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Henk ten Cate returns to Sparta until the end of the season

Today, Sparta Rotterdam replaced Michel Vonk as head coach with experienced head Henk ten Cate in his second term in a managerial role with the club. Ten Cate lead Sparta to sixth in the Eredivisie back in 1996, in a season where the Rotterdam side were defeated by PSV in the KNVB Cup final.

After sixteen years Ten Cate now returns at Sparta as successor of Vonk, who was fired on Tuesday, after three defeats in a row Sparta dropped to the fourth position in the Jupiler League. The club’ s aim is to secure the championship and direct promotion to the Eredivisie this year, the year of the club’ s 125th anniversary. Although, Ten Cate’s reign may be short after it was announced he has only signed a contract until the end of this season.

The 58-year-old Dutchman has been out of work since he quit as coach of Chinese club Shandong Luneng Taishan in September last year, following disappointing results in the Chinese Super League. Among other clubs Ten Cate had previously been manager of Ajax and Greek side Panathinaikos as well as assistant at Barcelona and Chelsea.

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Newcastle’s Krul starts against Benfica tomorrow

Dutch international goalkeeper Tim Krul, 25 today, is set for a late birthday present on Thursday as he prepares to make his Newcastle United return at the Estadio da Luz to face Benfica in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

Krul has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury in the closing stages of the round of 32 win against Metalist Kharkiv in February. He made a string of saves in the Ukraine as the Magpies won 1-0 but his replacement, Englishman Rob Elliot, has more than stepped up to the plate over the last few weeks.

Krul, however, is set to return against in Lisbon and he knows that he could have a crucial role to play against the Portuguese league leaders. “They’ve got great players,” the Den Haag-born shot-stopper said. “We’ve had a video analysis this afternoon so we’ve seen the quality of the players and I’m really impressed with the quality. Their attacking qualities are really good so we need to be a solid team tomorrow. Hopefully we can keep a clean sheet – that would be fantastic. I know the left-winger, Ola John, from the national team – he’s a great player – and as we’ve seen this afternoon, they’ve got a few more good players.”

In light of Elliot’s solid displays, Alan Pardew faced a tough call when deciding who would start in goal against Benfica. At the pre-match press conference held at the magnificent stadium, the Newcastle manager hinted that Krul would get the nod.

“I think it would be terrible of me to say on his birthday that he’s definitely not playing,” Pardew smiled. “He’s sitting up here so I think it’s a good indication that Tim will play tomorrow. He’s trained very, very well. I personally think he’s one of the top goalkeepers in the world and therefore this is a great opportunity for him to come back as the number one for Sunday. I don’t mind putting that pressure on him tomorrow. He accepts at this level that if he wants to play in the Dutch national side, that’s the pressure he’s under and I have no doubt that he’ll respond to that.”

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