De Jong brings fitness, muscle and cleverness to title-chasing Pirates’ attack

Born to Dutch immigrant parents, new Orlando Pirates signing Andre de Jong’s dad, Fred, played for New Zealand but never at a World Cup.

The All Whites have been to two Fifa World Cups. The first was in 1982 in Spain where they bled goals in defeats to Scotland (5-2), the Soviet Union (3-0) and Brazil (4-0). By the time of New Zealand’s second appearance in South Africa in 2010, football had changed and smaller nations evolved. Ultra-defensive, they went from losing all three to creditably drawing all three group games against Slovakia (1-1), Italy (1-1) and Paraguay (0-0).

Fred de Jong played 21 times for the Whites as a striker, scoring three times. His 16-year domestic and nine-year international career started in 1984, so he arrived too late to be part of the small island nation’s equally low-key World Cup history.

Andre joins Pirates at 29, excited at the opportunity of finally being surrounded by genuine star quality at a glamour club. The Soweto giants harbour real hopes of unseating eight-time successive Betway Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns for a league title in 2025-26 ― the apex achievement in most footballers’ domestic careers.

With 10 New Zealand caps to his name, De Jong has hopes the coup switch can see him catch the eye of All Whites coach Darren Bazeley for a place in the squad for the country’s third World Cup appearance, where they will join Bafana Bafana in Mexico, Canada and the US in June and July.

Pirates, in turn, have picked up a muscular, intelligent forward who is also a fitness fanatic — he was reputed to be among the fittest players at Stellies, a club with a high emphasis on the physical aspect. A player whose consistency of performance at playmaker, versatility in also providing target-man centre-forward or deeper midfield capabilities, work-rate and intelligence in positioning without the ball and passing or finishing with it, could provide a missing link in their bid to end a league title drought going back to 2011-12.

De Jong has been finding his feet in his first six weeks at Pirates. He joined Bucs from Stellenbosch FC, where he enjoyed great success, helping them win the 2013 Carling Knockout, reach the 2013-14 Caf Confederation Cup semifinals and place high in the league before this campaign’s battles.

With star quality around him that gives Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou options in attack or midfield, once he finds his stride De Jong could be an asset and revel in his versatility, enjoying more of the ball than he did at often counterattacking Stellies. He can bring a harder edge to a playmaker position where Patrick Maswanganyi and Sipho Mbule can be brilliant but mercurial.

“Everyone knows there’s huge competition at Pirates for all positions around the field,” De Jong said this week ahead of Bucs’ huge Premiership clash against Downs at FNB Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm). “It’s about being patient and waiting for my opportunity. I think in the minutes I’ve got so far I’ve shown glimpses, and it’s just about improving on that.

“Luckily at Pirates you have 65% possession in most games so you’re going to get a lot of touches on the ball. That’s a bit different from where I come from at Stellenbosch.

“The squad’s extremely strong. That’s why they’ve won so many competitions recently and are really pushing for the league this season.

“So it’s just about being patient and finding my place in the team. I think I can play equally well as a ‘false 9’ or No 10 for Pirates. It’s just where the coach sees me fitting in.”

De Jong, who represented New Zealand at the 2013 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in UAE, was 22 when he arrived at AmaZulu in July 2019, having turned out for a string of clubs in his home country and Australia.

The move to Usuthu followed in the footsteps of Argentinian striker Emiliano Tade, who had secured citizenship in New Zealand, playing there for clubs including Auckland City, then joined AmaZulu in 2018 and left as De Jong was arriving a year later to spend an unsuccessful six months at Sundowns. Tade and De Jong were both scouted to South Africa by attorney Francesco Ferreri’s On The Ball Sports Management agency.

De Jong continued a modern migration of good professionals from New Zealand to South Africa such as SuperSport United stars Jeremy Brockie, who played for the All Whites in that 2010 World Cup here, and Michael Boxall.

His quality shown in three-and-a-half years in Durban, also turning out for Royal AM for six months, caught the keen eye of former Stellies coach Steve Barker. The astute boss had transformed the club backed by billionaire Johann Rupert ― with a strong academy and facility at Stellenbosch University’s high-performance centre ― into a competitive outfit, and De Jong thrived in Barker’s tough, no-nonsense playing style.

Just getting to know all the other guys, they’ve been amazing. So far you can really feel it’s a family atmosphere, which is really similar to Stellenbosch and has really helped with fitting in.

—  Andre de Jong

With Barker replaced by Gavin Hunt as Stellies wallowed in this campaign, the opportunity to join a Buccaneers at full sail under their suave Moroccan coach, a shot at silverware late in his career and perhaps even a league title and chance to express himself among some of South Africa’s most talented attacking ball-players, could not be turned down. A World Cup place was in De Jong’s mind too.

“When my agents called me I was extremely excited. The exposure this move’s given me back home too, to push for a call-up to the World Cup, is really big.

“I was really excited from the first time I heard they were interested and then it was just about keeping my performances very good at Stellenbosch, keeping my fingers crossed and hoping the move went through, which it did at the second time of asking.”

Helping De Jong adjust at Pirates were “some familiar faces in [Sihle] Nduli and Deano [van Rooyen] from Stellies and ‘Cash’ [Makhehleni Makhaula] and Tapelo [Xoki] from the AmaZulu days”.

“Just getting to know all the other guys, they’ve been amazing. So far you can really feel it’s a family atmosphere, which is really similar to Stellenbosch and has really helped with fitting in.”

It feels like it could all be a good fit for club and player. Pirates could get a league title from what De Jong can bring upfront. The Kiwi could get a place in a World Cup from the exposure that would bring. The fans could have a new star who offers their club commitment and intelligence. Happiness all around, perhaps.