She is 27 years old, made her international debut two years ago in the Pro League, scored 15 goals in 23 international matches, but has not played a really big tournament. Until now. In Mönchengladbach, Fay van der Elst will finally make her European Championship debut. And that as the deep striker of Orange.
Two years ago she just sat in the stands at the European Championship in Germany. At the time, she was on a team weekend with Amsterdam and was not yet involved with the Orange. With her teammates she encouraged the Dutch team. Now she is on the field herself. A week and a half ago, she received the redeeming message from national coach Raoul Ehren in the Orange group app. ‘I immediately scrolled to the list. Fortunately, my last name starts with an E, so I saw myself pretty quickly,’ Fay van der Elst says. She had a good feeling about it, but it still felt like a relief. ‘If it’s really true, then that’s just really nice. I’m really looking forward to it.’
Van der Elst has been with the big Dutch team for two years now. In the Pro League, she played 23 games and scored fifteen goals. This European Championship is her first final tournament. She knows exactly what her role is. ‘I am of course a specific player in the team. Really a striker. With the role and position I have, I can focus on finishing. But am also working on my game around it. Playing in the combination but also being in the right place at the right time.’
Cunning, sharp and alert
At first glance, Fay van der Elst is a quiet presence. Sober, calm, modest. But that is only the outside, she stresses to herself. ‘I think I come across as quite relaxed, a bit subdued perhaps. But in the field, on the contrary, I am constantly scanning. Where is the space? When should I strike? I am sharp, alert. And always looking for that one moment.
Pien Sanders, Fay van der Elst and Felice Albers. Photo: Willem Vernes
It typifies her as a striker. Not the kind that fights and drags the whole match. But someone who can make a difference. Preferably with just one touch. ‘Tipping is timing and ball sense. I used to play soccer and tennis and that definitely helped me too. But it’s also just a lot of practice. I practiced it for years in my parents’ garden. Together with my three sisters. I’m the second youngest and my older sisters really didn’t hold back. They were all in field hockey, too. They hit these super-hard balls my way and I had to hit them. You couldn’t really get me happier with that.
‘When you miss, you mow over the ball’
She has to laugh when she thinks back to those days. Acting as a target at the time helped her tremendously. She made it her profession. ‘My best goal in the Dutch national team? I scored it in the Wagener Stadium against Spain. A flat high into the long corner. But it certainly wasn’t the most difficult one. Those are the balls that come over the back line,’ she grins. ‘One that has such a bounce in it. It seems so simple, but it takes so much timing to hit the ball right. And if you miss them, you mow right over the ball. That doesn’t look like it,” she laughs.
Most strikers know exactly how many goals they have scored. They keep meticulous records. But Van der Elst doesn’t. She knows approximately – but also no more than that. She doesn’t measure herself by the number of goals. “Sometimes I’ve struggled through a game and shoot everything in. Or I play well but don’t finish. You depend on a lot. Because of Orange’s dominance in recent years, many opponents will dig in,’ she expects. ‘Then you have to be happy as a striker if you get a chance in a game. And you have to make those then.’
Fay van der Elst. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
But it’s not just positional play and timing. She also depends on her teammates. Everyone has their own preference in how they cross. ‘Felice Albers always comes in over the right. She is fast on the ball, so I have a different timing with that than with, for example, Renée van Laarhoven. She prefers to flatten it in front.’ She prefers to tip a hard cross into the ropes. And then with my backhand. A bit like in the garden. Those always look nice, too.’
Noah Ohio and Kim Lammers
She likes to talk about goals. Especially about her trademark. But when asked which striker she most resembles, she remains silent for a moment. ‘I recently watched an interview with Noah Ohio, during the Dutch Junior European Football Championship. He was not comfortable and was substituted,’ she says. She does not resemble the striker of FC Utrecht, she says, but recognizes the dilemmas. ‘He was quite open. Told about how sometimes things can also not fall your way. Found it fascinating to hear how he dealt with that. how he then dealt with that.’
Photo: WorldSportPics
If she had to name someone, it would be former international Kim Lammers (203 caps, 123 goals). Who taught Van der Elst a lot in the past as an assistant with Amsterdam. ‘She could help me in detail with things. How exactly you could run free. How to jump in front of your defender at the last moment. For example, I often went past them to the right, she said: do it to the left, so that I could then use the right again and the defender didn’t know anymore,’ she shares the tips.
Saturday the European Championship starts for Orange. She’s not in the stands, she’s on the field. Suddenly she has to dive in front of a defender again. She won’t venture a goal prediction, but hopes to maintain her average. “If I can pull my average through, I’ll really be heavily satisfied. Rightfully so, as she has scored well over one goal every two games so far. And that almost exclusively with tip-ins.
