Oranje Still My Team

Manchester United shot stopper Edwin van der Sar retired from international football after Euro’08, but is making a brief return to Oranje for the matches against Iceland and Norway.Van der Sar made way for Maarten Stekelenburg after Euro’08, and the Ajax man was the starting goalie in Holland’s latest internationals. However, Stekelenburg will be sidelined for a while following a shoulder injury. 

With normal back up Henk Timmer having some injury trouble, too, Holland boss Bert van Marwijk opted to ask Van der Sar to make a brief return in Oranje in order to help them out in the emergency situation. 

“I was really surprised when Van Marwijk contacted me,” said the Manchester United man to De Telegraaf. “I had to discuss it with my wife, the rest of the family and with Sir Alex before making a decision.” 

“I understood the difficulty of the situation with two injured shot stoppers and the importancy of the two upcoming qualifiers for Oranje,” continued Van der Sar. 

“It still feels like my team and they grabbed a good result in the away match against Macedonia.” 

“My comeback is only for the next two matches, because Maarten [Stekelenburg] is a worthy successor. He just needs to play more international matches to gain more experience and improve even more,” concluded the 37-year-old.