Benjamin Van Den Broek (Koninklijke HFC | Netherlands)

I think that is the type of team that Hudson wants to put out. As much as I like the attacking intent I really wonder if room can be found for rojas, Thomas, Kosta and Wee Mac all in the same side. I think that for the balance of the team, one of them has to be swapped for another defensive midfielder (likely Kosta)

Kosta in much better form that Rojas...

Yeah, until Rojas strings a bunch of games together - Kosta will probably be ahead of him

just been interviewed on radiosports "the good chaps". Very Dutch sounding but sounds like he's very exited to play for the AWs said he was honoured. Basically his Mum mentioned that he could get a NZ passport through her ( she lived here) and he'd applied and needed a kiwi witness to sign off on it so asked Ryan Thomas. He said he knows Kris Bright from his Shrewsbury days and follows the A league and the Phoenix , mentioned Roly and said he'd quiet like to play here In the A-League at some point. Sounds like he's quiet a seasoned pro said he'd played a fair few pro games and said he was a big player who can play left , right or central midfield. Exited to see how he goes...fingers crossed :-)

Will post link when it's put up

I'm assuming he's excited and not exited, lol.

and for us wouldn't be an import?? Job auditioning?

There's been all sorts of turmoil at Universitatea Cluj the last month with the manager and technical director sacked - and it was the club's Dutch technical director who brought Ben to Cluj (he was his manager earlier in his career in Holland).

The new temporary manager is favouring local players. The club spent big at the beginning of this season recruiting almost a whole new team and brought in four Dutch players in the January transfer window, including van den Broek (along with high-profile former Ajax striker Geoffrey Castillion, striker Sergio Zijler ex-Willem II and Twente, defender Danzell Gravenberch ex-Ajax and NEC).

Now there's a backlash against the foreign player influx not bringing instant success and they're on the outer:

http://www.elfvoetbal.nl/nieuws/401021_van-den-bro...

"Since early February, Van den Broek has played football for Universitatea Cluj in Romania. "The presence of my former coach Alfons Groenendijk (Technical Director at Cluj, ed.) was a big reason behind it. " But last week Groenendijk with manager George Ogararu were sacked. "It came to us as a surprise. We do not read the newspapers here. But during the last two games we got two red cards, including two penalty kicks against us. It really was not down to them. It all went bad. Also because this season with the restructuring of the league, six teams will be relegated. " Universitatea Cluj is now twelve of the eighteen. Not over halfway: Yesterday he stayed on the bench ninety minutes at Concordia Chiajna. "There is now a Romanian manager (Adrian Falub, ed.) He is not selecting us foreign players and favours the Romanian players. During the training I need to prove myself again. I've noticed so far that most teams here play very defensively...the ball doesn't pass halfway much."

That article also explains how Ben came to take out NZ citizenship and become eligible for the All Whites.

His mum used to be in the NZ army in her youth.

He played off the bench in his clubs 1-0 win over Rapid Bucharest on the 4th.  Rapid where the better team although they lost the mach.  Watched the second half here in the UK (all in Romanian sadly).

Came off the bench again on the 7th in a 3-0 pumping.

Personally I'm still unsure on how good he is but I'd like to think he will get called up again and given a proper run out for us all to judge him.

it was interesting to hear Hudsons response to a question about Ben in a interview on radiolivesport. He basically said "we didn't see much of him" then went on to talk about Themi. So my read on this was that he didn't "show up" at training and demand a place in the team and maybe not have fitted in that well with the culture Hudson is after. This is purely reading between the lines but Hudson didn't sound very impressed.. 

Either way it's odd that he didn't at least play half an hour or something. We've got such massive issues in central midfield you'd think you'd try him out at least. 

Story and interview on Benjamin's All Whites' debut in the Dutch media also leaves us non the wiser on his future prospects:

http://www.volkskrant.nl/sport/van-den-broek-via-n...

The translation on Google Translate was particularly poor here, so I didn't get much out of van den Broek's comments,  except he was excited and thoroughly enjoyed being part of the All Whites' camp.

"But the team comes together until October for the qualifications. Whether he's at it again, he does not know. For the young team he can be of value. "I still played a few hundred games professional football." His debut shirt is a great souvenir and his mother is "as proud as a peacock."

Two wins in a row for Uni Cluj, including over hometown rivals CFR Cluj, leaves them in a precarious 12th on the table of 18 teams, hovering above the six team relegation zone.

Due to a restructuring of the league next season, six teams will be relegated.

Ben wasn't in the squad for the CFR Cluj game and came on as an 84th minute sub in last weekend's game, suggesting he had been injured:

http://int.soccerway.com/matches/2015/04/20/romani...

Ben's club Cluj were relegated after finishing thirteenth in the eighteen team league.

The league is being reduced to twelve clubs and so the bottom six were relegated.

He's now a free agent and looking for a new club:

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/benjamin-van-den-broe...

I wonder if he will be interested in coming down here maybe? I guess time will tell.

Looks like he is close to signing for Barrow AFC in the Conference

http://www.footballconference.co.uk/news/details.p...

played in Barrows 1-0 win over Southport in the weekend.  Obviously not selected in current AW, but will he appear again?

Not saying he will, but he could do a Kris Bright? Go to Non-league team, leave then go to another european team/other continent which is better than Conference, like a top league in finland or something? Then recieve a call up again?

What position is he mainly? Doesn't he play in one where we have Kosta and Rojas and Thomas? I guess if thats true, then its not surprising that he was not picked.

Dutch 2nd division is a ton better than conference football strange move assuming he had options in the Dutch 2nd division which given his record would be highly possible

http://www.transfermarkt.com/phil-van-den-broek/pr...

I don't wanna start a new thread, but I found a player called Phil Van Den Broek. - Born in 1996, and Transfermarkt says he has two nationalities, Dutch and NZ.

Is he related to Ben?

Is he eligible? I know this team he plays for might not be top of the range, but still. 

Netherland's 5th tier... maybe if he can make it to a better team and if he's elegible could be a good reserve GK like Crocombe or Marinovic

Guess he's Benjamin's brother.

Interview with Benjamin:

I like his answer to highlight of his career so far.

Minus points for liking The Script

here's hoping Barrow is a stepping stone to the football league proper. Surely worth giving another shot in the AWs the way caps are being thrown about left, right and centre currently.

seems like a good guy and seems that he wants to play for NZ too

Subbed off after 84mins in a 2-1 win a Macclesfield.

Had enough of non conference Barrow?

Unlike Keat, this on the face off it looks like a good move for van den Broek - seems to have played the majority of his footy at this level. Maybe Barrow was a move just to get his fitness up......

From www.barrowafc.com

Benji van den Broek has terminated his contract at Barrow by mutual consent for personal reasons. His wife and young child have
failed to settle in the UK and the club have now allowed them all to return home to The Netherlands. Barrow Director / Secretary
Russell Dodd, who met the Dutchman at Lancaster University today to sign the cancellation papers, said "Benji leaves with a heavy
heart but family is the most important thing, so we have agreed to let him return home. He has a Dutch club lined up. He thanked
everyone at the club for all his time here and we parted on excellent terms. We wish him well."

Interesting they describe him as a Dutchman