think of the youth? And how do you view the criticism?
That started at the 2019 World Cup, two years after she had helped the Orange to the European title with her golden right leg. Since then, it’s been a tightrope walk for the “mother,” as she’s nicknamed on the team — she’s balancing the fine line between praise and criticism.
Never write off the record international of the Netherlands (216 international matches), Spitse wants to say during the 28-minute long conversation. Just look at the facts: under the new national coach Andries Jonker, she was given the captain’s armband again, she won the competition of promise Damaris Egurrola and becomes a basic player at the World Cup.
Reason enough for NU.nl to join Spitse. It resulted in a candid conversation, in which the Ajax player does not shy away from a question. She answers measuredly, but honestly and routinely. With the conclusion that she is even interested in a foreign adventure.
Your seventh final tournament already.
“Yes, isn’t it normal? I sometimes think about it, especially when I’m on vacation. So I’ve been with Orange for half my life. I was 16 years old when I started and I’m now 33 years old. I sometimes think : I just did it anyway. Or just… not even. But I did it.”
Does this feel like your last trick?
“No, not at all. I often get that question: is this your last tournament already? Nope. I’m far from done with the game. I still like it. If I’m fit and keep enjoying it, “Why shouldn’t I be able to play for at least two more years? That also depends on how my body recovers. I can’t say it yet. But I don’t think this is my last trick. No, not at all.”
Stefanie van der Gragt will retire after the World Cup, Kika van Es has retired. Two players from the golden generation. Does that do anything to you?
“It’s a shame, but unfortunately that happens in football. It also makes sense. But I will certainly miss them.”
Do you apply such a thing to yourself?
“No. It’s not that I think: should I go and see if I should stop? Not at all. I feel fit, I still like the game. I can still join. If I get the feeling that I am completely behind, then I have to stop. But I don’t have that feeling at all now.”
Cv Sherida Spitse
Date of birth: 29 mei 1990
Position: defender/midfielder
International: 216 (44 goals)
Clubs: sc Heerenveen (2007-2012), FC Twente (2012-2014), LSK Kvinner FK (2014-2017), FC Twente (2017-2018), Valerenga (2018-2020), Ajax (2021-present)
Honor roll: European champion (2017), World Cup silver (2019), national titles with FC Twente (2013, 2014), LSK Kvinner (2014, 2015, 2016, 2020) and Ajax (2023)
“Yes, training, training. I have not had any injuries. I am now knocking that off right away. I leave a lot for it. I am constantly thinking about how I can challenge myself to get fitter again. I will never become a completely different type of player, but I can get fitter. If you compare me now to 2017, I am fitter. The game has also changed. I will have to go along with it. I cannot pass a ball around calmly. The level is gone up.”
Fenna Kalma said that as a player from the Eredivisie she always had to take a step in the Dutch national team.
“That is true. I have played a lot of international matches, so I know what the international level is. I can pull myself up to it. At the club I sometimes have to do something else because I want to continue playing here. I trained last season more on explosiveness, for example. As you get older, the explosive has to stay in. That’s why I sometimes did not participate in an exercise at Ajax, to be able to practice separately with a trainer.”
Has national coach Andries Jonker here played a role?
“He did trigger me, yes. He often challenges me and asks a lot of us. I wish there were more trainers like that. I had hoped that I had encountered these types of trainers earlier in my career.”
Is there nothing in you that thinks: I could have stood along the line as a trainer?
“I don’t have that. My ambition is to become a trainer, but not yet. I have already obtained my first two trainer diplomas, but I cannot go for the second highest diploma yet, because you always have to be present for that . And if I want something, I want to do it 100 percent well. I have that mentality in my sport, but also in addition. But I never think: I really don’t feel like it today. Never!”
Sherida Spitse prepares for her seventh final tournament. Photo: Getty Images
What are the nice moments that make you want to keep going?
“That you can train again, be on the field with a group and mainly play the matches. That’s what it’s really about and there is also pressure involved. I like it.”
Is it never boring, seventeen years of training? Don’t you ever have the idea for a day: today is not necessary?
“I really don’t have that. I really enjoy doing it.”
How do you stay so fresh in your head?
“It is important to switch off, but I find that difficult. The first week of my holiday towards the World Cup I thought about nothing. Fortunately, I have the distraction of my wife (Jolien, ed.) and children (Jens and Mila, ed.). I used to be pissed off after a defeat. But when I come home… Those kids can’t help it.”
“Jens sometimes says: ‘You have to stop with that stupid football, because you are just gone’. He says it out. ‘But mom will play football for a few more years and then I will have all the time for you’, I say. Dan understands he does it too, but it is sometimes difficult. But I am a real go-getter, I always keep going. That has brought me to where I am now. “
Sometimes I think: I’m going to show you again.
Sherida Spitze
“Very honest: no. I already got that question during the previous World Cup. Then I also had to leave. I was not good enough, too slow. But then I sat next to Sarina (Wiegman, the then national coach, ed.) at the press conference. ) and I said, ‘I don’t give a shit what you all think’.”
“They asked Sarina if that’s the case. You can say it, but it has to be that way. She said I don’t care. I deal with my players and staff. I’m glad you’re here Yes, positive and negative, it’s all part of it.”
Are you irritated by criticism?
“Sometimes yes. Then I think: I’m going to show it again. But it’s not that I do other things because of it. I think we shouldn’t look so much at ages. I mainly look at the quality of players.”
“Of course you have to select once, you have to look to the future. But quality always comes first. Whether it is someone who is forty or someone who is twenty. The national coach also says that.”
The highlight of Sherida Spits in her long career: the European title in her own country in 2017. Photo: Getty Images
Do you already feel youth panting down your neck?
“No, I don’t have that feeling. It’s because I’m confident. I can’t control whether or not I’m in it, but I can control myself. I do my very best to be there.”
The national coach recently said that veterans train as if it were their first World Cup.
“No matter how many tournaments we have played together, we are very hungry. Because we like the game so much and are also proud to play for the Dutch national team. We are an example for many girls. They will have to do at some point.”
Do you think a lot about the future? You have a contract with Ajax until 2025.
“I want to keep playing football and I still have ambitions to go abroad. After the World Cup I will think about how I see things. What can I still do? What do I still want? I’m having a good time at Ajax, but I want to be myself continue to challenge. I have achieved what I wanted to achieve again. Another prize won with a club (Ajax won the national title, ed.). Now what?”
Is money a driving force in the last phase of your career?
“I never did it for that, otherwise I would have made different choices for this. It would be a nice extra. I think England is interesting. The clubs are close to each other in terms of level and there are many good players. The age is there is also slightly higher than in the Netherlands. The Eredivisie now sometimes feels like an education competition.”
“Yes, enough?” Spitse smiles at the three journalists. “There you go, no problem!”
2023-07-20 03:18:30
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