With two goals against Malta (8-0 victory), Memphis equaled Robin van Persie on Tuesday as the all-time top scorer of the Dutch national team. The 31-year-old forward is proud of his achievement. “But the real realization will come later.”
Memphis would have preferred to stay on the field to hunt for the goal that would have made him the sole all-time top scorer of the Dutch national team. But somewhere he could see the beauty of his substitution after seventy minutes.
The moment of substitution – accompanied by a standing ovation from the crowd in Groningen – made the 102-time international say he had “a moment of realization” of what he had done this special evening. It brought Memphis back to his youth.
“There is a photo of me in an Orange shirt as a baby sitting on my mother’s lap,” Memphis said Tuesday night in the catacombs of the Euroborg. “The Dutch national team is on in the background on television. It was already in there then.”
“I never had a favorite club as a child. But I wanted to play for the Dutch national team. That you then achieve this and it is appreciated by the people, is very special. This is a beautiful moment for me, for football and for my family.”
Memphis equals Van Persie during goal-rich victory over Malta
From Australia to France
With mother Cora in the stands, Memphis scored after just nine minutes, scoring from the penalty spot. In the minutes that followed, his teammates sought out the forward emphatically.
It quickly gave Memphis his second goal, when he fired from the edge of the penalty area. The Orange players flew around Memphis’s neck. “At such a moment I realized that something special had happened,” says Memphis. “Although it still feels fairly normal now. Maybe the real realization will come after my career.”
Memphis found it difficult to choose the most beautiful of his fifty goals in the Orange shirt. His beautiful goal against Turkey and his special panenka against France; they are all special in their own way. “Although my most special was probably my first, during the 2014 World Cup against Australia.”
In the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, Memphis was crucial for Oranje in the hard-fought World Cup victory over Australia (2-3). He shot the winning goal from a great distance, after previously providing an assist to the man in whose footsteps he now treads: Robin van Persie.
It happened in the period that Memphis, as a youngster, learned a lot from teammates such as Van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Nigel de Jong. “The class dripped from those guys. That has always made me hungry to strive for what they have achieved.”
‘Thought: maybe it should be completely different’
But that quartet undeniably had more of a ‘gun factor’ than Memphis, who since his debut for Oranje in October 2013 regularly received criticism for his attitude and demeanor.
He was also written off several times for a starting place in Oranje based on performance, such as after his weak European Championship last summer. But national coaches never let Memphis – who often delivered in Oranje – down.
National coach Koeman regularly openly defended the forward. “Ronald has always given me confidence,” says Memphis. “I feel that and am a sensitive person. You try to repay the confidence to the trainer. I know that the media were not always happy with me. Then it is crucial if the trainer is there for you.”
Koeman kept the door open for Memphis, when the forward was without a club (his contract with Atlético Madrid expired) after the past European Championship. Initially, he did not select Memphis. But when the forward had performed well at the Brazilian Corinthians, he was allowed to report back to Oranje in March.
Memphis was not surprised. “You know, at Atlético I also scored my goals. But things went wrong there with the fitness coach. I was not treated well, which meant I kept having minor muscle injuries. After that period I thought: maybe I should do things completely differently. Now I have been fit for eight months.”
Ronaldo is a source of inspiration for Memphis
Turning the tide proved good for Memphis. In the double encounter with Spain in March, he showed that he can still keep up in Oranje. This international period followed with three goals – albeit only against Finland and Malta – the confirmation.
The drive to score in the Orange shirt is undiminished at Memphis, who draws inspiration from Cristiano Ronaldo. “On Sunday he scored his 138th international goal. He is a source of inspiration. I used to watch videos of him and train as hard as possible to one day be like him.”
Memphis will no longer touch Ronaldo’s 138 international goals. But he will probably crown himself the all-time top scorer of the Dutch national team later this year.
“This is a nice confirmation of what I have meant for Oranje,” said Memphis. “But I also want to make number 51, 52, and 53. And then even more. If I continue like this, those goals will come. I believe that.”