Helmond Sport - Hometown Glory

Helmond Sport Pre-Season

VVV’s Promes playing against Helmond Sport in their yearly friendly

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Pre-Season Results:


Bouma’s View:
My first steps as a manager were pleasant steps. We had quite a balanced pre-season, with hard and easy matches, but we won all four matches, so also those hard matches. In my opinion, the matches against VVV and Kortrijk were the hardest, but we played well and managed to score a total of six goals. What also pleased me was that we conceded zero goals in those two games. Our new signings Meeuwis and Hendriks were both good in their first matches.

After those two relatively hard matches, we played two easier matches against Belgian amateur sides. I was most pleased with the first result: a 7-2 win against Beringen. We were dominant shots-wise and possession-wise and I felt that that was our best match of the pre-season. But, the two goals we conceded weren’t at all necessary, and that is a point we have to improve on. The last match was one where we also dominated, but we didn’t finish enough chances, resulting in a narrow 2-1 victory.

Helmond Sport: Team Focus

Helmond’s expected line-up for the upcoming season

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Today Voetbal International analyses Wilfred Bouma’s Helmond Sport. In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at Helmond’s starting line-up for the coming season, and all the players that feature in the line-up.

Wout van der Steen (GK)

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A player for the future: this young goalkeeper, only 23 years old, has the potential to become a decent keeper for Eredivisie sides. His strong points are his great reflexes and his great composure at one-on-ones. Van der Steen hasn’t represented the Netherlands in any youth teams, but that is mostly down to the quality of other keepers.

The Dutch keeper came through the youth ranks at PSV, but he was deemed not good enough. In 2006, he joined Helmond Sport, where he was the second goalie for a couple of seasons. Two seasons ago marked his breakthrough, as he played a total of 32 matches in Helmond’s first team. Since then he’s made huge steps forward, and now Eredivisie clubs are after him, but Bouma has already indicated he doesn’t want to sell him.

Charles Kazlauskas (RB)

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One of the most experienced players Helmond Sport has, with 277 games in the Eredivisie and the Jupiler League. Kazlauskas was born in America, but he started his career in Holland, at NEC. For NEC, he only played 11 matches. In 2005 he took a step back and moved from the Eredivisie to the Jupiler League, where he joined FC Oss. 5 years back, Helmond picked him up and he’s been a constant first team player for them every season. The American 30-year-old, who has scored 26 goals in his 277 games, is a player with extraordinary natural fitness and good positioning and off-the-ball qualities.

Ferry de Regt (RCB)

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A prime example of the VVV-Helmond Sport affiliation: De Regt was not a starting eleven player at VVV, so the club decided to sell him to Helmond Sport. Born in Venlo, De Regt has played for VVV almost his whole life before going to Helmond Sport, joining the club from Limburg when he was only 11 years old. The Dutch defender is Bouma’s captain, and it is understandable why: De Regt has played 138 matches, more than half of those in the Eredivisie. The 24-year-old is arguably the best defender Helmond has, due to his good heading and teamwork. De Regt has the potential to be key in Helmond’s fight for promotion this year, both defensively and offensively.

Koen Weuts (LCB)

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The youngest player in Helmond’s back line, but at 22 he has almost played 100 matches in professional football. Weuts is a Belgian player, and he started his career at the Belgian amateur club Lyra. He didn’t make his debut there, but Jupiler Pro League team Lierse picked him up and after they got relegated to the Second Division, he made his debut there. At OH Leuven, his real breakthrough followed, and Weuts played 87 matches in the Second Division and the Jupiler Pro League. Last season, he made the step abroad and moved to Helmond Sport, where he has thus far impressed with his fitness and heading. This means Helmond Sport have two centre-backs – De Regt and Weuts – who are both capable of heading the ball well.

Joey Brock (LB)

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One of Helmond’s few amateur players, Brock is a mentally and physically strong player, who joined the club last summer. The Dutch left-back, who can also play on the right, joined from FC Den Bosch, where he played 39 matches in 2 seasons. Before that, he played at RBC, NEC and Vitesse. But he never made his debut for NEC or Vitesse, so he has never played in the Eredivisie. Challenging Brock for a first-team spot is young and talented Gilian Justiana, but at the moment, Brock is Helmond’s number one at left-back.

Marcel Meeuwis (CDM)

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The first signing Wilfred Bouma made as the Helmond Sport manager is the experienced Dutch midfielder Marcel Meeuwis. Meeuwis, who plays in a deep role on the midfield, has played 20 games in the Bundesliga – for Borussia Mönchengladbach – and he’s also played 157 games in the Eredivisie for respected clubs like Feyenoord, Roda JC and VVV-Venlo. Besides playing in Germany and Holland, Meeuwis played one season for Melbourne Heart, in the Australian A-League. The 32-year-old is a player with great leadership, but he can also be aggressive, resulting in him picking up many, maybe too many, yellow cards.

Arne van Geffen (CM)

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Arguably the biggest talent in the Jupiler League, Van Geffen is only 19 years old, and last year he made his debut for Helmond Sport after three seasons without a game. The Dutch midfielder joined the Jupiler League outfit from affiliate VVV in 2010, where the chances on playing time were slim. Van Geffen quickly developed in Helmond Sport’s youth team, and he impresses with his great fitness and vision. Points he has to improve on are his teamwork and leadership, something every good central midfielder should have.

Marc Koot (RAM)

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Koot is a skillful and quick winger who is only 22 years old, so he has the potential to become an even better player for Jupiler League means. Koot made a name for himself in the Jupiler League at FC Oss, a club he joined after playing amateur football. At FC Oss, he played 49 games in two seasobs, scoring 9 goals but also making attacking moves resulting in dangerous situations. After those two strong seasons at Oss, Helmond snapped him up for free.

Davy Brouwers (CAM)

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One of Helmond’s best players, this playmaker was the club’s top scorer last season, scoring 14 goals in 36 matches. Brouwers is a Belgian player, and 25 years of age. After playing in the Second Division, KRC Genk picked him up, but there he didn’t play a single match in his two seasons at the club. The club let go of him, and he joined Second League club Lommel United. Five seasons and 40 goals later, he joined Helmond Sport, where he is a great player to watch. Brouwers’ strong points are his accurate free kicks and his good work rate.

Stanley Elbers (LAM)

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There’s Koot on the right, and there’s Elbers on the left. They’re both good and pacey wingers, who make Helmond a very strong team on counter-attacks. Besides his pace, Elbers also has great fitness and his first touches are always good. The 22-year-old can also play on the right, but he prefers the left wing. Before joining Helmond last season, Elbers played for Eredivisie side ADO Den Haag. There, he played 20 matches in four seasons, but these appearances were mostly from the bench. The Dutch winger could be one of Helmond’s best players this campaign, together with Davy Brouwers.

Serhat Koç (ST)

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Completing Helmond’s solid attack is 23-year-old striker Koç. The former FC Eindhoven player, who possesses a Turkish and a Dutch passport, joined Helmond Sport last season after a successful spell at FC Eindhoven, where he scored 24 goals in 79 matches. Koç was once a very promising player in his first spell at FC Eindhoven, where he made his debut when he was only 17 years old. He went on to score 19 goals in 47 games, and then he was bought by Eredivisie side FC Groningen. He couldn’t make a mark there though, scoring no goals in 12 appearances. In 2010 he went back to Eindhoven, before going to Helmond 4 years later.

Helmond Sport - Start of a Streak

The four matches Helmond Sport have played.

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A pundit’s View:
Helmond were projected to finish in 9th place, but the form they’re in at the moment, they can definitely challenge for the title. It’s early in the season, but the first impressions of Bouma’s team have been great. He’s turned Helmond into a team that displays good football weekly, but the team has to work on their finishing.

Helmond kicked off their campaign away against Jong PSV, and although the away side won 3-0, Bouma wasn’t really pleased with his team’s performance: “The win was very flattered, as we only created eight clear cut chances. But, as Johan Cruijff once said ‘Every disadvantage has an advantage’: we were unbelievably precise in our finishing, as we scored almost half of our total shots.” Bouma is spot-on with analysis there, because if his team fails to finish as much as against Jong PSV, his team will not have many chances that they can get the goal from.

In the three matches that followed, Helmond continued to display the possession-based, attacking football they showed in their season opener. They also managed to cut down on their amount of yellow cards, as the team “only” picked up 7 in three matches. In the last match of the four, Helmond conceded their very first goal of the campaign, and because Bouma’s team only scored one goal themselves, this meant the first loss of points for the team. But, they’re still top of the table, together with Sparta and RKC, who also have 10 points.

Player Spotlight:
Not contributing many goals (only one goal, albeit a last-minute equaliser against Fortuna), but centre-back Koen Weuts has been the main cause for Helmond’s three clean sheets in their first four matches, with great defensive work in all four matches.

Helmond Sport – Continuing the Streak

The four matches Helmond Sport have played.

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A pundit’s View:
An outstanding month once again for Wilfred Bouma, who hasn’t lost a match as a manager. After managing to stay unbeaten in their first four matches, a fall-back was expected after this run, as everybody thought the football the team played couldn’t be carried through to the next set of matches, but Helmond surprised yet again and they continued playing football that even Barcelona would be jealous of: the team moved around the ball quickly and carefully, and kept possession even under pressure. After they broke through the defensive wall of the opposition, almost every shot went in.

Helmond started off with after a good away win against Sparta, who were 3rd at the time. Key player that match was striker Serhat Koç, who scored twice. Despite a disappointing draw at home against mid-table Telstar after that win, Helmond Sport kept on going and won twice. The first win they got was one in a tricky away match against Jong Ajax, but Bouma’s team won easily and collected another three points. In the 8th match of the season, another away match, Helmond Sport faced FC Den Bosch at stadium De Vliert. Helmond won 4-1, but three of their four goals were scored in the last ten minutes of the matches. Two of these goals came from centre-back Koen Weuts, who has been outstanding for Helmond Sport so far. As a defender, he’s scored four goals so far, the same amount as striker Serhat Koç.

Bouma’s View:
I can’t really believe we’re doing this well in the league! We were expected to finish mid-table, but we’ve already secured a promotion play-off spot due to us winning a Periodetitel*. This has been an awesome start to the season and I’m already looking forward to the play-offs. Maybe we’ll even win the league, but I’m not focusing on that yet, it’s way too early to think about that. We’ll have to maintain the kind of performances of the first eight games, because form can disappear in an instant.

I’m very pleased with our dominating style of play so far, as we’ve had more possession than the opponent in every match so far. But, again, we’ve not created a lot of chances, but almost all of these have led to a goal. This kind of worries me, as our luck in front of goal will eventually end. The other thing that worries me is our aggressive play: we’ve committed a lot of fouls, resulting in 17 yellow cards in 8 games.

*Periodetitel: In the Jupiler League, the season is divided into four equal periods. The winner of one period gets to participate in the play-offs at the end of the season.

Player Spotlight:
Talented Turkish striker Serhat Koç has been very good this month, scoring three goals in four matches. Two of his goals came against Sparta Rotterdam, a match Helmond won 2-1. The former FC Groningen striker didn’t contribute with any assists.