There's Only One Dennis Bergkamp

"I play a different kind of game"

The caption above is from a chapter entitled "A Short Interview About Killing" in David Winners Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer."  The quote is the conclusion of a conversation between Dennis Bergkamp himself and the author, the by-product of a chance encounter after an interview with someone else. Winner pressed the Dutchman about the imbalance of his relatively low goals return with respect to his outstanding ability as a striker.

Rather than defend himself about the creative side of his game, about the assembly line of players who flourished with him pulling the strings [Wright, Anelka, Henry, Ljungberg], he conceded the point almost apologetically, particularly in comparison to a player like Gerd Muller. But his regret at not having the “killer instinct” to get into the box reinforces that quality that sets him apart. The classic goal poacher is single-minded and obsessed with getting into those areas and scoring goals. Bergkamp does play a different game, because he sees a different game.

That icy blue stare is indicative of his cool demeanor and the calculating vision that allows him to understand the full breadth of play before him. He is sometimes described as seeing the game in slow motion. I disagree. I think he sees it in stop-motion. Being a Yank, I only had the pleasure of watching Bergkamp play in person on one occasion, during the last season at Highbury when the Arsenal hosted Everton.

Dennis came on as a substitute for Robin van Persie late in the game, which at that point was well in hand thanks to two headers from Sol Campbell. That gave me the comfort to ignore the ball and just watch my footballing hero. In that brief cameo, I came to appreciate another line on Bergkamp in Winner’s book, attributed to the Dutch artist Jeroen Henneman, "One moment the pitch is crowded and narrow. Suddenly it is huge and wide … A miracle." At one point I watched the Arsenal number 10 as he took no more than two or three steps  toward the touchline around the halfway line [without the ball, mind], and the entire shape of the Everton defense quivered. They were marionettes and the one we call God was pulling the strings. I was enthralled.

I only saw him play for 23 minutes, but it was more than enough.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. 


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