Basque-Groningen Oranjeleeuwin Damaris Egurrola (23) learned to play football at Ten Boer and Sauwerd and will make his World Cup debut. “Only football made me happy”

23-year-old Orange player Damaris Egurrola says she resembles her mother Alda de Ten Boer in terms of character. ,,I can be shy, but at the same time watch carefully what is going on. Indeed, watch the cat from the tree. I know the expression. I know what I want and I work hard. With everything she has done in her life, my mother is an inspiration. Physically, I look a lot like my father. I’m a mix of both.”

At the end of the 1980s, Alda Wienke, who started working in a hotel, met the Spanish Basque Pablo Egurrola in Cancún, Mexico. The spark jumps. Because of Pablo’s job, the couple moved to Orlando, USA, where their daughter Damaris was born. Later, the family moved to Spain. But the Groningen family is visited faithfully every year during the holidays.

In Groningen I was always busy with the ball

Egurrola learns to play football in Groningen, a sport that will determine his life. As a young girl, she played in the streets and fields of Ten Boer and Sauwerd with her brother Nolan, her sister Anabel and their cousins ​​and friends. ,,Later I went to play for a club in Spain, but during this holiday in Groningen I was always busy with a ball,” says the midfielder of the top French club Olympique Lyonnais. “My parents supported me, but never pushed me to become a footballer. I also practiced jai alai (Basque ball sport, editor’s note), which my father practiced professionally. all sorts of things. I could play tennis as well, but I thought it was a lonely sport. All the coaches thought I was a better tennis player, but only football made me happy. So that’s what he has become.”

She now speaks four languages: English, Basque, Spanish and French. Damaris understands Dutch well thanks to her mother Alda and the rest of her Groningen family. But she does not yet venture to speak it; it will come soon when the Oranje-international has completed other online language courses. Until then, she prefers to speak with the press in English. ,,It’s easy”, comes first in Dutch.

The Dutch-Spanish now feels at home at Orange. ,,When I decided to play for the Netherlands, I thought it would take a long time before that happened. But it went surprisingly fast thanks to the players and the staff. I always try to improve my Dutch. I’m starting to speak it more and more, but for interviews and if I have to speak for a long time I’ll stick to English for a while. I take online classes. But it’s difficult because I’m still learning French. There are a total of five languages ​​in my head. So sometimes I get confused.”

I want to speak Dutch well after the World Cup

Egurrola remains modest and does not want to call himself a language prodigy right away. “I’ve been used to it since I was little. My parents spoke different languages. Because I’m in the Dutch national team, I think I should speak the language well and I don’t want everyone speaking English to me. I also want to communicate with the fans. I hope to be able to speak Dutch with everyone a few months after the World Cup. I have already tried this with my teammates. No, they don’t laugh at me when I say something bad. In fact, they help me. Even though I sometimes say crazy things.”

Egurrola will make his World Cup debut at the tournament in New Zealand and Australia when the Orange Lionesses play their opener against Portugal on July 23. “It will be my first big World Cup. I have played World Cups before with the Spanish Under-20 and Under-17 teams, but this tournament will be completely new for me. It will be very exciting.

American born to a Hispano-Basque father and a Groninger mother, she had the choice of national teams with her three nationalities. ,,I could also play for the United States. But when Mark Parsons approached me at a tournament in Portland, he told me he really wanted me to join the Dutch national team. He had been following me for some time and had great confidence in me as a player. I really needed someone like that, because that wasn’t the case back home in Spain.”

I feel connected to Dutch culture

Playing for the Spanish team was no longer an option. She had become too disappointed with the politics of the Spanish federation for that. ,,I played in youth in national teams, but after that I was completely forgotten for great Spain. While I was already playing in the base in France at Olympique Lyonnais. We will never know why I was not lucky in Spain like the others. I was lucky enough to then be able to choose from two other great countries. The level of the United States is very high, but I feel more European than American. My Dutch mother makes me feel connected to Dutch culture. I spent ten holidays in a row in Groningen. It makes me feel the culture in my body. I also like the Dutch way and style of play better. In America, they go stronger, power football. That’s not where my qualities lie.”

Egurrola believes he will play more at the World Cup than last year at the European Championship in England, where the Netherlands were knocked out early. “The situation is different. I had to get used to it. It’s normal when you enter a new place. Now I feel completely at ease in the group. But we have to wait and see who will play. I can’t do more than my best to be chosen in the starting team. I can play an important role there. If we go from defense to attack and vice versa, I can control the pace. National coach Andries Jonker also let me play in defense. It was completely new to me. I am of course a midfielder, but I do everything to help the team. Even if I have to play as a centre-back, I’m okay with that.”

The players take me under their wing in Lyon like big sisters

The football star finds it difficult to estimate the strength of the Dutch compared to other participants in the World Cup. “Each team is so strong. The level keeps rising. But the Netherlands became European champions and runners-up at the previous World Cup. We have experienced players who have been through that, but also young people who Now we’re moving on. The balance is good. I hope we have a good tournament. Our European Championship last year in England wasn’t great, but we’ve grown since then. We know how we want to play: simple football, but as good as it gets.”

Egurrola believes she has become a better player thanks to high-level matches with Olympique Lyonnais and the Orange Lionesses. She is not easily satisfied. “I wonder a lot. In Lyon and in the Dutch team, I can continue to evolve at the highest level. I still have a one-year contract in France and I really want to stay there longer. Lyon is the best team for me. The club has done so much for the development of women’s football and won many awards. I am surrounded by the best players in the world. It’s a dream come true. Other players take me under their wing as older sisters. For Wendie Renard and Ada Hegerberg I am their little sister. It means a lot to me to have my idols as sisters.”

No better place for my debut than Groningen

She made her debut with the Dutch national team on April 8 against Cyprus. It happened in Groningen with many relatives and friends in the stands. ,,My father, my mother and my sister were there and many relatives on my mother’s side. It was a moment of unforgettable emotion. No better place for my debut than Groningen.”