Christopher van Huizen gets Lions call-up! Christopher van Huizen?? Not FT!!!

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Sorry huh, I am nota racist. What sort of name is that? An ang moh name for sure. But this guy is Singaporean and looks Malay or Eurasian!

Anybody can enlighten me?


FIRST XI participant Christopher van Huizen gets Lions call-up




SINGAPORE — Just like his runs down the flanks for the LionsXII this season, winger Christopher van Huizen’s star appears to be rising at a sweet clip.

It was just two years ago that he first appeared on MediaCorp’s football reality TV series, The First XI.

Today (Oct 5), the 22-year-old received his first call-up to the national team from national head coach Bernd Stange for the Lions’ upcoming World Cup home qualifiers against Afghanistan (Thursday), and Cambodia (Oct 13).

Describing van Huizen as a “very dangerous player”, Stange reckons that the young man could even score against Singapore’s next two Group E opponents.

“There is no other Singaporean player who is as adept as Van Huizen in playing with both feet,” said the 67-year-old German to reporters at the Lions’ training session at Geyland Training Field today.

Stange also went on to describe how he first noticed Van Huizen, and why it made him unhappy.

“Two years ago, I was very unhappy. I saw a match in The First XI. I identified a player, and his name was Christopher van Huizen,” said the affable German. “I made a cross (on his name), and then I said, ‘Oh no, he is a foreigner’. I’ve been following this guy since then, and look where he is now. What I saw from him — it is exactly what we are looking for … He can take corners well, (deliver) good crosses, (is a) dangerous player, and can score goals. It will take a while, maybe six or seven months, for him to fit into the team. He will grow on the side with Fazrul (Nawaz), Baihakki (Khaizan), Hariss (Harun), and Safuwan (Baharudin).”

Van Huizen has gone from making his debut in the S.League to making his debut for the LionsXII, all in the space of two years.

Following the end of the reality TV show, the ITE College West graduate was signed on by S.League side Tampines Rovers for the 2014 season. His fortunes took a turn, however. He barely figured in the Stags’ first team and was thinking of hanging up his boots at the end of the season when he received a phone call from LionsXII head coach Fandi Ahmad, who signed him as a squad player for this season’s Malaysian Super League campaign.

Since then, Van Huizen’s football stock has been steadily rising.

He’s made 15 appearances for the LionsXII (four starts and 11 substitute appearances) so far this year, and helped the team to capture the Malaysia FA Cup in May. His stats say that he has also scored one goal and made six assists so far.

Today, Van Huizen was the only new face to be included in Stange’s 24-strong squad. And while the young man remains a little dazed, he knows that he will need to make full use of whatever playing time he can get with the Lions.

“Of course, I am still really shocked (to be called up). I expected this to be two, three years down the road. But everything happened so fast,” he said.

“I would say at the start of the season, I didn’t really do very well (for the LionsXII). I’ve been working hard but I was also trying to figure out what I needed to work on.

“Now I know. For example, I need to work on my fitness more. In the past few games, I’d be getting cramps in the 70th minute.

“Now (that I got called up to national team), I need to work harder to earn a place in the first 11.”

A Catholic, Van Huizen said he will pray before the match against Afghanistan to calm his nerves down. “Jesus,” he said when asked what has kept him going all these years, especially when he had contemplated retiring. “I have been praying a lot. My dad too has always been telling me not to give up, because I have already come so far.”



THE SINGAPORE SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Izwan Mahbud, Hassan Sunny, Zaiful Nizam

Defenders: Baihakki Khaizan, Madhu Mohana, Amirul Adli, Shaiful Esah, Shakir Hamzah, Faritz Hameed, Safuwan Baharudin, Nazrul Nazari

Midfielders: Christopher Van Huizen, Yasir Hanapi, Izzdin Shafiq, Zulfahmi Arifin, Hafiz Abu Sujad, Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, Hariss Harun,

Strikers: Khairul Amri, Shahril Ishak, Khairul Nizam, Fazrul Nawaz, Sahil Suhaimi, Faris Ramli

http://www.todayonline.com/sports/fi...inglepage=true





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