Yesterday Jan van Beveren, a Dutch icon and one of my youth idols died in Houston at the too young age of 63. He was in my eyes the best goalie ever and I have seen many great ones to compare him with. RIP Jan. Your graceful saves will be remembered by those who saw you play.
Rest in peace, the Spindletop Select website has references and pictures of Jan, he must have been the initiative behind it. It has not been updated yet. http://www.spindletopselectfc.com/index.php http://www.soccerway.com/news/2011/June/27/dutch-goalkeeping-legend-dies/ As the soccerway article points out, because of a dispute with Crujiff, van Beveren did not play in the '74 and '78 World Cups, it makes one wonder if they might have won with him there. Also, per history from the book "Brilliant Orange" by David Winter, the Dutch were fortunate to get into the '74 World Cup. Maybe Van Beveren was the goalkeeper in some of those qualifying matches. I'll have to see if the book has much about him. He played a lot in America during the NASL boom. All of those effected are in my thoughts in prayers, he must have been a tremendous person.
RIP, Jan. Too bad that jack@@s, supposed Dutch icon, Cruyff cost you the world cup. You there we win 1974.