101 Great Goals #34 - John Goossens
It's not very often that my adopted Dutch club, NEC Nijmegen, appear above the radar. They are the very definition of 'mid table mediocrity' - sitting in the middle of the Eredivisie every single year, doing absolutely nothing whatsoever.
To include a goal that earned them a 1-1 home draw against ADO Den Haag also sounds like the dullest thing in the world, but this particular piece of brilliance from ex-Ajax kid John Goossens deserves to shine a light on the club. Click to continue reading...

It is one of the more quiet Sundays in recent memory in the soccer world, but even on a slow day there are plenty of matches to watch.

The Under-20 World Cup is in full swing, while leagues from Italy to France round out their weekend's schedules. Americans Abroad are in action as well, with Oguchi Onyewu hoping to get some first-team league action with AC Milan and Carlos Bocanegra looking to help Rennes stop mighty Bordeaux.

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Colorado Rapids have added Scottish midfielder Jamie Smith to their playing roster for the expense of former Manchester United player Terry Cooke. Smith joins the Rapids following an extensive professional career abroad. The 28-year olds career began in Scotland with Celtic FC followed by stints with Dutch side ADO Den Haag and most recently Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen FC.

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From the Colorado Rapids Front Office, the team announced two roster moves today, as the team has signed Scottish midfielder Jamie Smith. Per club and league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. In another roster move, Colorado waived midfielder Terry Cooke. Click to continue reading...

Terry Cooke delivers one of his signature crosses from the right wing on July 4 against the Chicago Fire at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Cooke was waived by the Rapids on Tuesday. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

The Colorado Rapids have waived midfielder Terry Cooke to make room on the roster for Scottish midfielder Jamie Smith.

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So, on the topic of club crests: Apparently I'm not the only person who spends time staring at people's chests. (It's okay for me, though. I'm female. You, on the other hand, should probably watch yourself.) Congratulations to our Gold Medal performer, Peter Katsiris, and thanks to everybody for playing. Click to continue reading...

Henk Fräser (42) played six games for Oranje. Now, he was a successful youth coach at Feyenoord, went to be the assistant coach at ADO Den Haag and has recently signed as youth coach again at PSV. "I never really was at ease at Oranje..." Fraser sees opportunities for Oranje Click to continue reading...

A huge congratulations today to Louis van Gaal's AZ Alkmaar side who yesterday became the Dutch Eredivisie champions. They suffered a surprising 2-1 defeat to Vitesse on Saturday, but Ajaz's failure to ebat PSV yesterday (they were hammered 6-2) handed AZ only their second ever league title.
They are actually the only team outside the Netherlands' "big three" (PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord) to win the top flight title since 1964 (AZ themselves won it in 1981) although they have been there or thereabouts for three out of the last four seasons. Click to continue reading...

During my trip to Holland a few weeks ago I noted with interest, if not surprise, that almost every decision by the referee or linesman was greeted with a barrage of missiles (coins, lighters etc) thrown by the home support.Now the mighty ADO Den Haag have a reputation for being a bit crazy but speaking to people in Holland and watching a bit of football there and here it seems to me that this is Click to continue reading...

Hamstrung Originally uploaded by scottishfootballblog You can check out some of the pictures from the match at the Scottish Football Blogs new flickr pages. Click to continue reading...

Hamstrung Originally uploaded by scottishfootballblog You can check out some of the pictures from the match at the Scottish Football Blogs new flickr pages. Click to continue reading...

ADO's Lucky CharmsADO Den Haag 1:1 NAC Breda21st February 2009The Hague There are a couple of things you should bear in mind before visiting ADO Den Haag.Firstly, take some form of ID. They will insist on photocopying your passport or driving licence with your ticket. I didn't have any, obviously, and had to beg to be let in. Click to continue reading...

ADO's Lucky CharmsADO Den Haag 1:1 NAC Breda21st February 2009The Hague There are a couple of things you should bear in mind before visiting ADO Den Haag.Firstly, take some form of ID. They will insist on photocopying your passport or driving licence with your ticket. I didn't have any, obviously, and had to beg to be let in. Click to continue reading...

Marco Van Basten is discovering the difficulties and challenges that come with day-to-day club management the hard way. Ajax were unable to break Heerenveen's unbeaten home record as they wilted to a 5-2 defeat.
Within eight minutes, Ajax were staring down the barrel of defeat as goals from veteran striker Gerald Sibon and Roy Beerens placed Heerenveen in an excellent position which they retained for the remainder of the match. Click to continue reading...

PSV won, Feyenoord won.... AZ lost again. Louis van Gaal had the worst season last year with his team, but decided to stay on because he still saw potential. This season, he has lost the first two games already, yesterday against newcomer ADO Den Haag (Goose is drunk, no doubt). Van Gaal Click to continue reading...

Fred Rutten isn't the only new Dutch manager in the Bundesliga, as ex-Tottenham Martin Jol took over the reigns of Hamburg earlier this month. It's been nearly 30 years since Jol's last appearance in Germany. He made 9 appearances for Bayern Munich as a midfielder in 1978/79 before returning to the Netherlands [. Click to continue reading...