The Willem II Courier
Match16 Dec 2026
Willem II out of the cup
Sparta Rotterdam ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Thomas Verheydt is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.35 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Jari Schuurman says Willem II went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
6 saves: Wouter van der Steen was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Bittencourt is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Willem II
Junior Poortvliet and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Leonardo Bittencourt is still paying for one afternoon at Willem II
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Thomas Verheydt takes the honours
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Willem II had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
One moment undoes Leonardo Bittencourt
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
- Match Honours even between Willem II and Emmen
- The dugout No hiding place for Junior Poortvliet
- The dugout Half-satisfied: Nathan De Roon on the draw