Van Leeuwen, 34, had never heard of mixed territory, with athletes speaking to the media after competitions. They probably don’t have that at Sporting Belt, his club from the Benny League. The fact that he can then talk to people from several European countries makes him special. The man still sitting behind a desk on Friday morning in Jilin, as a medical designer of skull implants, enjoys the match as a man a day and a half later. Knowing that he still had to work on Sunday, because that was a condition of his boss to be able to make the trip to Hungary. The laptop was in the trunk of the car.
It sounds like a fairy tale, a miracle, give it a name. Four Orange guards have fallen so far, Van Leeuwen and René de Knegt, who also traveled on Friday, as the fifth and sixth options. Van Leeuwen, who only played an international match in 2009, believes it is easy to integrate into the national team. He knows few men from the past, good communication with Samir Bin Ghanem and Jasper Adams, the two tall men in the cover, comes naturally. With this way, Van Leeuwen reaches a 42 percent stopping percentage (14 stops on 33 shots), every top goalkeeper will sign on immediately.
