Euro 2008: Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt, officially spelled Dirk Kuijt^[1] (pronunciation (help·info)), (born 22 July 1980, in Katwijk aan Zee) is a Dutch professional football player, who currently plays for English club Liverpool FC. He plays mainly in the position of striker but now is often deployed as a winger. He is renowned for his work-rate. In his early career, and often for the Dutch national team, Kuyt played on the wing.

Kuyt missed only five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006, making 233 appearances.^[2] Between March 2001 (playing with FC Utrecht) and April 2006 (Feyenoord) Kuyt played 179 consecutive matches.

For the Netherlands national football team he has played at Germany 2006 and Euro 2008.

Biography

Kuyt is the third of four children. He grew up in the fishing village of Katwijk aan Zee, where his father was a fisherman.^[2]

Career

Club career

His football career began when he joined the local amateur team Quick Boys at age 5. He broke into the first team in March 1998, playing the last six games of the season, and catching the eye of Eredivisie team FC Utrecht.^[2] Kuyt still regularly visits Katwijk and his old club Quick Boys, who benefited from a GB£ 300,000 windfall as a result of the player's move to Liverpool.^[3]

Utrecht

Kuyt signed professionally for Utrecht that summer, aged 18, and immediately established himself in the first team. However he was more often than not played as a winger, as Utrecht preferred to play Serbian Igor Gluščević up front.

This continued until the 2002–03 season when Utrecht installed Foeke Booy as their new manager. Booy played Kuyt as a striker / attacking midfielder (behind the striker) for the entire season, and Kuyt repaid him with 20 league goals. Utrecht also reached the Dutch Cup final, where they met Feyenoord. Although they were the underdogs Utrecht comfortably won the cup 4–1, with Kuyt scoring one and being given the man-of-the-match award. At the end of the season Kuyt completed a €1 million move to Feyenoord Rotterdam, where he replaced the out-going Pierre Van Hooijdonk.

Feyenoord

At Feyenoord, Kuyt immediately became a fan's favourite with his continued goal scoring success. His first season saw him net another 20 league goals. The opening game of the 2004–05 season marked Kuyt's first ever hat-trick against De Graafschap. He later went on to score three in the 6–3 victory against ADO Den Haag and ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 29 goals — a career high.

In 2005 Kuyt was handed the Feyenoord club captaincy and went on to have a third successful season with the club, scoring 25 goals in all competitions.

Over the summer of 2006 Kuyt was again linked with moves to many top English clubs, most notably Liverpool and Newcastle. Rumours started in May with Dirk Kuyt stating "I am happy at Feyenoord but I would like to play in the Premier League."^[4] Kuyt completed a move to Liverpool on 18 August for an undisclosed fee.

Liverpool

Upon joining Liverpool, Kuyt stated "I only wanted to leave Feyenoord for a really big club, and that is what Liverpool are. They are a fantastic, big club and it will be a real pleasure to play here."^[5]

After sitting out the first game Kuyt made his Liverpool debut as a substitute against West Ham on 26 August. His first start came against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and he has been first choice in most games since. In his third start for the club on 20 September 2006 Kuyt scored his first goal against Newcastle United in a Premiership game at Anfield,^[6] and followed up with another against Tottenham Hotspur in the next game. He scored his third goal for Liverpool with his father watching the game at Anfield, contributing to Liverpool's 3–1 win over Aston Villa. Two weeks later he bagged a brace, as the only scorer in the Reds' 2–0 victory against Premiership newcomers Reading.

Kuyt has won much praise for his early performances, with The Mirror stating: "The Dutch striker has the look of a cult hero in the making"^[7] and The People reporting that he is "propelling himself towards iconic status."^[8] One of the reasons for his early popularity is his post match courtesy to the fans. After each match he walks to every corner of the ground, and applauds the Liverpool supporters.

On January 20, 2007, Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring against Chelsea after only 4 minutes after a Peter Crouch flick-on. Liverpool went on to defeat the champions 2–0. It was the first time Rafa Benitez had defeated Jose Mourinho in the Premiership. It was also the first goal scored by Liverpool against a top four club in the league in the 2006-07 season. Kuyt moved his league-goal tally into double figures by scoring the first goal in the game against West Ham on 30 January 2007.

Kuyt played a key part in Liverpool's penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in the semi-finals of the 2006-07 Champions League. Firstly in extra-time he had a goal disallowed for offside from Xabi Alonso's strike. Kuyt also scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out, and scored a consolation goal in their 2–1 defeat to AC Milan in the final.

He bagged his first goals of the 2007–2008 season in Liverpools 4–0 victory over Toulouse FC in their 3rd round qualifying encounter at Anfield on 28 August 2007.

Kuyt scored two penalties against Everton in the Merseyside derby to give Liverpool the edge and win 2-1.

Despite his promising first season and start to his second, Kuyt failed to score in 13 games for Liverpool, before netting against Barnsley in the fifth round of the FA Cup. This goal drought has led his endless running and high work rate's effectiveness to come into question.

However on 19 February 2008, Kuyt made an incredible contribution in reviving Liverpool's hope of winning any silverware by scoring the first goal in the first leg of the round of 16 of the 2007-08 Champions League against favourites Inter Milan. The end result was 2-0 for Liverpool on a dramatic European night with skipper Steven Gerrard netting the second.

Kuyt has been recently employed as a right winger, setting up two of Fernando Torres's goals against West Ham in March 2008. Recently Kuyt has been included in the team again, on 2 April 2008, Kuyt scored an equalising goal against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium.

On April 22, 2008, in the first leg of the Champions League all-English semi-final against Chelsea at Anfield, Kuyt scored the opening goal just before half time, making the most of a mistake from Chelsea's Claude Makelele then putting through the legs of Chelsea keeper Petr Čech. However, Liverpool went on to draw the match 1-1 with John Arne Riise scoring a late own goal. In the second leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea advanced to the first all-English Champions League final where they were beaten by Manchester United on penalties.

International career

When Marco van Basten took over as coach of the Dutch national team he dropped many established players, including strikers Roy Makaay and Patrick Kluivert. Kuyt was to benefit as in September 2004 he made his international debut in Van Basten's first game against Liechtenstein. He has been a permanent fixture in the Dutch squad ever since, making the starting line-up for eleven of the Netherlands' twelve 2006 World Cup qualification matches.^[9]

2006 World Cup

At the 2006 World Cup, Kuyt found himself relegated to the substitutes bench. Although he made an appearance as a 69th minute replacement in the first game against Serbia and Montenegro, he sat the entire second game out. With the team already qualified for the next round Van Basten decided to rest many of his first choice players for the final group game against Argentina,^[10] and Kuyt was handed a start in the right wing position.

For the Netherlands' Round of 16 tie against Portugal, Kuyt was given a surprise start ahead of star-striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. However, Kuyt did not have a successful game and the Netherlands eventually lost 1–0 in a game that was more reputable for its record breaking disciplinary record (4 red cards and 16 yellow cards).^[11]

Euro 2008

In more recent games, Kuyt has not been called up, with coach Van Basten increasingly turning to Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. However, Kuyt was selected for the preliminary Dutch squad for Euro 2008. He played in the opening match, a 3-0 victory over Italy, his most notable act being the header that provided the link between Giovanni van Bronckhorst's crossfield pass and Wesley Sneijder's Dennis Bergkamp-like goal to make it 2-0 on 31 minutes.

Personal life

Kuyt's wife Gertrude has found favour in the Dutch media for her down-to-earth attitude. She continued to work as a nurse in an old people's home after marrying Kuyt until their daughter, Noelle, was born. She now runs a charitable foundation she set up with Kuyt to help disadvantaged children in Dutch inner cities and third world countries. ^[3]. The couple now have a son Roan, born 11 April 2007.^[12]

Kuyt's father died of cancer on June 29, 2007. Kuyt's brother also died of cancer aged just 21. Kuyt is reported to give a generous portion of his weekly wage to cancer charities.

He has now adapted his goalscoring celebration in aid of his father and brother by looking up to the sky after sliding on his knees.

Statistics

Career honours

References

^ "Kuijt" is the original Dutch way of spelling his surname, however the British media have come to use "Kuyt" in an attempt to make his name more easily pronounceable in English. In Dutch, the letters 'i' and 'j' in succession can also be written as 'y', making 'y' and 'ij' interchangeable. See IJ (digraph).
^ ^a ^b ^c Detailed stats and profile of Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt. Article on LFChistory.net. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.
^ ^a ^b He's a star, no doubt. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
^ Kuyt reveals Liverpool approach. Article on BBC Sport. Retrieved on 24 May 2006.
^ Kuyt: I can handle 'big club' pressure. Article on FOX Sports. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
^ Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle. Match report on BBC Sport. Retrieved on 21 September 2006.
^ Liverpool 3-0 Tottenham. Match report in The Mirror. Retrieved on 26 September 2006.
^ Kuyt shows killer touch to win the hearts of Anfield. Match report in The People. Retrieved on 26 September 2006.
^ 2006 World Cup Game Log. Profile on ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
^ Holland 0-0 Argentina. Match report on BBC Sport. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
^ Portugal 1-0 Holland. Match report on BBC Sport. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N155623070416-1303.htm

Persondata
NAME	Kuyt, Dirk
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kuyt, Dirk
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1980-7-22
PLACE OF BIRTH	Katwijk aan Zee, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

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