Edwin van der Sar

dementedaffair

Saw this article, some nice comments from Ed.

Addressing a Salford classroom, the Dutchman asked what was the healthiest fish to have for lunch. "Fish fingers,'' came one earnest reply. There is work to be done.

For two hours, Van der Sar encouraged the pupils of Friars School, a well-run, friendly establishment, to think more deeply about fish, eschewing the frozen food variety and particularly the school goldfish nervously doing laps in a nearby bowl. "You're not going to eat that!'' the champions' keeper laughed.

Soon, the children were talking about salmon and tuna, and listening intently as Van der Sar enthused about the salads, Dover sole and broccoli that make up the diet of champions. He answered all their questions, from the esoteric ("what time is it?) to his favourite sport after football ("tennis, but only in the summer'').

He revealed his favourite footballers ("Zinedine Zidane because he was a great player and a very good human being and Rio Ferdinand because he is a good defender)''. Even the lad in the Liverpool top with 'Gerrard' on the back hung on the United man's every word.

Leaving the children chattering about United and the joys of pasta, Van der Sar slipped into the head teacher's office to chew the fat over obesity, Champions League finals, the perils of goalkeeping and who has the harder shot, Wayne Rooney or Paul Scholes.

First on the menu was the importance of sensible eating. "My kids are 10 and eight, so I know how it works,'' Van der Sar said. "When I started at Ajax I was educated about healthy eating, and I try to do that to my children. I am not saying my kids never have a McDonald's, but not too many times. It's important to eat as a family. The children eat with me and my wife and we all eat the same, meat, vegetables and salad, although the children don't eat the salad.''

His eating habits have changed. "The Dutch cuisine is not that well-known for culinary heights! Potatoes, carrots, beetroot! In the morning we always had bread sprinkled with chocolate and white [flakes] ones called 'squashed mouse'. That's different from the English breakfast! Do people eat bacon and eggs every morning? My kids have cereal.''

In a week when football has again attracted bad publicity following the actions of Didier Drogba, David Norris and Chris Morgan, Van der Sar's presence at Friars School was a reminder of the good work many footballers do day in, day out, week in, week out.

This event was organised by the Manchester United Foundation in conjunction with the Premier League's Creating Chances initiative, but footballers like Van der Sar are also involved in unpublicised charity and community projects.

"These are probably not the things that people want to know about you,'' Van der Sar reflected. "They want to know more about what you do on the pitch, and what happens on a Saturday night when people go out. You can do 20 good things, be a good citizen, be a good footballer, but if you do one thing wrong people always remember the mistake.''

Sounds similar to a goalkeeper's lot. Van der Sar nodded. "If you make a mistake, then that can be hard. Being a goalkeeper is not physically that hard, but mentally it is a big thing to keep concentrated. I try to keep organising and talking the whole game, not in a [loud] Peter Schmeichel way, but more in a coaching way. 'Patrice [Evra] – come in a bit'. 'Rio – to the left' or 'man on'.''

With Van der Sar's encouragement Ferdinand has matured, and the pair's communication will be needed today when the infamous long throws of Stoke City's Rory Delap start raining down. "Rio has been getting better and better and is now well-established as a great centre-half for United and England. I am very well protected by Rio and Vida [Nemanja Vidic].''

Now 38, Van der Sar wonders where all the years have gone. It seemed like only yesterday he was keeping a clean sheet as Ajax beat AC Milan in the 1995 Champions League final. "It goes by in a flash. At 24, I thought 'how long will I go on? To 34. Ten years will be fine'.' When I came to 34, I was still enjoying it, still fit, and I wanted to play on.''

This season has not been Van der Sar's best and the English youngster, Ben Foster, undoubtedly presses a claim, but the Dutchman will not be hurried into retirement. "It's the best job in the world,'' he stressed. "But what Ryan Giggs is doing, as an outfield player, is more of an achievement than a goalkeeper. I am happy. The most important thing is to get the credit from the players and manager and that they are happy.''

Smiles adorned every United face in Moscow last May when Chelsea were vanquished in the shoot-out. "I lost a Champions League final on penalties, Ajax against Juventus, so I didn't want to experience that again. That was hard.'' During the penalties, Van der Sar unsettled Chelsea's kickers. "I did my best to get the win. I tried some tricks, sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't.''

Did he have any sympathy when John Terry lost his footing and missed? "Yes but I slipped for the Frank Lampard goal. If I hadn't slipped I would have easily got that. The pitch wasn't great. In extra time, Michael Essien shot and at that moment I slipped. Anywhere, his shot would have been a goal but it went wide.''

Some of Van der Sar's most arduous times in front of goal come in training when Rooney, Scholes and company let fly. "We have nice hard hitters! Scholesy smashes every ball at goal. It's fun. Scholesy hits it harder [than Rooney]. The manufacturers of the ball are not making it easier for goalkeepers. The ball moves everywhere.

"I spoke to a guy who is preparing next year's ball. 'Are you going to make it easier for us?' I asked him. 'No chance!' he said. 'It is probably going to be even quicker than this year's ball.' Every team now has someone who can properly hit the ball. Even a mishit can be dangerous. Everybody can hit a fluke goal nowadays.''

Another peril was being caught by onrushing opponents. "I always try to give respect to opponents and I expect that respect back. I never come in with a silly challenge. It's important to keep it clean.'' From opponents to the scourge of childhood obesity, Van der Sar is ready to meet any challenge.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...-Football.html

He will be missed when he retires, but we do have Ben Foster who should get more chances this season to prove his worth.

tyunited

Good read

MelvinYeo

Genuinely nice man, I remember when Holland beat Sweden in Euro 2004 on pennos he carried his kids onto the pitch. And United are known to do a lot of charity work that goes unnoticed, people such as Gaz if I remember correctly.