MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rotterdamers win cup for Van Marwijk, next Dutch national coach

Bert van Marwijk, soon to succeed Marco van Basten as coach of the Dutch National team, went out on a winning note when his league team Feyenoord convincingly won the Dutch Cup final on Sunday, beating Roda JC by 2-0.

n the managerial merry-go-round in Holland,van Basten will quit coaching the National team after the forthcoming European Championships which will be played in June in Austria and Switzerland. He will the take over at beleagured Ajax of Amsterdam who failed to lift a major trophy this season. For van Marwijk, Sunday's victory over Roda compensated for a generally poor season for Feyenoord who finished the Premier division a distant 6th behind PSV of Eindhoven. A capacity crowd of 45,000 packed the noisy Feyenoord Stadium where the Cup Final is traditionally played. Roda brought around 14,000 fans from the southeast of Holland. Fears that the unfashionable side who have won the Cup twice before (while Feyenoord have 10 wins) would be over-run, were quickly endorsed as they went behind in only the 7th minute. Bruins broke clear down the left wing and crossed the ball low for the onrushing Denny Landzatt, and the Dutch international player smacked the ball past a despairing Bram Castro, the Roda goalkeeper. Roda were undaunted and put together several attacks, maninly through the dangerous Belgium player Roland Lamah, but they were unable to break down the Feyenoord defence. In the 35th minute Feyenoord virtually sealed victory when Jonathan De Guzman beat 3 defenders inside the penalty area and slotted the ball neatly into the net, to make it 2-0. The Rotterdamers dominated the 2nd half and came close to scoring on several occasions, particularly when Seaijs hooked the ball clear from under his own cross bar with his goalkeeper stranded, but the Roda JC defence somehow managed to avert any further goals. In his first spell as Coach at Feyenoord, Bert van Marwijk won the UEFA Cup in 2001. Back again for a year, he has added the KNVB Beker (Dutch Football Association Cup) to his achievements, but the real test for him will start in the autumn when the Dutch National team play their first qualfying games for the 2010 World Cup competition in South Africa. Patrick Watts - Rotterdam, Holland.