Every day this week in the section ‘As green as grass‘ we dig into our archives, looking for the first flashes of class in the current generation of internationals, then still with a young head. In this fourth installment: Kampong midfielder Eline Jansen. As a player of Kampong MB1, she claimed the lead role in the 2020 NK Zaal final, against Rotterdam MB1. With two goals and two assists.
The current ten-time international will only be fifteen years old on February 8, 2020, during the NK Zaal. But the few thousand spectators in the Topsportcentrum in Rotterdam notice very little. The small midfielder stands out – figuratively speaking – head and shoulders above the rest.
First she takes the reigns with the 1-0, halfway through the first half. At the head of the circle she stands like a marksman ready to fire the ball at the Rotterdam goal. But instead she gives the ball a subtle tap to the left. She serves her teammate Femmy van Raalten, who unerringly shoots Kampong into the lead.
But after that she really shows what she is made of. Even before halftime, when Kampong is still leading 1-0, she receives the ball in the Rotterdam half, just over the halfway line. She has a few meters of space in front of her, enough to come into her own. Only two Rotterdam defenders stand between her and the goal. Jansen smells blood. She dives into the gap and storms toward the most central defender.
(Click on the video and you can immediately see how fifteen-year-old Eline Jansen completes a solo)
With a delicious dribble she shows how great her talent is
What follows is a delicious dribble. Crisscrossing, the top talent crosses the field. First she goes to her backhand. Then, with a few firm steps, she pulls out with her forehand anyway. Suddenly she comes to a stop and puts the ball in front of her backhand. Only to immediately turn back to her forehand. The poor defender is now completely lost.
That is the moment Jansen strikes. Sophisticatedly, she turns inward with half a turn, freeing herself from the defender on her neck. Now she has the space to shoot. A perfect chance, twenty centimeters inside the circle. With her backhand she slides the ball in gently, but hard enough: 2-0.
In the bottom row, Eline Jansen sits on the far right. Photo: Koen Suyk
Two goals, two assists
After halftime, when Kampong had cashed in on 2-1, Jansen throttles again. With the speed of a whirlwind, she slaloms past not one, not two, but three defenders. As if they are simply not there. Then follows the pass, exactly on target, to teammate Femmy van Raalten. She slides in the 3-1.
Yet the game is not yet played. Rotterdam refuses to give up and comes back to 3-2. The crowd holds its breath, but then Jansen gets on her hips again. On intuition she conquers the ball on the center line. She accelerates, passes a defender in one fluid motion. And then, calmly, she slides the ball into the empty goal: 4-2.
The national title is in. Thanks to the player who will make her debut in the Dutch national team five years later.
Also read from this series:
by Hockey.nl
