Daerden feels the power

Fresh from winning the Jupiler League title with KRC Genk, Koen Daerden is ready to take on his peers in Europe in the UEFA Under-21 Championship in Switzerland. Left-winger Daerden’s displays this season for his club, starting every match but one and scoring four goals, saw him chosen as Belgian newcomer of the year by his fellow professionals.

Famous father
The 20-year-old is the son of former R. Standard de Liège player, Jos Daerden, who also respresented Belgium, winning five international caps. Koen arrived in Genk from SK Tongeren in 1999 and in his first two seasons played 29 games and scored three times. Now he is key to his country's hopes in Switzerland as Belgium take on Greece, the Czech Republic and France in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

High praise
His progress this season has certainly impressed Genk coach Sef Vergoosen. He said: “He is very good at regaining possession of the ball when we don't have it thanks to his tremendous positional sense and his passing is excellent, even up to 40 metres. From the centre of the field, he can hit excellent balls to the frontmen. He is also very strong and never stops running; he can maintain a high tempo for a long time.

Hard work
“Of course, he has some weaknesses, like his heading, but he is working on that every day. Also, he should go it alone sometimes when he is near goal, instead of looking to play a pass.”

Celebrations over
Daerden has spent ten days preparing for the tournament in Switzerland under the guidance of U-21 coach Jean-François de Sart, a former RSC Anderlecht player. Daerden said: “It was not easy for me to get back in my best shape after all the celebrations following the title win. I really enjoyed myself and I felt it at the beginning of the camp. But after a few days, I was really feeling fine again. My muscles were strong and I was not stale.  As a matter of fact even when I was celebrating, I was getting my hours of sleep and I think that is very important. Now everybody is very fit in our group and the atmosphere is great.”

Fierce competition
He added: “The coach is not giving any hints about the possible team or players that will start. So the concentration is quite high, but the atmosphere in the group is great. We know that everybody is competing with someone else for a place in the team. Personally, even if I had a great season, I am in competition with Christophe Grégoire [from R. Excelsior Mouscron] who also had a great season because his club reached the final of the Belgian Cup.”

'We are not afraid'
But Daerden prefers it that way because he knows it will be a tough assignment for the Belgians. "The Czechs will really have their best players there because they did not qualify for the [FIFA] World Cup and then there is France with a bunch of superstars. We play first against Greece, and we must not lose, then we will meet the Czechs. Mentally, we are not afraid, we are ready. Coach De Sart is preparing us very well and we know that the pressure is not really on us. 

Past experience
Daerden has already tasted international tournament action, having played in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Finland. He said: “We won against Switzerland, drew against Poland - which was not good beacuse we should have won - and we lost against Spain. But we were better than our results showed. We had a team to go to the semi-finals at least. This year I don’t want to pass up such an opportunity. I hope that we will perform to our potential."