Clarence Seedorf A living Legend (Part 3)
Seedorf was born in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, a country located in South America. However, the legendary midfielder’s family shifted to Amsterdam, Netherlands where Seedorf finally grew up as a footballer. Consequently, the midfielder went on to represent Netherlands at the national level.
Despite a plethora of great performances, Clarence Seedorf’s international career may not be considered to be a glorious run. Seedorf appeared in 87 matches for the Netherlands where he managed to score 11 goals. The legendary midfielder was able to play at any position which was given to him, providing a lot of stability to the Dutch national side.
Clarence Seedorf represented Netherlands in Euro 1996. However, he missed the crucial penalty against France in the quarter-finals shootout where Netherland's lost. However, Seedorf wore Oranje in the 1998 FIFA World Cup once again. Seedorf then went ahead to form part of the Dutch National squad for EURO 2000 and EURO 2004. During all these competitions, he failed to give impressive performances for the Oranje.
Clarence Seedorf’s national team career was full of unusual problems on and off the pitch. Seedorf, who came from a black family, became a victim of racism as he along with his teammates Patrick Kluivert, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger and Edgar Davids went on to form a ‘strange’ group with the belief that their present coach Guus Hiddink was favouring white players over black ones.
This particular grouping within the Dutch team cost Netherlands the European Cup in 2000. However, Seedorf failed to perform on many occasions in crucial moments for his team. Seedorf was unable to perform well in big competitions as he missed crucial scoring opportunities, with a long history of underperforming for the Oranje. One of the reasons why Seedorf underperformed was his aggressive behaviour. Many would have suggested that his international career would have been far better if he was less aggressive and rebellious in nature.
This was why Seedorf was dropped from the national team by former Dutch national team coach Marco van Basten, when he was given the coaching role after EURO 2004. Due to his underperformances, he was eventually not selected for the national team squad for FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifiers and FIFA World Cup 2006.
However, after the FIFA World Cup, Clarence Seedorf was recalled to the team for the first time since June 2004. This Milan midfielder was recalled as a replacement for the injured Wesley Sneijder. Seedorf started in a friendly match against England and even played till the end of the match. That match ended in a 1-1 draw. The legendary midfielder won his 87th cap for the Netherlands in 2008.
Seedorf represented the Netherlands in the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Romania at home as well which ended in a 0-0 draw. He then played against Slovenia which ended in a 1-0 away win.
With a career full of awards and laurels, Seedorf is considered to be one of the best midfielders of all times. Beside his problems with the Netherlands national team, Seedorf was named as the Dutch Talent of the Year on two occasions in 1993 and 1994. Moreover, Seedorf was also included by Pele in the list of 125 greatest living footballers of all times.
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