Sunday, September 18, 2011

Dennis Bergkamp


Dennis Bergkamp Movie

Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp (Dutch pronunciation: ( listen); born 10 May 1969),is a former Dutch professional footballer who is currently the assistant manager to Frank de Boer at Ajax. At club level he played for Ajax, Internazionale, and Arsenal, and also represented the Netherlands at international level. Bergkamp played most of his best games as a support striker at Arsenal, where his tactical awareness and deft passes made him a great exponent of the game from the 'hole'. He was selected by Pele as one of the FIFA 100 greatest living players and is widely regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest players. In 2007 he was inducted into the FIFA Hall of Fame, the first and thus far only Dutch player ever to receive the honour. He has also finished third in the FIFA World Player of the Year award twice finishing behind Zidane & Ronaldo each time.
Born in Amsterdam, Bergkamp was brought up through Ajax's famous youth system, joining the club at age 12. He was given his professional debut by coach Johan Cruyff on 14 December 1986 against Roda JC, and went on to make 14 appearances that season. He played as a substitute in the 1987 European Cup Winners Cup final against Lokomotive Leipzig, which Ajax won. Dennis Bergkamp had a famous nickname with his teammates they called him Dennis "the van man" Bergkamp.

The following season, Bergkamp became a regular for Ajax, winning the Dutch league in 1990, the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the KNVB Cup in 1993. From 1991 to 1993 Bergkamp was top scorer in the Eredivisie, and he was voted Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1992 and 1993. In all, Bergkamp scored 122 goals in 239 games for his hometown club.
In the summer of 1993, Bergkamp was signed by Internazionale for £12 million alongside his Ajax team-mate Wim Jonk. This made him the second most expensive player in the world at the time, second only to Gianluigi Lentini.

However, his time in Italy was less successful. Although he won a second UEFA Cup in 1994, he found it hard to adapt to the Italian style of play, scoring just 11 times in 50 appearances. Bergkamp's poor form was not helped by his frosty relationship with the Italian press, and indeed some of his teammates. He was so unpopular at the club, that the Italian sports media, renamed their "donkey of the week" award (handed to the worst player that week) to the "Bergkamp of the Week" award.
After two unhappy seasons at Inter, Bergkamp was signed by Arsenal boss Bruce Rioch in June 1995 for £7.5 million. Bergkamp made his debut against Middlesbrough on 20 August 1995 but had to adapt to the English style of play. It took him seven games before he finally managed to score his first goal, against Southampton. Slowly but surely, Bergkamp's stature grew, playing as a forward behind the main striker, Ian Wright. They soon formed a strong partnership which was one of the finest in the Premier League. Bergkamp has been regarded by many football pundits such as Alan Hansen as being the greatest foreign player to grace the English game.
Bergkamp's arrival at Arsenal was significant, not only as he was one of the first world-class foreign players to join an English club since the lifting of the Heysel ban in 1990, but also because he was a major contributor to the club's return to success after a brief period of mediocrity in the mid-1990s.

Bergkamp hit his best form for Arsenal after the arrival of Arsène Wenger in September 1996. Arsenal won an FA Premier League and FA Cup double in the 1997–98 season (although Bergkamp missed the cup final with an injury), and Bergkamp was voted PFA Player of the Year. In September 1997, he became the first and so far the only player to have come first, second and third in Match of the Day's Goal of the Month competition, for a 2 goals from his hat trick against Leicester City and a goal against Southampton (Not as widely credited for all 3 goals of his hat trick against Leicester City).
He scored 16 times that season, as well as being involved in setting up many more. At the end of that same season, he helped the Netherlands to a fourth-place finish at the 1998 World Cup. In that competition, he scored one of the greatest goals of all time in a quarter final win against Argentina, after receiving a 60 yard pass from Frank de Boer. During the 2001/02 campaign, Bergkamp once again scored a truly memorable goal that would go on to win Premier League Goal of the Season. On 3 March 2002, Arsenal took on Newcastle in a league encounter. With just 10 minutes on the clock, Robert Pires sent in a low pass from the left flank to Bergkamp standing on the edge of the opponent area with his back to goal. With an ingenious flick of the ball with the inside of his left foot, he dumbfounded defender Nikos Dabizas who was marking him tightly. He swiveled the other way, brushing the defender aside, and coolly slotting the ball past an onrushing Shay Given.
While his subsequent form did not match the spectacle of that season, Bergkamp continued to be a regular in the Arsenal team. He won the double again in 2002, the FA Cup in 2003 and the Premier League for a third time in 2004. The club's domestic success was not matched in European competition, the closest to winners' medals coming when they lost the 2000 UEFA Cup final to Galatasaray on penalties and the 2006 Champions League final loss to Barcelona; Bergkamp traveled overland to Paris for his competitive farewell, only to be an unused substitute.

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