Dennis Bergkamp Fantopic # 2

Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp (born May 10, 1969 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch professional footballer. He formerly played for Ajax Amsterdam, Internazionale, and the Netherlands national football team; he currently plays for Arsenal. Bergkamp plays most of his best games as a support striker, where his tactical awareness and deft passes make him a great exponent of the game from the "hole".

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Club Career
2.1 Ajax Amsterdam
2.2 Internazionale
2.3 Arsenal
3 Netherlands
4 Style of play
5 Others on Bergkamp
6 Aviophobia
7 Personal life
7.1 Honours
7.2 Awards
8 References
9 External links



[edit]
Early life
His parents, who were football fanatics, named him after Manchester United and Scotland striker Denis Law, though they altered the spelling of the name. The Dutch authorities decided that Denis was too similar to "Denise", so Bergkamp's parents settled for Dennis.

[edit]
Club Career
[edit]
Ajax Amsterdam
Bergkamp was brought up through Ajax Amsterdam's famous youth system, joining the club at age 12. He was given his professional debut by coach Johann Cruyff on December 14, 1986 against Roda JC, and went on to make 14 appearances that season. He played as a substitute in the 1987 European Cup Winners Cup final against Lokomotive Leipzig, which Ajax won.

The following season, Bergkamp became a regular for Ajax, winning the Dutch league in 1990, the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the KNVB Cup in 1993. From 1991 to 1993 Bergkamp was top Dutch scorer, and he was voted "Player of the Year" in 1992 and 1993. In all, Bergkamp scored 122 goals in 239 games for his hometown club.

[edit]
Internazionale
In the summer of 1993, Bergkamp and his Ajax team-mate Wim Jonk were signed by Internazionale of Milan . However, his time in Italy was less successful. Although he won a second UEFA Cup in 1994, he found it hard to adapt to the Italian defensive style of play, scoring just 11 times in 50 appearances. Bergkamp's poor form was not helped by his frosty relationship with the Italian press, and indeed some of his teammates.

[edit]
Arsenal
After two unhappy seasons at Inter, Bergkamp was signed by Arsenal boss Bruce Rioch in June 1995 for £7.5m. Bergkamp made his debut against Middlesbrough in August 1995 but had to adapt to the English style of play, and it took him eight games before he managed to score his first goal. Slowly but surely, Bergkamp's stature grew, playing as a forward behind the main striker, Ian Wright, with whom he formed an effective partnership. Bergkamp has been regarded by many football critics such as Alan Hansen as being the greatest foreign player to grace the English game.

Bergkamp hit his best form for Arsenal after the arrival of Arsène Wenger in September 1996. Arsenal won a Premiership and FA Cup double in the 1997-8 season (although Bergkamp missed the cup final with an injury), and Bergkamp was voted PFA Player of the Year. In September 1997 he became the first and so far only player to have come first, second and third in Match of the Day's 'Goal of the Month' competition. He scored 16 times that season, as well as being involved in setting up many more. At the end of that same season, he helped the Netherlands to a fourth-place finish at the 1998 World Cup.

While his form since has not matched the spectacle of that season, Bergkamp continued to be a regular in the Arsenal team. He won the double again in 2002, the FA Cup in 2003 and the Premiership for a third time in 2004. The club's domestic success has not been matched in European competition, the closest to a medal coming when they lost the 2000 UEFA Cup final on penalties.

Bergkamp's arrival at Arsenal was significant, not only as he was one of the first world-class foreign players to join an English club since the lifting of the Heysel ban in 1991, but also because he was a major contributor to the club's return to success after the stagnation of the mid-1990s.

In 2005, due to Arsenal's reluctance in offering him a new deal, there was speculation that Bergkamp would leave the club, and possible football altogether. Bergkamp had said he would retire from football if not offered a new contract with Arsenal for the 2005-06 campaign, despite interest from his former club Ajax. Following Arsenal's penalty shootout victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup Final in Cardiff though, it was revealed he would sign a one-year contract extension, keeping him at the London club for their final season at the Arsenal Stadium at Highbury.

To commemorate Bergkamp's time at Arsenal, on April 15, 2006 Arsenal made their home match against West Bromwich Albion as "Dennis Bergkamp Day". Bergkamp came on as a substitute, setting up Robert Pirès goal and scoring one himself as Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners. As of April 15, 2006, Bergkamp has scored 121 goals for Arsenal in 420 appearances. His first 100 goals can be seen on the Centurions DVD along with 100 goals by Thierry Henry.

Bergkamp will have the honour of being the focus of the first match at Arsenal's new ground, the Emirates Stadium. On 22 July 2006, a testimonial will be played in his honour at the new stadium, with Arsenal playing his old club Ajax.[1]

[edit]
Netherlands
Bergkamp made his international debut for the Netherlands in 1990 against Italy. His first major tournament was Euro 92, where the Dutch were defending champions. Bergkamp impressed (catching the eye of Inter, who would later sign him), but the Dutch lost on penalties in the semi-finals.

Bergkamp also impressed in the 1994 World Cup, playing in all of his side's matches, scoring a spectacular goal against Brazil, a match the Dutch ultimately lost 3-2. Holland disappointed in Euro 96, with the squad riven by in-fighting, although Bergkamp still scored once, and set up Patrick Kluivert's consolatory goal against England that got the side into the quarter-finals.

In the 1998 World Cup, Bergkamp scored three times, the most memorable of which being the winning goal in the final minute of the quarter-final against Argentina. Bergkamp took a leaping first touch to control a long 60-yard aerial pass from Frank de Boer, reverse-flicked the ball past Argentine defender Roberto Ayala, and finally finished by firing a half-volley past the keeper at a tight angle from the right. With three intelligent right-footed touches in a matter of seconds, he was able to turn the game and send his national squad into the semifinal round. This goal was widely regarded as one of the best of the tournament and remains as one of the greatest goals scored in World Cup history for its timeliness and manner of execution.

The Netherlands joint-hosted Euro 2000 and were one of the favourites. After progressing through the "group of death", they lost on penalties to Italy in the semi-finals. Bergkamp didn't score at all during the tournament but still played an important role. After the defeat, Bergkamp announced his retirement from international football, because the next major tournament, the 2002 World Cup, would be played in Japan and South Korea and Bergkamp's aviophobia (see below) would prevent him from travelling there. He did not play the qualification matches, since he thought that it would be unfair to do so; the Netherlands ended up not qualifying at all.

He ended his international career first on the all-time list of goal scorers for the Dutch national team, with 37 goals in 79 games. His record has since been passed by Patrick Kluivert.

[edit]
Style of play
Bergkamp is a striker who stands out more because of the quality of his goals than the quantity. His exceptional calm and control in creating scoring chances has earned him the nickname "The Iceman". Bergkamp has stated that he usually visualizes exactly how he will enact his goal even before the chance comes, so that by then he can do so without looking. Many of the forward's goals can be cited as illustrations of this, but perhaps the two best known examples are the 2002 Premiership Goal of the Season, scored against Newcastle United on March 2, 2002 and his game winning goal for the Netherlands against Argentina in the quarterfinal round of the 1998 World Cup. The goal against Newcastle was voted by the FA Premier League as the second greatest goal of the league's first ten seasons, after David Beckham's lob against Wimbledon in 1996.

Both of these goals showcased the best traits of Dennis Bergkamp the striker: his fine ball control, his sublime first touch, his ability to go past defences through quick thinking and his preference to score (or to set up a goal) from outside the box. Further discussion of the 2002 goal is covered on BBC Sport's website here, and the goal against Argentina can be found in the video archives on the official FIFA World Cup website here.

While it has been wrongly reported in a section of the media that he is a Spurs fan, Bergkamp has time and again denied the charges but has admitted to idolizing Glenn Hoddle since childhood."Maybe I was...maybe I am, a little different from other players. They will tell you that Pele, Maradona, Cruyff are their idols and I will say Glenn Hoddle. Main thing was that I was a big fan of Glenn Hoddle. When you wanted to see Hoddle play you watched Tottenham. People often assume I'm a Spurs fan but it's not true. I was a fan of Glenn Hoddle, not of Spurs", Bergkamp says.

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Others on Bergkamp
In Brilliant Orange (ISBN 0747553106), David Winner's analysis of the way in which Dutch football and Dutch culture blend, the sculptor Jeroen Henneman analyzes the effect of Dennis Bergkamp's passes and how he can split a defence: "It's a miracle. One moment the pitch is crowded and narrow. Suddenly it is huge and wide."

Marco Van Basten has been quoted as saying: "If Ryan Giggs is worth 20 million, Dennis Bergkamp is worth 100 million."[citation needed]

Bergkamp's close control and skill in passing the ball has put him in very high regard by Arsenal's fans, who have given him the nickname "God". Other nicknames given to him by fans included "Dennis the Menace", "the Dutch Master", "Iceman", "Bergy" and "Beavis".

Wenger also said after the 3-1 win over West Bromwich(16-4-2006)"Intelligence and class. Class is of course, most of the time linked to what you can do with the ball, but the intelligence makes you use the technique in an efficient way. It's like somebody who has a big vocabulary but he doesn't say intelligent words, and somebody who has a big vocabulary but he can talk intelligently, and that's what Dennis is all about. What he does, there's always a head and always a brain. And his technique allows him to do what he sees, and what he decides to do."

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Aviophobia
Dennis Bergkamp is also well known for having a fear of flying, which developed after the Dutch squad were involved in an aircraft malfunction whilst on international duty. This gave rise to the nickname the non-Flying Dutchman (a variation on The Flying Dutchman). As such, he is often unable to play in matches Arsenal play outside of England. However, for certain important matches, he will, if required, take a train or drive himself there. The tiring nature of such long journeys from London to Europe (and back) often means he misses domestic matches around European away games. The reason that Bergkamp retired from international football after the 2000 European Football Championship was because the 2002 FIFA World Cup was staged in Asia and it is almost impossible to travel there without flying.

[edit]
Personal life
Dennis Bergkamp is married to Henrita Ruizendaal and has three children, daughters Estelle Deborah and Yasmin and son Mitchel. He is best friends with Marc Overmars.

[edit]
Honours
Dutch Championship 1990.
Dutch Cup 1987, 1993.
European Cup Winners Cup 1987.
UEFA Cup 1992 (Ajax), 1994 (Inter).
English Premiership 1998, 2002, 2004.
English FA Cup 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005.
[edit]
Awards
Dutch Topscorer 1991, 1992, 1993.
Dutch Player of the Year 1992, 1993.
European Footballer of the Year: 3rd place 1993.
English PFA Players' Player of the Year 1998.
English Football Writers Player of the Year 1998.
Goal of the Season Award 1998, 2002.
Arsenal FC Player of the Year 1998.
FIFA Player of the Year: 3rd place 1993, 1997.

Met van Basten Cruijff van Hanegem Rijkaard Gullit Wilkes Rensenbrink en Abe de grootste die we hebben gehad.

We gaan hem nog bewonderen op 17 mei in de EC-1 finale.

Dennis bedankt voor wat je ons hebt laten zien.

Ik ken geen speler die mooiere doelpunten heeft gemaakt.

En wat een geweldige Docu dit uur op Radio-1. Kippenvel met de momenten met Jack van Gelder.

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 april 2006 21:49 schreef fanneke het volgende:
Die Engelse commentatoren. Wat een respect voor onze Dennis!

Ik geniet al een uur man.

De Documentaire blijft genieten.

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 april 2006 21:55 schreef fanneke het volgende:
Nou Cruijff, IK ben blij dat ie in Engeland is blijven hangen hoor.

Ik dacht er ook al aan

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 april 2006 21:56 schreef MissX het volgende:
wat een kippevel docu

Mooi hè ? Hier van gaan velen spijt krijgen dat ze het niet hebben gehoord.

GVD zelden zo'n mooi radioprogramma gehoord.

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 april 2006 22:00 schreef MissX het volgende:

[..]

Prachtig, kan me nog wel herinneren dat ik hem in de Meer heb zien spelen. Voor de mensen die het hebben moeten missen, waarschijnlijk is het vanaf morgen wel terug te luisteren op de NOS site.

Voor iedere voetballiefhebber een must

Ik doe m'n best

quote:

Op zaterdag 29 april 2006 23:00 schreef jna het volgende:

[..]

Waarom lees ik dit nu pas...

Ik heb vroeg genoeg gewaarschuwd

Zou het niet misschien kun je het wel;opvragen